Tories reject membership application from Leave.EU founder Arron Banks
2 min read
Former Ukip donor and Leave.EU chief Arron Banks has had his application to join the Conservative party rejected.
Mr Banks, along with Leave.EU communications director Andy Wigmore, announced he was joining the party to vote for a pro-Brexit candidate in any future leadership election.
But Conservative bosses stepped in to thwart the bid - just hours after the pair received welcome emails from the party.
A Conservative spokesperson confirmed that the pair would not be allowed to join, saying: “Arron Banks and Andrew Wigmore’s applications for membership of the Conservative Party have not been approved.”
Tory sources told the BBC the pair had been rejected as it was believed they were “likely to bring the party into disrepute”.
But Mr Banks said on Twitter: “That’s strange because I had a nice welcome letter from Brandon Lewis this morning saying you are now activated and welcome to attend any event.”
Mr Banks had recently encouraged supporters of the Leave.EU campaign group to “flood” the Conservative party to be “ready to elect a true Brexiteer”.
Alongside a picture of anti-EU figures Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg, the group tweeted out a message asking its supporters to “help put the spine back into the Tory party”.
It wrote: “A leadership contest is inevitable. Join the huge number of our members already flooding the Tory party, ready to elect a true Brexiteer.”
'BREXIT ENTRYISM'
The move prompted an outcry from Remain-backing Tories, who sounded the alarm over “Brexit entryism”.
Bromley and Chislehurst MP Bob Neill warned that the party must not be “hijacked by hard right zealots”.
He added: “The Conservative Party has always won when it is the Party of pragmatism and of the common sense, non-dogmatic, middle ground that most British people occupy.”
In an article for the Westmonster website, Mr Banks defended his decision to encourage Leave.EU members to join the party en masse, claiming that the “battle for Brexit” now hinged on the leadership of the Conservative party.
He wrote: “Most of our members are proper conservatives that believe in immigration control, family-values, self-reliance and prudent management of the economy.
“My Conservative party membership lapsed in 2013 and I today joined the party.”
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