Nigel Farage has named a former Labour politician as a parliamentary candidate for Ukip in Folkestone after its previous choice for the seat was expelled in an expenses scandal.
Harriet Yeo, a councillor and ex-trade unionist who left Labour earlier this year, will replace Janice Atkinson, a high-profile MEP. Atkinson was kicked out of Ukip on Tuesday following allegations a member of her staff tried to get an inflated bill for a meal in a restaurant.
Yeo had previously said she would support Ukip at the next election and spoke at the party’s spring conference but had not declared she was a signed-up member.
Speaking at the Grand hotel in the town in Kent alongside Farage, Yeo said: “I’m so proud to be able to represent Folkestone and Hythe for Ukip.
“I was born in Kent, I live in Kent and work in Kent. This county needs a party that will put the people of Kent first. We don’t have that at the moment.
“The Conservatives take us for granted, the Labour party ignore us and it’s about time that we had a voice that this part of the country needs.”
Farage said he hoped Yeo would turn a “bad situation into a good situation” after Atkinson’s removal.
The MEP and her chief-of-staff, Christine Hewitt, were expelled after a disciplinary hearing. They were hauled in by officials after the Sun recorded Hewitt appearing to ask restaurant staff to give her a receipt for £3,150 for a lunch attended by senior Ukip figures, which had only cost £950.
The newspaper said this would have allowed Atkinson’s office to claim the higher total on expenses from a group funded by the European parliament to boost Ukip’s finances. Kent police are examining allegations of fraud in connectionwith the incident.
Earlier, Atkinson said she was “deeply disappointed” and intends to appeal. “I was elected to represent the constituents of the south-east of England and I will continue to work tirelessly on their behalf and for the best interests of our country.”
Ukip appears to be trying to draw a swift line under her expulsion by picking a new candidate quickly. The seat is near Farage’s own target seat of South Thanet.
Yeo is a councillor in Ashford and a former Labour group leader, and she quit the party last month because it won’t hold an EU referendum.
She is a former president of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA), who has previously been critical of Labour’s trade union backers, saying they are “stuck in a time warp” and dominated by “male chauvinists” obsessed with “power games”.
