Mark Reckless announced he was leaving the Conservatives at UKIP’s largest ever political party conference in Doncaster.
PA Wire/Press Association Images Gareth Fuller
UKIP landed another massive blow on the Conservatives today when a Tory MP defected to the right-wing party. The announcement that Mark Reckless would join UKIP was made as the party held its largest ever conference at Doncaster Racecourse.
A party official told BuzzFeed News: "Only a handful of people were aware in advance of Reckless' decision. Party press officers were told shortly before."
"So few people knew about this that he's now being introduced to key people in UKIP," he added.
In addition it is understood that the party cleared the defection with the existing candidate for Rochester and Strood who has agreed to step aside. This will avoid the embarrassing situation that happened in Clacton when the existing candidate refused to step aside when Douglas Carswell defected from the Conservative Party.
BuzzFeed understands that Chris Bruni-Lowe, a former Conservative party worker and former UKIP campaign manager, was heavily involved in convincing Reckless to defect.
Following a speech by Nigel Farage, Reckless said: "Today I am leaving the Conservative Party. He later added that he is stepping down as an MP and has therefore forced a by-election.
The MP for Rochester and Strood said he has found it difficult to keep promises as a Conservative politician, adding: "The leadership of the Conservative Party is part of the problem".
The news will come as an embarrassment for the prime minister as only yesterday Reckless sent a tweet saying that he would lead a bus full of campaigners in Birmingham on Sunday and then in Clacton next week.
Labour MPs were quick to mock Cameron and pointed out that there could be further defections.
