Former Ukip youth leader dies in Thailand

Libertarian ‘free spirit’ found by resort staff after seeking treatment for chest infection

Blogger Christina Annesley, 23, died on holiday (Facebook)

A 23-year-old libertarian campaigner and Ukip supporter has died on a backpacking holiday in Thailand.

Christina Annesley, the former vice-chair of the Yorkshire branch of Ukip’s youth wing, was said by her family to have died of natural causes after seeking treatment for a chest infection.

Hundreds of people – including right-of-centre political figures – paid tribute to Ms Annesley yesterday after her mother Margaret, 55, announced her death on Facebook, saying: “We have lost our beautiful daughter Chrissie of natural causes.

“We are totally devastated. We love you so much darling. Rest in peace.”

The right-wing blogger Guido Fawkes said: “A sad day in libertarian circles. The one-time Tory turned ‘Kipper’ turned vocal free spirit was a regular on the young right-wing scene and was just 23 years old.”

Oliver Cooper, the deputy chairman of Camden Conservatives, wrote: “I didn’t know anyone that didn’t adore her.”

Ms Annesley had been staying on the island of Koh Tao, which became the centre of a murder hunt last September after the British tourists Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24, were found bludgeoned to death on one of its beaches.

Ms Annesley’s father, Boyne, told The Independent that the family had been informed by the Foreign Office that his daughter had died from natural causes.

He said: “She tweeted her boyfriend at midnight Thai time on Monday complaining that she had spent £60 on penicillin because she had a chest infection. We never heard from her again. She was due to check out of her bungalow soon, so staff there went round to check on her and found her dead.” After defecting from the Tory party’s youth wing, Conservative Future, in 2012, Ms Annesley joined Ukip’s Young Independence, rising to become vice-chair of its Yorkshire branch.

She described herself to Total Politics magazine in March 2013 as a “libertarian anarcho-capitalist” and argued that young right-wingers could match left-wing rivals for radicalism.

Her outspokenness included blogging in defence of The Sun’s Page 3 last November, arguing that women had the right to express their sexuality as they wished.

Ms Annesley had left Britain on 7 January to spend four months backpacking around Thailand and Australia.

Her father said: “She was just a lovely, lovely daughter; very independent, with her own opinions and real wit. She had a lovely sense of humour.”

A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We can confirm the death of a British national in Thailand on 21 January. We are providing consular assistance.”