08:07 Monday 29th February 2016
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire
CHRIS MANN: A Cambridgeshire Conservative councillor is the latest to switch parties and join UKIP. Adrian Dent says he’s disillusioned with the party at Cambridgeshire County Council. And he’s the county councillor for Bassingbourn. He joins me in the studio now. Morning to you.
ADRIAN DENT: Good morning Chris.
CHRIS MANN: How long have you been a Conservative?
ADRIAN DENT: Since I could vote, and that was eighteen. An awfully long time now, thirty seven years.
CHRIS MANN: And you’ve been an elected councillor for the last three years, for Bassingbourn on the County Council.
ADRIAN DENT: I have. Yes.
CHRIS MANN: So why are you leaving the Conservatives, and perhaps more importantly why are you joining UKIP?
ADRIAN DENT: It’s a personal choice. I lecture in change and change management and lean manufacturing, and I’m used to seeing change happen quickly. And I’m not happy in the role that I am as a Conservative county councillor, and I want to make change happen quicker. That’s why I became elected. I wanted to make a change for the people who voted for me.
CHRIS MANN: And how are you going to do that by joining UKIP? What will the difference be? Because you’re not going to change the situation on the County Council, are you?
ADRIAN DENT: No, but I can have more of my say. I’m allowed to say what I want. There is no whip in UKIP, and that’s the bit that I find that I couldn’t .. I’ve thought about this long and hard for fourteen months before I’ve done this, and you can’t say that’s a fast decision. It’s not. I have just become more and more increasingly frustrated with the whip situation, and I just wanted to move. It’s a personal choice. Nothing against the people who are in the Conservatives, but it doesn’t fit with my personality.
CHRIS MANN: Well let’s bring in the Deputy Leader of the Conservatives on Cambridgeshire County Council. The Leader is on holiday at the moment, but Mac McGuire. Morning to you sir.
MAC MCGUIRE: Morning Chris.
CHRIS MANN: So, too much whipping. not enough freedom in the Conservatives.
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