A FORMER Mayor of Warwick has switched allegiance by joining the UK Independence Party (UKIP).
Bob Dhillon served two terms as a Conservative councillor for Warwick West and was the town’s mayor in 2013/14.
The dad-of-three has been involved with the party since the age of 12 but has now decided to defect to UKIP after becoming disillusioned with Prime Minister, David Cameron.
Explaining the move, he said Mr Cameron’s ‘project fear’ campaign in the EU referendum and his failure to achieve substantial EU reform had prompted his decision to leave the Conservatives.
Mr Dhillon said: “David Cameron is wrong, he is not standing up for the British people and the deal he negotiated is not worth the paper it is written on. How can he expect people to vote to remain in the EU with such a lousy deal?
“He has lost the confidence of the general public on immigration, HS2, NHS privatisation and through destroying rural/urban areas with Conservative housing plans.”
Welcoming Mr Dhillon to the party, Midlands UKIP MEP James Carver, said: “The credit for the British people finally getting a say on the EU in the referendum is all down to the work UKIP has done over the years.
“For those who oppose our EU membership, such as Bob Dhillon, joining UKIP is a logical decision.”
Mr Dhillon stood as the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Washington & Sunderland West in the 2015 General Election.
He now intends to go through UKIP’s internal process for candidate approval with a view to being selected as the party’s Warwick & Leamington parliamentary candidate in 2020.
Warwick & Leamington UKIP branch chairman, Alastair MacBrayne, who contested the seat in last year’s General Election, called Mr Dhillon’s arrival ‘a great boost’ for the party.
Mr MacBrayne added: “Bob has already been a great help by joining us on our referendum campaign and we are all looking forward to working with him in the years to come.”
