Hague 'Nobody' Jibe Prompts £1m UKIP Donation

Nigel Farage and UKIP soured the start of the Tory conference with the defection of Mark Reckless and have now left a nasty taste for David Cameron within hours of its finale with a £1m gift from a former Conservative donor.

Arron Banks, a multimillionaire insurance tycoon, strolled on to the lawn of a country house hotel in Gloucestershire alongside Mr Farage in bright sunshine and announced that an insult from William Hague had prompted him to up his donation from £100,000.

Earlier, after Sky News revealed that Mr Banks planned to donate £100,000 , Mr Hague - feted in Mr Cameron's end-of-conference speech as "the greatest living Yorkshireman" - dismissed UKIP's latest donor as "someone we have not heard of".

Mr Banks, who is a self-made man and owns the Old Down Manor hotel where the announcement was made, told reporters: "I was hoping that Mr Hague will now know who I am."

His £1m donation puts him up in the same league as another former Tory donor now bankrolling UKIP, Paul Sykes, and one of the party's biggest financial backers.

Mr Banks, who runs GoSkippy insurance, said: "I woke up this morning intending to donate £100,000 to UKIP and I understand Mr Hague called me a 'nobody'.

"So, in light of that, and in view that I am a strong advocate of leaving the European Union, I have decided today to donate £1m to the party and not the £100,000 we originally agreed."

Mr Farage announced Mr Banks' cash would be used to fund the four by-elections coming up in the next few weeks: Clacton, and Heywood and Middleton on October 9; followed by Rochester and Strood and the Police and Crime Commissioner poll in South Yorkshire.

Referring to anti-UKIP jibes by senior Tories Grant Shapps and Ken Clarke, the UKIP leader said: "The strategy of their conference has blown up in their face.

"Today Arron, who has given the Conservative Party a lot of money over the years and a lot of support, is being described as being Mr Nobody.

"So, with the original donation of £100,000, which I would have been delighted with, being increased to £1m, Mr Nobody has bitten back."

The UKIP leader spoke confidently of victory in the Clacton by-election, caused by the defection of Tory MP Douglas Carswell, and claimed Labour was rattled in Heywood and Middleton, where Labour’s majority is under 6,000.

Mr Farage said UKIP had come second to Labour in five by-elections in the north of England and was now the main opposition to Labour in the North.

And in South Yorkshire, where there will be a by-election for Police Commissioner following the resignation of Shaun Wright after the Rotherham child abuse scandal, he said UKIP had topped the poll in the European elections in May.

The UKIP leader appeared less confident about his party's prospects in the Rochester and Strood by-election, triggered by the defection of Mr Reckless on the eve of the Tory conference.

While many Conservative MPs at their conference in Birmingham appeared to accept that Mr Carswell was poised to hold his Clacton seat, there was fury directed at Mr Reckless, and the Tories are planning to mount a massive effort to unseat him.

But many Tories accept that a right-wing vote split between the Conservatives and UKIP could lead to a Labour victory in Rochester and Strood.

Tory MPs claim, however, that that makes their case that a vote for Mr Farage is a vote for Ed Miliband.

Or, as Mr Cameron put it in his conference speech: "On May 7 you could go to bed with Nigel Farage and wake up with Ed Miliband."

Mr Farage denies that a vote for UKIP is a vote for Labour.

But with a cheque for £1m in his pocket, the always-jovial UKIP leader had the last laugh at the end of the Conservative Party Conference.

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The full list of confirmed candidates for the Clacton by-election on Thursday 9 October:

Douglas Carswell - UKIP; Andy Graham - Liberal Democrat; Howling Laud Hope - Loony; Charlotte Rose - Independent; Bruce Sizer - Independent; Chris Southall - Green; Giles Watling - Conservative; Tim Young - Labour

The full list of confirmed candidates for the Heywood and Middleton by-election on Thursday 9 October:

John Bickley - UKIP; Iain Gartside - Conservative; Abi Jackson - Green; Liz McInnes - Labour; Anthony Smith - Liberal Democrat