A Kettering councillor has defected from the Conservative party and joined UKIP.
Cllr Jonathan Bullock, a member of the cabinet of Kettering Borough Council and former Conservative Parliamentary and European Candidate, has today (17th September) resigned from the Conservative Party and joined UKIP.
Cllr Bullock said “After considerable thought over some time I have joined UKIP, as they are articulating the right policies for the future of our country, particularly on Europe, Defence and Home Affairs. I remain committed to the KBC conservative manifesto, of which I was the principal author, and on which I was elected at the borough elections in 2011. This manifesto is entirely consistent with UKIP policies, so I will remain serving as a ward councillor and will continue to represent my ward, and the views in that manifesto, at the council.
“It was a difficult decision to leave a party of which I have been a member for many years, and for whom I have worked hard over the years. However, the integrity with which UKIP has held to its core convictions and its alignment with my own beliefs has been very influential. I have also been impressed with how the leadership of UKIP has developed UKIP as a party in recent years and its outstanding candidate in the forthcoming Corby by-election. More and more of my friends and colleagues are turning to UKIP. I will be attending the UKIP conference later this week in Birmingham, and look forward to hearing its very interesting and highly qualified programme of speakers.”
Roger Helmer MEP, who joined UKIP earlier in the year, said: “We are delighted to have attracted a politician of the calibre of Cllr Bullock to UKIP. I was a candidate alongside him in the 2004 European Elections and I campaigned for him at the 2011 Kettering Borough elections. He will be a great asset to UKIP, which continues to grow both locally in Northamptonshire and throughout the rest of the UK.”
Cllr Bullock lives in Geddington and was first elected in 2007 for the Queen Eleanor and Buccleuch Ward of Kettering Borough Council. He was re-elected in 2011 with an increased majority.
He contested the Parliamentary seat of Gedling in 2001 and was a European candidate for the Conservatives in 2004
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