More grim news for Farage: Defector is trailing Tory rival
THE Tory MP who defected to Ukip to trigger the Rochester and Strood byelection is on course to lose the seat at the General Election, in the latest secret polling bombshell to hit Nigel Farage’s party.
Mark Reckless, who became the party’s second MP in November, faces an uphill battle to hold on to his 2,920 majority on May 7, according to private polling data seen by Ukip.
The disclosure comes after the party was thrown into turmoil by last week’s leak to The Mail on Sunday of a ComRes survey showing Mr Farage trailing the Tories in the battle for Thanet South.
The Rochester polling is understood to put Mr Reckless narrowly behind Conservative candidate Kelly Tolhurst, whom he defeated in November’s byelection. When Mr Reckless stood for the Tories at the 2010 election he had a majority of nearly 10,000 votes.
A senior Ukip source said: ‘It is not looking easy for Mark at the moment, but we are hopeful that the figures are misleading.’
Another party source said: ‘We are not that bothered because he isn’t particularly popular.’ The Conservatives are increasingly confident of retaking Rochester, and chose the constituency for Samantha Cameron’s first solo outing of the campaign earlier this month.
Mr Farage has admitted he is in the ‘fight of his life’ in Thanet South, and has said he will stand down as leader if he fails to enter the Commons.
Some analysts think Ukip could be left with only one MP on May 8 – Douglas Carswell, who won Clacton in Essex in a by-election last October.