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Goldsmith in the party mood

Chris Blackhurst
Thursday 17 October 1996 23:02 BST
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No sooner have the Tories suffered a defection to Sir James Goldsmith, than it could be his turn to suffer the same embarrassment.

The Referendum Party's rival on the fringe of mainstream politics, the anti-European UK Independence Party, claimed last night that three Goldsmith candidates in the next election were preparing to jump ship to them. According to Alan Sked, the party's leader, the three were likely to defect on Saturday after the Referendum Party's conference in Brighton. He said the three were from Lancashire, Norfolk and Worcestershire and had told the UKIP of their deep dissatisfaction and "serious doubts" about Sir James's plans, fearing he was prepared to do a deal with the Tories and scrap his campaign.

If true, the defections would be a serious blow for Sir James.The UKIP will be holding its own session in the Old Ship Hotel, close to the Brighton conference centre. The UKIP wants to see British withdrawal from the EU while Sir James insists that his party seeks only to put a referendum offering voters options about the future shape of Europe and Britain's place in it. It would disband once that referendum had been achieved.

Meanwhile, tonight Sir James will kick off his conference with a dinner for all Referendum's election candidates. This will not be any average political candidates' dinner since this is not a typical party. Peter de Savary, John Aspinall and Edward Fox will be among those seeking inspiration from Sir James.

Carla Powell is throwing a dinner party for 30 "opinion formers". Mainly political pundits, they include Taki, the millionaire newspaper columnist. The idea, said Mrs Powell, was to have "a round table, with very mixed views, for a certain type of journalist to create a debate on Europe".

They will hear Paul Johnson, the Euro-sceptic and fellow Spectator columnist of Taki, set out his views. Then they will be invited to have their say.

Another millionaire, Lord McAlpine, the former Tory party treasurer and recently declared convert to Referendum is also hosting a bash.

Manfred Brunner, the German founder of the Union of Free Citizens, will be there. Jens-Peter Bonde, the man responsible for orchestrating the Danish "no" vote on Maastricht is attending, along with Charles de Gaulle. The grandson of the French president shot at by Edward Fox in the film Day of the Jackal, he shares his grandfather's nationalist vision. It should be quite a weekend.

Battle for Putney, page 20

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