Tories are warned to block Ukip ‘infiltrators’

LOCAL Tory associations were last night placed on guard against efforts by Ukip supporters to infiltrate the party.

In a memo to Conservative association chairmen, Tory officials urged vigilance against so-called ‘entryism’ by supporters of other parties.

The leaked memo reminds local officials they can block applications from people ‘whose opinions or conduct shall, in their judgment, be inconsistent with the objects or financial wellbeing of the association, or likely to bring the party into disrepute’.

It follows claims Ukip supporters are joining up in the hope of influencing Brexit policy and the outcome of the next Tory leadership contest.

Ukip donor Arron Banks has been banned from joining the Tory Party after urging Ukip supporters to sign up to ‘unseat May’ and replace her with a leader ‘like Boris Johnson or Jacob Rees-Mogg’.

Pro-Remain Tory Anna Soubry yesterday urged the party to suspend its current membership drive. She said: ‘I’ve called on the party chairman to end the membership drive until we can be confident we are not being infiltrated by people who are not Conservatives.’

But former Tory deputy chairman Robert Halfon criticised Miss Soubry, saying: ‘We should be delighted and welcoming new members whatever their Brexit views. The essence of Soubry’s view is that if any of the 17million who voted for Brexit join, that is somehow extremist “infiltration”. That is bonkers.’

Theresa May yesterday played down the threat of entryism – but said the party had been right to ban Mr Banks from joining ‘because he is somebody who has actively campaigned against the Conservative Party’.

A Tory source last night said the memo, drawn up by the party’s head of membership Natalie Crosby-Jones, had been ‘selectively’ leaked.