UKIP and Robin Page

There's a bit of a skirmish about the circumstances under which Robin Page was unable to become a candidate for UKIP. Iain Dale wrote about it, repeating Page's allegations about how UKIP was "Zimbabwean" in its procedures. Tim Worstall, in his new capacity as UKIP's Press Officer responded (also on Dale's post).

I can't comment about that, but I have met Robin Page - I was once married to his co-presenter on a regional television programme. I have the highest regard for the work of his Countryside Restoration Trust that seeks to "show that commercial farming can co-exist with conservation".

But I suspect UKIP hasn't done too badly out of this series of events. When I met him at his house, Page spent about ten minutes explaining how the "unnatural" aberration that is homosexuality is caused by high levels of female hormones in drinking water, or was it in fish? I confess my attention was wandering.

I don't think he would be an unalloyed electoral asset for a party that is trying to throw off the impression it's a refuge for reactionary cranks, in order to become a mainstream force - something that Nigel Farage's leadership has shown flickering signs of making possible.