A member of the European parliament revealed late on Friday that she is defecting from the UK Independence Party to the Conservatives, in a boost for Prime Minister David Cameron.
Marta Andreasen, an MEP for the South East region, quit after launching a blistering attack on Nigel Farage’s leadership of UKIP.
In an open letter, the 58-year-old accused Farage of “surrounding himself with an old boys club of like-minded sycophants” at the top of the anti-EU party.
Farage responded: “The Conservative Party deserve what is coming to them. The woman is impossible.”
Andreasen, who was born in Argentina but is now Spanish, said Cameron’s promise of an in-out referendum on EU membership had been a “game changer”.
“He promised to turn around the European freight train, which is currently heading towards a deeper federal Europe with no options for Britain,” she wrote.
“I was also reassured by the financial deal that David Cameron got for Britain on the EU Budget. This is a matter very close to my heart and for which I have fought hard, and it is an important step for Britain in this battle.”
Andreasen claimed Farage “treats any views other than his own with contempt”.
She had threatened to quit two weeks ago after accusing the UKIP leader of being a “Stalinist dictator” who was “anti-women”.
Conservative chairman Grant Shapps said he was delighted to welcome Andreasen to the party.
“She brings a wealth of experience — and a dedication to fight for what’s best for the British people in Europe,” he said.
Her defection comes less than a week before the hotly contested by-election in Eastleigh to fill the vacant seat left by Chris Huhne, the disgraced Lib Dem former energy minister.
Huhne resigned this month after pleading guilty to perverting the course of justice over claims his ex-wife took speeding points for him a decade ago.
There has been speculation that UKIP, which celebrated its best-ever by-election result in November, could perform well again in Eastleigh.
But Andreasen dismissed UKIP’s chances of achieving real power, saying Farage’s decision not to stand in the election himself showed that the party was only a “pressure group”.
UKIP MEP defects to Conservatives
