Nigel Farage hits out at Ukip defector

Nigel Farage has promised to use money saved by quitting the EU to inject extra cash into the NHS as he sought to limit the damage caused by a Ukip MEP defecting to the Tories.

The Ukip leader, who pledged an extra £3bn (€4bn) a year for the health service, hit out at the party’s former communities spokesman, Amjad Bashir, after his defection to join David Cameron’s party.

Ukip said it had suspended Bashir shortly before news of his decision to join the Tories emerged, and Farage said the party had become “increasingly alarmed” about claims of impropriety.

Bashir dismissed his former party’s move as a “desperate attempt” to smear him to distract from the news of his decision to join the Conservatives and insisted there was “not a shred of truth” to the claims.

But Farage told the BBC: “We have been increasingly alarmed by Mr Bashir’s behaviour over the last few months.”

He claimed the MEP “didn’t tell us the truth” about the alleged employment of illegal immigrants in his restaurant business and there are “some big open questions in Brussels about money”.

He warned Cameron “caveat emptor” — buyer beware.

Farage went on to call for measures to crack down on health tourism and said people studying for medical subjects should be exempt from tuition fees to reduce the NHS’s reliance on migrant workers.