THE UKIP candidate for South Basildon and East Thurrock (SBET(, Kerry Smith has made an unreserved apology over comments he made in a leaked phone call.
The contents of the phone call were revealed by the Daily Mail.
During the recorded conversation, Kerry Smith, talks about a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender group (LGBT) being set up on Facebook.
Mr Smith can be heard referring to it as "BLT UKIP" and states: "what the old poofter group call themselves."
There are other "jokey" references to "shooting peasants from Chigwell as well as number of criticisms of Nigel Farage.
A UKIP spokesman said they were "the rantings of an angry man" who was on sedatives for an injury at the time.
They also confirmed that Mr Smith had apologised to the party’s leader Nigel Farage.
In a statement made by a UKIP spokesman on his behalf, Mr Smith said: "I wish to issue a wholehearted and unreserved apology to those who I have offended within the party and anyone else.
"With regards to the leadership and management of the party I was completely wrong and my comments were fuelled by frustrations."
It has been a bizarre week for UKIP and Kerry Smith. A few months ago, he was de-selected as candidate for SBET.
Then, over the course of a week and under the glare of the national media spotlight, two of the candidates withdrew. Natasha Bolter claimed she had been sexually harassed by the chair, Roger Bird and then ex-Tory MP, Neil Hamilton stood down after a letter from UKIP quizzed him about his expenses.
The whole affair still leaves a number of unanswered questions including, why was Kerry Smith de-selected in the first place? A question that YT will endeavour to get to the bottom of.
