A Ukip London Assembly candidate asked for a bogus address in the capital to enable him to stand in next year’s elections, the Standard has learned.
David Kurten, who is currently living outside London, asked Ukip colleagues to help him bypass rules by letting him “register at their address” to be nominated for Assembly elections in May, a leaked email reveals. Rules state candidates must be registered to vote in London or have lived, worked, rented or owned property here for 12 months.
His message to Ukip colleagues read: “I need to be on the electoral register in Greater London for the Assembly elections. Currently I’m living in Surrey at the campus of the school I work with, so I need to move or find someone who would let me register at their address until I move into London.”
“I have my flat here in Weybridge till 31st March so ideally I don’t want to move until then, but that’s too late in terms of nomination eligibility.” He then asks directly if anyone will “let me go on the electoral register at their address”.
Alternatively, he asks if anyone knows of a cheap room he could rent from February to May to “use as a pied-à-terre” for nomination purposes.
Conservative Assembly member and MP James Cleverly said: “Pretending to live in London just to qualify as a candidate is a serious breach of trust and, if true, puts a huge question mark over his suitability as a candidate.”
Asked about the email, Mr Kurten told the Standard he is working a two-term placement at a Surrey school which came with rented accommodation, prior to which he lived in Peckham.
Explaining that he had become a candidate after getting the job, he said: “I sent the email to find out if I can meet the eligibility criteria while still renting the accommodation I have at the campus where I work, which is five miles outside the Greater London area, but was advised that I should move into the Greater London area at Christmas time, and that is what I now plan to do.”
A Ukip spokesman said: “Realising that he was temporarily five miles outside the GLA area, he was looking for a short-term solution. He has already been advised that a postal address is not good enough.”
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