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UKIP's Nigel Farage 'tempted' to stand in Newark poll UKIP's Nigel Farage says he will not stand in Newark poll
(about 7 hours later)
UKIP leader Nigel Farage is expected to announce later if he will stand in the forthcoming Newark by-election. UKIP leader Nigel Farage has said he will not stand in the forthcoming Newark by-election.
The by-election has been brought about by the resignation from Parliament of former Tory MP Patrick Mercer over a cash-for-questions scandal on Tuesday. The contest has been brought about by the resignation from Parliament of former Tory MP Patrick Mercer over a cash-for-questions scandal on Tuesday.
Mr Mercer said he was "ashamed" of his actions and had decided to "fess up" by standing down straightaway. Mr Farage said he did not want to look like an "opportunist" by entering the contest, as he did not "have any links with the East Midlands".
Mr Farage said if he were to win a seat at Westminster it would "completely transform the landscape" for his party. He added that the wanted to focus on UKIP's European elections campaign.
The UKIP leader said that should he win a seat in the Commons, and become an MP, it would enhance his party's "prospects", but admitted he did not have "connections with the local area" in Newark. Although the Conservatives have a majority of 16,000 in Newark, the seat will be a prime target for UKIP at a time when it is soaring in the polls, BBC political correspondent Vicki Young said.
Speaking to the BBC on Tuesday evening, he said: "What I've got to work out is, is it the right seat for me? But John Curtice, professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde, said UKIP would be "trying to succeed on the back of no particular local support at all".
"I haven't particularly got connections with the local area, but against that, perhaps I'm quite well known. 'Courage'
"So I've got to weigh it up, and by lunchtime tomorrow, I will have decided. I'm tempted." Mr Farage told BBC One's Breakfast: "I haven't had long to think about it but I have thought about it, and we're just over three weeks away from a European election at which I think UKIP could cause an earthquake in British politics, from which we can go on and win not just one parliamentary seat but quite a lot of parliamentary seats.
Prime target "For that reason I don't want to do anything that deflects from the European election campaign, so I'm not going to stand in this by-election.
Under parliamentary rules, a by-election cannot be held before the date of the European Parliament elections on 22 May, thus removing one potential obstacle to Mr Farage - who is seeking re-election as an MEP - putting his name forward. "I want to focus the next three weeks on winning the European elections and also I don't have any links with the East Midlands. I would just look like an opportunist, and I don't think that would work."
BBC political correspondent Vicki Young said a by-election would "alarm" the Conservative Party, which has already chosen 32-year old Robert Jenrick, a lawyer and director of auction house Christie's, to fight the seat. Asked whether he had decided not to run for fear of losing, Mr Farage replied: "I have shown some courage over the years…
Although the Conservatives have a majority of 16,000 in Newark, the seat would be a prime target for UKIP at a time when it is soaring in the polls, she added. "It's about choosing the right battles. It's about prioritising and I know that if I were to have said yes to standing in Newark the next three weeks would be dominated by am I going to win, am I not going to win, and we wouldn't be talking about open-door immigration, EU membership and that most of our laws being made somewhere else."
Mr Mercer has represented the Nottinghamshire constituency since 2001, and announced he had decided to "fess up" after he was suspended from the Commons for six months for allegedly asking questions in Parliament in return for money. Mr Farage referred to the former leader of the Monster Raving Loony Party, once a fixture at such contests, saying: "I'm not Screaming Lord Sutch. I don't stand in every by-election."
Ken Clarke, seen as the most Europhile of the Conservative members of the cabinet, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that Mr Farage was correct to decide not to run, saying he "might be many things, but he's not an idiot".
He accused UKIP, which advocates leaving the European Union, of "peddling a total nonsense that our economic problems have been caused by immigration".
Mr Clarke, who is a Nottinghamshire MP, said: "I don't think the residents of Newark, some of whom I know because I used to represent some of the villages there, they're not going to vote for a card, larking about, trying to get protest votes."
Mr Mercer, who has represented the Nottinghamshire constituency since 2001, is due to be suspended from the Commons for six months for allegedly asking questions in Parliament in return for money.
He was filmed by undercover reporters last year apparently agreeing to set up a parliamentary group to push for Fiji to return to the Commonwealth.He was filmed by undercover reporters last year apparently agreeing to set up a parliamentary group to push for Fiji to return to the Commonwealth.
The MP had already said he would not contest the general election next year and had been serving as an independent since May 2013.The MP had already said he would not contest the general election next year and had been serving as an independent since May 2013.
In a short statement, the former soldier said he would not contest the findings of a report into his conduct, to be published on Thursday, which will call for him to be barred from Parliament for six months.In a short statement, the former soldier said he would not contest the findings of a report into his conduct, to be published on Thursday, which will call for him to be barred from Parliament for six months.
He said he was resigning with "a great heaviness of heart" for the sake of his family and he hoped that his constituents would "tolerate" him in the future.He said he was resigning with "a great heaviness of heart" for the sake of his family and he hoped that his constituents would "tolerate" him in the future.
"I am an ex-soldier, I believe that when you have got something wrong, you have got to 'fess up and get on with it," he said."I am an ex-soldier, I believe that when you have got something wrong, you have got to 'fess up and get on with it," he said.
"No point shilly-shallying or trying to avoid it. What has happened, has happened. I am ashamed of it. Therefore I am going to do what I can to put it right for the constituency of Newark."
The MP, a prominent critic of David Cameron who was sacked as a shadow minister in 2007, said that he hoped that his successor as MP for the constituency would be a Conservative.The MP, a prominent critic of David Cameron who was sacked as a shadow minister in 2007, said that he hoped that his successor as MP for the constituency would be a Conservative.
Business interests The party has selected Robert Jenrick to contest Newark. Labour - which held the seat between 1997 and 2001 - has chosen Michael Payne as its candidate.
The standards committee of MPs met on Tuesday to discuss Mr Mercer's case and its decision was reported by The Week magazine on Tuesday afternoon. A Westminster source has confirmed to the BBC that the report of a six-month sanction is correct.
Mr Mercer resigned the Tory whip last year after a report by BBC's Panorama claimed that he broke Parliament's lobbying rules by accepting £4,000 to lobby for business interests in Fiji.
Panorama alleged that he had submitted five parliamentary questions in relation to his paid work as a lobbyist for a fake company that the programme had set up, in conjunction with the Daily Telegraph.
Parliamentary rules prohibit MPs from accepting money "to ask a parliamentary question, table a motion, introduce a bill, table an amendment to a motion or a bill, or urge colleagues or ministers to do so".
At the time, Mr Mercer said he took the money for consultancy work outside Parliament but referred himself to Parliament's standards watchdog.
The Labour Party - which held Newark between 1997 and 2001 - has selected Michael Payne as its candidate for the forthcoming by-election.