Publicist launches broadside against Kilroy-Silk
Publicist Max Clifford has warned that making Robert Kilroy-Silk leader of the UKIP would be the worst thing the anti-Europe party could do.
Mr Clifford in barbed vitriol dubbed the former TV chat show host “permanently orange” – referring to his suntan – and “a legend in his own mind.”
Mr Kilroy-Silk could face expulsion from UKIP over his refusal to toe the party line.
Nigel Farage, UKIP’s leader in the European Parliament, has called for the whip to be withdrawn from the former Labour MP after he hinted he may form a “new” party.
Mr Farage said Mr Kilroy-Silk had simply gone “too far.”
Mr Kilroy-Silk told GMTV yesterday that disillusioned voters wanted a “new voice and a new style of politics.”
He has made plain he is keen to lead the party and prepared to oust Roger Knapman from the helm. He has also said he wants to “kill” the Conservative Party.
Mr Clifford, who had collaborated with Mr Kilroy-Silk earlier in the year to boost UKIP’s public standing, said a party led by a “showman” such as Mr Kilroy-Silk would lose all credibility.
Following remarks by Mr Kilroy-Silk that Mr Clifford was a “self-confessed lying PR man,” Mr Clifford told The Sunday Telegraph; “Admittedly I don’t always get it right: I remember once saying Kilroy-Silk was talented and interested in other people. Unlike dear Robert, I am neither permanently orange nor a legend in my own mind.
“With the UK Independence Party I was happy with my PR role in getting their message across, a message that they gratefully acknowledged played an important part in their European election success.
“Although I’ve a lot of time for Nigel Farage and others involved in UKIP, were Robert Kilroy-Silk to become leader I certainly would not want any more to do with them.”
