Sex, leaks and lies: Basildon brush-off for Natasha and Neil

EDITOR'S UPDATE on 12 December: Since this article was posted, the FT has reported that Stuart Wheeler, Ukip's second largest donor, has threatened to withdraw further funding unless the party finds Neil Hamilton a seat to fight in the election. A senior Ukip member responded: "I don't care how powerful his patron is, we are not caving [in] to this."

Some of us having been thinking for a while that the only thing that might stop Ukip in its tracks is a full-blown scandal. As a party that professes to be unsullied by sleazy Westminster traditions, how could it cope with the revelation that its candidates too have feet of clay?

Clearly, Ukip has been worrying about the same thing – and has moved to clamp down fast on two successive potential scandals: the Natasha Bolter saga and, hard on its heels, the prospect of the controversial ex-Tory MP Neil Hamilton being selected in South Basildon.

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Both stories have taken several twists and turns in the past 48 hours...

Natasha Bolter: fantasies and realities

I understand from a Ukip source that Bolter’s sudden decision to back out of the candidate selection process in South Basildon, accusing the party’s general secretary Roger Bird of sexual impropriety, came after she discovered that doubts were being raised within the constituency party about her suitability.

Having been under the impression that she was a shoo-in for the highly winnable seat, she was perhaps mentally picking out her wardrobe for day one in her new £74,000-a-year job as a Ukip MP.

But Ukip – according to my source - were getting cold feet, wondering if there might not be a more solid candidate than Natasha.

Since she told The Times on Monday about the sexual harassment she allegedly suffered at the hands of Roger Bird, her story has unraveled in such a way as to suggest Ukip were wise to be having second thoughts.

First, we heard from Bird that he and Natasha had actually ended up having a consensual sexual relationship. She denied it – but he handed over to the media a series of texts that suggested he was being honest. One of them read: “I love u and miss u and think u r sort of perfect.”

The notion that Bolter might be a fantasist has been boosted by the further revelation that she fibbed on her CV about her education.

As the Daily Telegraph reports, Oxford University “took the rare step” yesterday of issuing a statement saying they had no record of Natasha Bolter – or Natasha Ahmed, her maiden name - securing a degree in politics, philosophy and economics at Wadham College as she has claimed.

The Daily Mail goes further, saying she even managed to misspell the name of her supposed alma mater – writing ‘Wadam’ for ‘Wadham’. The paper also quotes a friend of Bolter’s saying she did indeed study in Oxford – but on a teaching course at the now-defunct Westminster Institute of Education at Oxford Brookes University.

There are also questions about Bolter’s age, according to the Telegraph. The divorced mother-of-five says she’s 35, but official records say she’s 39.

Meanwhile, Roger Bird has been removed from his duties pending a party investigation into whether he sexually harassed Bolter as she claimed.

The latest thinking is that Bird might be in trouble not for any sexual impropriety but because he didn’t check her credentials well enough before putting her on the Ukip candidates list; or, as The Times puts it, that he might have “marked up” Natasha in her candidate exams.

Neil Hamilton: questionable expenses

Neil Hamilton’s attempt to get selected as Ukip’s candidate in South Basildon proved shorter-lived than Natasha’s.

As the Mole and other commentators suggested on Tuesday, the idea that the disgraced former Tory MP – who lost his seat in Tatton, Cheshire in 1997 after being accused of taking cash for questions in brown envelopes from Mohamed Fayed - might be the right man to replace Natasha was little short of bonkers.

In the event, Ukip HQ raised its game and started questioning Hamilton about expenses claims he had made in his capacity as deputy chairman of the party.

In a lengthy letter - leaked to Michael Crick of Channel 4 News – Ukip’s finance committee challenged Hamilton to give details of claims for mileage allowances he had made and to explain, among other things, why he had charged to stay at his wife’s flat rather than stay for free at his own home.

The letter concludes: “Please do bear in mind that we receive at Lexdrum House [party HQ] handwritten letters from pensioners enclosing a £5 or a £10 note which they have managed to save so as to send it to Ukip and hence we need to make sure that all expenses are fully explainable.”

Hamilton’s response was to pull out of the Basildon race – not before accusing Ukip colleagues of dirty tricks.

“It is sad that some people in Ukip have adopted the black arts of selective briefing, misrepresentation and outright lies which Ukip rightly excoriates in the LibLabCon,” The Independent quotes him as saying.

After all that, Ukip has chosen Kerry Smith to stand for South Basildon and East Thurrock, subject to Ukip HQ’s approval.

He’ll have a hard time being as colourful a contender as Bolter and Hamilton – but he does have a very good chance of becoming an MP on 7 May 2015 if Ukip can steer clear of further roadblocks.