Comedian Frank Carson backs UKIP

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Veteran funnyman Frank Carson has joined the UK Independence Party.

The Irish comic - famed for his catchphrase "it's the way I tell 'em" - is urging people to vote UKIP in next month's European elections.

"We need to get out of the EU and ditch the human rights legislation", he said at a press conference in Blackpool.

Earlier this week, Darth Vader actor and 1970s Green Cross Code man, Dave Prowse, threw his weight behind the Eurosceptic party.

Mr Prowse, who was given an MBE for his services to road safety after starring in a long-running TV advert, said: "I've looked right and left and right again and the only party I can safely vote for is UKIP."

'Disgusted'

Unveiling the party's latest celebrity recruit, UKIP chairman Paul Nuttall, who is also its lead candidate in the North West of England, said: "We are delighted that Frank has chosen to join us. He is an excellent comedian but he has a very serious point.

"While we are in the EU we cannot control our borders and it is costing us £40m a day to be members of this undemocratic and corrupt club."

The Irish comic, who was a regular fixture on TV in the 1970s and 1980s on programmes such as The Comedians, said: "I'm disgusted with the way politics has gone in this country and I'm urging people to vote UKIP."

An opinion poll in The Sun newspaper suggested UKIP could be the main beneficiary of public anger at continuing revelations about MPs' expenses - despite suffering sleaze scandals of its own.

UKIP's support is at 15% - with the Lib Dems on 19%, Labour on 20% and the Conservatives on 29%, according to the YouGov survey.

The Greens are on 6% and the BNP on 3%.

The party's leader, Nigel Farage, has admitted it has had its share of "bad apples" but claims that unlike the larger parties it has acted swiftly to expel them.

One of UKIP's former MEPs, Ashley Mote, was jailed over benefit fraud and another, Tom Wise, has denied charges of false accounting and money laundering.