A WEST Devon man who was a former whip in the last Tory government has defected to the UK Independence Party.
Roger Knapman, 56, who lives at Coryton, said he could no longer accept the Conservative policy on Europe. He felt the only alternative was to leave the party and throw his weight behind the UKIP, which wants to leave the EU.
Mr Knapman said he believed the forthcoming inter-governmental conference in Nice would take away the few remaining powers Britain has as a nation state.
He said: 'The Conservative Party policy of "In Europe, but not run by Europe" is bogus — that kind of Europe is not available to us.
'Many people could agree with the concept of a common market, a lot of people may think that's what you've got, but we've now had the Treaty of Rome, the Single European Act, which Lady Thatcher now admits she was hoodwinked over, the appalling Maastricht Treaty and the even worse Amsterdam Treaty, and now we are heading towards the Nice conference — the final nail in the coffin for Britain as a nation state.
'These proposals will lead to a United States of Europe with Britain sliced up into regional parliaments, which, arguably, will have less power than the state parliaments in the USA.
'So it's time for people to make their minds up whether they want the UK as one of the big four in the UN, fourth biggest economy in the world, founder member of the Commonwealth and the special relationship with the English-speaking world or condemned to a series of provinces within Euroland.
'I'm proud to be British. The only way to protect our rights and privileges is to join the UKIP, which is committed to getting out of a politically integrated Europe.'
'Mr Knapman said he had not made up his mind on running for Parliament — the West Devon constituency already has a prospective UKIP candidate in Matthew Jackson — but if he did it would be likely to be in Devon or Cornwall.
Mark Slater, Tory party agent in the West Devon and Torridge constituency, said: 'We are stunned by Mr Knapman's resignation from the party.
'We have always understood and known of his reservations regarding Europe and we feel it's probably something he feels quite strongly about, but we are mystified how he feels joining the UKIP will help prevent Britain being absorbed by a federal Europe.'
Mr Slater went on to say that there were dangers in splitting the vote that could lead to a victory for the 'forces of federalism'.
Mr Knapman was Conservative MP for Stroud in Gloucestershire until the 1997 election when he lost the redrawn seat on a 10 per cent swing to the Labour candidate.
He was personal private secretary to armed forces minister Archie Hamilton from 1990 to 1992 and a Government whip from 1996 to 1997.