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Ukip general secretary Roger Bird suspended over allegations of impropriety Ukip general secretary Roger Bird suspended over harassment claim by high-profile female candidate Natasha Bolter
(about 2 hours later)
Ukip has suspended its general secretary over allegations of impropriety. Ukip has been plunged into a fresh crisis after one of its most high-profile female candidates quit the party, claiming she was harassed by its general secretary.
Roger Bird was suspended yesterday pending a full investigation into claims regarding candidate selection. Natasha Bolter, an Oxford-educated former Labour party activist, claims that she was propositioned by the party’s general secretary Roger Bird on the day she was interviewed as a prospective candidate.
While a party spokesman declined to tell the Press Association the details of the allegations, he said they did not relate to a recent row which reportedly saw more than a dozen Ukip activists quit the party over leader Nigel Farage's handling of the candidate selection process. She said that Mr Bird invited her to continue the interview at a London member’s club that evening. “I thought it was because I was nervous. [But] when I went I could see that he wasn’t really interested in what I had to offer as a politician,” she told The Times.
In a statement, Ukip said the decision was made “swiftly and decisively” and involved external HR consultants. “He took me down to the snooker room and said ‘I find you very attractive’. He said, ‘Would you like to come home with me?’”
  
A Ukip spokesperson commented: “Unfortunately, Ukip has had to suspend Mr Bird pending a full investigation into allegations made against him. The party has acted swiftly and decisively and will not tolerate impropriety of any kind amongst its staff.” News of her departure emerged as she pulled out hustings in South Basildon scheduled today.
Mr Bird had been Ukip general secretary since July this year, and was previously finance director at Astrum Education and Alpha Plus Group, according to his LinkedIn profile. On Monday evening Ukip confirmed it had suspended Mr Bird “following allegations of impropriety . . . with regard to candidate selection”. It is understood that Mr Bird, 41, has told the party that he had a consensual relationship with Ms Bolter.
Prior to his involvement with Ukip, Mr Bird was a Conservative councillor in Wandsworth, south London. In 2009, Mr Bird left the Tories and defected to Ukip a year later. Ms Bolter, 35, denies that any romantic or sexual contact took place. She claims that upon accepting the invitation to dinner, Mr Bird said she was not dressed smartly enough. She says Mr Bird bought her a £169 dress from Ted Baker, before approvingly telling her she “now looked like a girl who could get in a taxi”.
Last year, he was named as Ukip’s general election candidate in the Surrey constituency of Mole Valley. After sharing a meal together, Mr Bird “leant over and tried to kiss me”. “It was obvious that he wanted to sleep with me,” she said. “I was quite adamant that I’m not going to sleep with him or anyone [in Ukip]. It’s hard enough for women. We shouldn’t have to sleep with people to get to the right place.”
The allegation will come as a blow the Eurosceptic party which has worked hard to reshape a more inclusive image ahead of next year’s election. Ms Bird, who was a Labour activist in Tower Hamlets, was unveiled in September to great fanfare as part of Nigel Farage’s claim that the party was “parking our tanks on the Labour Party's lawn”.
There she delivered an impassioned a speech accusing Labour of female “tokenism” claiming she had worked alongside “misogynists” during her time in Labour. “The women in Ukip have flourished equally alongside our male counterparts,” she said to rapturous applause. “We in Ukip rise above gender politics in a bid to move Britain forward.”
A Ukip spokesman said last night: "Unfortunately, Ukip has had to suspend Mr Bird pending a full investigation into allegations made against him. The party has acted swiftly and decisively and will not tolerate impropriety of any kind amongst its staff."