Mark Reckless: I did not tell David Cameron I was defecting to Ukip

Описание: Conservative backbencher Mark Reckless admits he did not warn Prime Minister David Cameron before he announced he was defecting to Ukip

Mark Reckless, the MP for Rochester and Strood, revealed today that he had not warned Prime Minister David Cameron that he was joining Nigel Farage's Eurosceptic party.

The defection of Mr Reckless, is the second since August and comes just eight months before a national election deals a blow to Prime Minister on the eve of his party's annual conference.

Reckless, who made the announcement at Ukip's annual conference, said that as a Conservative politician he felt he had not been able to keep his promises to voters, one of which was to get the country out of the EU.

In his relatively brief parliamentary career, Mark Reckless has proved a persistent thorn in the side of the Conservative leadership.

Elected for the first time in 2010, the bespectacled former solicitor - once described as looking like a country rector - has gained a reputation as one of Westminster's most rebellious MPs.

His time in Parliament began ignominiously when he had to apologise after missing a Commons vote because he had had too much to drink in one of Westminster's bars - something he vowed would never happen again.

In 2012, he was back in the headlines when he was credited with masterminding the coalition's first Commons defeat, leading 53 Tory rebels to join with Labour to back a motion demanding a real terms cut in the European Union budget.

The vote came as a severe embarrassment to David Cameron on the eve of crucial talks in Brussels.

It underlined his reputation as a serial rebel, going back to early days of the coalition when he was one of just six Tory MPs to vote against the Government on tuition fees.

A die-hard eurosceptic, committed to Britain's withdrawal from the EU, his name was quickly in the frame when rumours began circulating during the week of fresh Tory defections to Ukip.

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