This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29405166

The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 5 Version 6
Tory defectors to UKIP would be 'utterly nuts' - Boris Boris Johnson urges 'conservative family' to unite in 2015 fight
(about 3 hours later)
Any Conservatives thinking about joining rivals UKIP "must be utterly nuts", Boris Johnson has claimed. Boris Johnson has urged the "great Conservative family" to unite to defeat Labour at the next general election and to guarantee a referendum on Europe.
The Tory London mayor suggested would-be switchers wanted the country to "sleepwalk into a Labour government". Speaking in the wake of a second Tory defection to UKIP, the mayor of London said only the Conservatives could "sort out" the UK's relationship with the EU.
But, writing in the Daily Telegraph, he said press reports of more defections in the offing were "fanciful". He told a Conservative conference rally that the "ideal solution" would be for the UK to stay in a reformed EU.
It comes after two Conservative MPs in one month - first Douglas Carswell and, over the weekend, Mark Reckless - left for Nigel Farage's Eurosceptic party. But he suggested the UK would also prosper in a "trade zone" outside it.
Former Tory MP Mark Reckless' defection to UKIP on the eve of the Tory conference has increased pressure on David Cameron.
The move, which came less than a month after Douglas Carswell's departure to UKIP, has caused "unconstrained fury" in the Tory leadership, BBC political editor Nick Robinson said.
'Changed everything''Changed everything'
The defections have caused "unconstrained fury" in the Conservative leadership, the BBC's political editor Nick Robinson said. Speaking at a fringe meeting at the Conservative conference in Birmingham, Mr Johnson said he had never been approached about defecting to another party although he joked that "he had once met Nigel Farage in a pub about 20 years ago".
Eurosceptic MEP Daniel Hannan told the BBC's Daily Politics Mr Reckless and Mr Carswell were his friends, but said they had "made a mistake" in leaving the Conservative Party. And he sought to rally support behind David Cameron and his pledge of a referendum on the UK's membership of the EU in 2017 if the Tories win the next election.
"It is only if the great conservative family unites and we stop Ed Miliband seizing back control of this country that we will be able to deliver the referendum that this country wants and deserves," Johnson told activists.
"I say to the quitters, the splitters and the 'Kippers, there is only one party that can sort out the European issue."
Mr Johnson, who will officially address the conference on Tuesday, urged the party to unite to win a working majority next year, suggesting that under Ed Miliband's leadership Labour were "virtually unelectable".
"When you look at the vast leads that this party enjoys on the key questions of the economy and prime ministerial qualities, I think they (voters) will come over in droves," he said.
And referring to one of Margaret Thatcher's landslide election victories in the 1980s, he added: "If we get this right, this election campaign could be more like 1983 than 1997."
Earlier the Eurosceptic Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan told the BBC's Daily Politics Mr Reckless and Mr Carswell had "made a mistake" in leaving the party.
"I think they have both acted on principle - nobody does this kind of thing lightly," he said."I think they have both acted on principle - nobody does this kind of thing lightly," he said.
Mr Hannan said he would not be following in their footsteps and joining UKIP, because David Cameron's pledge of a referendum on the UK's membership of the EU had "changed everything".Mr Hannan said he would not be following in their footsteps and joining UKIP, because David Cameron's pledge of a referendum on the UK's membership of the EU had "changed everything".
'Respectful'
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, former Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said the Conservatives had to be "absolutely clear" to people who could switch to UKIP.Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, former Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said the Conservatives had to be "absolutely clear" to people who could switch to UKIP.
He added: "We have got to be respectful of them and we have got to make a very clear, intelligent case that the only national organisation that can resolve the long-term problems of the UK is the Conservative Party."He added: "We have got to be respectful of them and we have got to make a very clear, intelligent case that the only national organisation that can resolve the long-term problems of the UK is the Conservative Party."
But former Chancellor Ken Clarke said the Conservatives should make the argument that UKIP is "rather a nasty organisation and its basic case is folly".But former Chancellor Ken Clarke said the Conservatives should make the argument that UKIP is "rather a nasty organisation and its basic case is folly".
Speaking at a fringe debate, he criticised the "neurotic" debate about Europe which had, he said, "rather dominated our party for the last 20 years".Speaking at a fringe debate, he criticised the "neurotic" debate about Europe which had, he said, "rather dominated our party for the last 20 years".
Mr Johnson has been adopted as the party's candidate in the north-west London seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip at the next general election.
He has denied this is part of a plan for succeeding Mr Cameron, but his father, former MEP Stanley Johnson, told the BBC he believed his son could still become leader of the Conservative Party.
'Disagree vehemently'
Mr Reckless, MP for Rochester and Strood, announced he was making the switch on the eve of his former party's conference.
Ahead of his address to delegates in Birmingham, Mr Johnson used his weekly newspaper column to appeal to any of his colleagues thinking of following suit.
"Let me try to reason with any in my party, the folk who want to launch themselves headlong into the silage, because I genuinely think that they (if they indeed exist) must be utterly nuts," he wrote.
Mr Johnson, whose speeches have become an annual conference highlight for activists, said only Mr Cameron or his Labour counterpart Ed Miliband were "in a position" to become prime minister.
"I know that you disagree vehemently with most of what Ed Miliband says and does - and so I must urge you not to allow the disaster of a Miliband premiership," he went on.
"If you really want to let this country sleepwalk into a Labour government, then that is your prerogative. You can close your eyes and let it happen. You kip if you want to; the rest of us are going to fight and win."
His intervention came as the Conservatives looked to turn minds to policy and the 2015 general election, after Mr Reckless's defection and the resignation of cabinet office minister Brooks Newmark over a newspaper report that he had sent explicit pictures of himself to an undercover journalist.