UKIP has a rule that they do not go on the many copious junkets that are on offer to MEPs. Alarm bells started to ring on May 16, when David Campbell Bannerman went on a trip to Taiwan, telling his party staff it was on private business. But a photo has popped up showing what he was really up to, as a guest of the Taiwanese Government, paid for by the “European Parliament Friends of Taiwan Group”:

Campbell Bannerman lined up with Tory MEPs Geoffrey van-Orden, Martin Callanan, Charles Tannock and Roger Helmer to meet the President. As the rice wine flowed, words of encouragement were dripped into the former Bow Group chairman’s ear. By the end of the trip, DCB was won over, and he went straight to CCHQ for a photo-op as soon as he touched down back in London :

Though there is very little love lost from seasoned Ukippers, there are mutters about Campbell Bannerman’s word and reputation forever being dirt. All their MEP candidates had to sign up to a code of conduct. Clause 7 has particularly grated them:

“Our MEPs will be expected to… remain as members of UKIP for the full 5-year term or otherwise retire from the Parliament.”

There is also a pending employment tribunal that is with the lawyers. Guido understands DCB kept that one quiet with his new friends…

Not long now…

It seems that being Gordon’s bag-carrier hasn’t taken up much of Alison McGovern’s time. Warmest congratulations to her today as she announces she is expecting a baby in November. The announcement, as is often the tradition, has gone to the loyal local rag:

But was it pushed forward  a little by a certain watchful eye?

This is Hank Roberts. He’s a geography teacher at Copland School in Brent. Well sort of, that was before he became a “pilgrim”. A full-time union official, paid for by the taxpayer to do full-time union duties, rather than the front-line role he should be doing. The last figures that Guido could get his hands on showed that our Hank cost the school £53,000pa to have him on full-time release for his union activities.

The struggling school has to pay around £106,000 every year to three union officials not to teach. However the local authority only budgeted the school with £70,000 for this malarkey in 2009/10, and £78,000 in 2008/09. In the last two years, a school in one of the most deprived areas of the country has had to pick up a £64,000 shortfall in union funding, out of its already tight and struggling budget . It is feared that this annual shortfall could have been going on for as long as twenty years…

But it gets worse. Despite being paid to work for the brothers, it seems Hank has even grander ideas. He spent the summer term of 2008 as part of the “Wembley Park Action Group”, sitting up a tree to stop a City Academy being built.

This action resulted in him being convicted at Willesden County Court and fined what he called “a substantial sum of money”, believed to be around £3,000. All the way through this mess, the taxpayer was funding his activities, to the despair of his school and Brent Council.

Hank’s personally-aggrandising website states that he is the “Organising Secretary of UNIFY and a member of all three teacher unions” as well as being elected Senior Vice President (2011), National President (2012) of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers. Presumably taking more money from these positions…

Guido spoke to Hank earlier and he claims that from September he will be going down to three days a week on union activity. Which makes everything ok. There’s more to this one though. Complaints about Hank have been raised in the past, and fell on some very interesting deaf ears…

Apparently David Campbell Bannerman has:

“…been a proud member of the Conservative Party in the past and I am proud to come home to the Conservatives today… I’ve been pleased with the robust stance taken by David Cameron and Conservative MEPs over the EU budget negotiations and I believe that it is Conservative MEPs who are working hard to defend Britain’s interests”

Which is odd given Cameron has done very little to stand up to Europe. Equally meek William Hague welcomed him with open arms:

“I am very pleased that we can welcome David Campbell Bannerman back to the Conservative Party.  The Conservative Party is bringing in people who want to work in the national interest to sort out Britain’s problems. I am sure David Campbell Bannerman will be a valuable member of our team in the European Parliament.”

A UKIP insider said “our problem is now their problem”.

UPDATE: A good spot by Total Politics. This is what David Campbell Bannerman had to say last year:

“Cameron has spent the last five years ditching Conservative policies on Europe… It’s overwhelmingly clear now that trusting Cameron with Europe will be as misguided as trusting Blair on Iraq.”

Ouch.

Apparently the UKIP MEP, and sore leadership lose, is about to jump ship back to the Tories. ConHome have got wind of the same rumour.

UKIP sources weren’t exactly signing his praises yesterday afternoon, and he’s not answering his mobile….

UPDATE: DCB said he wouldn’t work under Farage at the UKIP leadership hustings. Apparently there was talk of booting him down the candidates list at the next European elections.

UPDATE II: Talk of DCB is holding a press conference in an hour…

Last week Huhne said to Laura Kuenssberg that the allegations against him “were incorrect”, had been “made before and shown to be untrue”, and that’s all he would like to say on the matter. Yesterday, he was cornered by Channel4 News, and despite being presented with new evidence, he gave the identical statement:

The police are going to want a little bit more detail than that Chris. And Guido doesn’t recommend you laugh in that interview…

Downing Street source says…

“If Huhne was a Tory he would have gone already.”

Guido is chuffed that the crazy Taiwanese animators have given him a starring role…