An Essex MP today denied she was about to defect to the UK Independence Party.
Speculation had been rife that Teresa Gorman, Tory MP for Billericay, was the unnamed senior Conservative due to meet the anti-European group.
But Mrs Gorman said today: "I have absolutely no plans to apply for membership of the UK Independence Party."
UKIP chairman Nigel Farage today confirmed that he had seen Mrs Gorman. He said: "I'm not prepared to discuss what was said."
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