Candidate trouble: Ukip and the curse of South Basildon

The Ukip finance committee were querying expenses made by the former Tory MP. A letter, seen by Channel 4 News, reflected the deep concerns within the Ukip high command about him becoming the party’s candidate in one of Ukip’s most promising seats.

Read Michael Crick's blog: Explain your expenses: Ukip demands details from Neil Hamilton

He was blocked from the party lists for the European elections last May and from the Boston and Skegness, with Ukip leader Nigel Farage himself insisting that he is merely a “back-room boy”.

Mr Hamilton described the leaking of the finance committee letter as a “dirty trick” to deliberately destabilise the hustings, and claimed some of the queries it contained had already been answered.

He announced that Ukip councillor Kerry Smith would take his place, saying in a statement: “[Kerry Smith] should never have been deselected in the first place, in my opinion, and he will make an excellent member of parliament for Basildon.”

Mr Hamilton became a contentious figure while serving as a Tory MP in the 1990s over allegations he took cash for parliamentary questions, which he has always denied.

He was left with a reported £2m legal bill after he failed to overturn a libel defeat against Mohamed al-Fayed which had claimed Mr Hamilton accepted money to table Parliamentary Questions.

The controversy comes in the same week the party’s general secretary was accused of sexually harassing Ukip election hopeful Natasha Bolter.

The high-profile ethnic minority Ukip candidate, who was also hoping to stand in South Basildon, is reported to have quit the party after complaining that she was sexually harassed by Roger Bird.

University claims

The credibility of Ms Bolter, however, has come into question after Oxford University rejected claims that she had attended the institution.

Mr Bird, who introduced Ms Bolter at the Ukip party conference in September, said: “Natasha was brought up in the Mile End Road in east London, and went to a local comprehensive school. And nowadays teaches in a local comprehensive school in east London. She got 5 A-grade A-Levels and went on to read PPE at Wadham College, Oxford.

“I was particularly pleased to hear this as I am now longer the only Oxford PPE-ist in Ukip and therefore Nigel will stop having to make jokes about PPE-ists.”

However, in a statement, the university told Channel 4 News: “Oxford University has no record of a Natasha Ahmed (Ms Bolter’s maiden name) with a birthday of 12 July 1975 having attended Oxford.”

Barking and Dagenham council said Ms Bolter had worked for a year as a supply teacher at the school. Speaking to Channel 4 News, the council said: “We can confirm that Natasha Bolter was employed through an agency as a cover supervisor at Eastbury Comprehensive School from spring 2012 to spring 2013.”

Harassment allegations

Mr Bird told Channel 4 News on Tuesday that he had “intimate texts” that prove that he and Ms Bolter were in a relationship.

Ms Bolter, who defected to Ukip from Labour and was a headline speaker at Ukip’s party conference in September, pulled out of the hustings to become the party’s parliamentary candidate in South Basildon.

Read: 'We were in a relationship' - Ukip's Roger Bird

But, speaking to this programme, Mr Bird said: “Natasha Bolter and I were in a consensual relationship between 18 September and 2 November, well after her admission to the list of approved candidates, with interest on both sides.

“She was keen on me and I was keen on her. I have got emails and texts to show we had a relationship and will be presenting these to the inquiry. In any relationship there are some texts of an intimate nature.” She has denied claims that they were in a relationship.

He was suspended from the party over allegations of impropriety.

A spokesman confirmed that the investigation related to claims made by Ms Bolter. “We take what she said extremely seriously,” the spokesman said.