THIS is BIG: The BOW GROUP CHAIRMAN calls for TACTICAL VOTING for UKIP where TORIES cannot WIN!

It is a very big development:  The Chair of the Bow Group, a conservative think tank, Benjamin Harris-Quinney, called for conservative voters in districts where the Tories are behind UKIP to Labour to vote for the libertarian, anti-EU party to stop Labour.

But he said “few in the Conservative Party will acknowledge the reality that this is now very unlikely to happen, and without that acknowledgement we are sleep-walking into a Labour government”.

He added: “We recognise the need to keep Ed Miliband out of Number 10, and the best way to do this is for Conservative voters to lend their votes to UKIP, who are best placed to beat Labour in many areas.”

Here’s the Daily Telegraph’s version.

Of course great Tories like Lord Heseltine (who led the drive to overthrow then PM Margaret Thatcher in 1990 that led to her resignation) immediately said:  Vote Tweedledee in all districts!  From the Telegraph:

Lord Lamont of Lerwick, Lord Heseltine, Lord Howe of Aberavon, Lord Howard of Lympne and Nirj Deva MEP said in a statement issued by the Conservative Party: “As Patrons of the Bow Group we believe that this country’s best interests are served by voting Conservative in all situations. Ben Harris-Quinney does not speak for us or represent our views.”

So there you have it.  It is not my place to tell the British how to vote.  But if I were a subject of Her Majesty, I would have done more than vote UKIP:  I’d have applied to run for MP and I’d gone (supposing my family would let me) anywhere to do so – Northern Scotland, Shetlands and Orkneys, South Cornwall, Wales, to run as an MP for UKIP.