As a parliamentary candidate for the UK Independence Party in the recent general election I know just how much hard work was involved by both myself and my support team.

I was amazed therefore to read that Nick O'Hare, the Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Old Bexley and Sidcup in the last general election, has decided to defect to the Conservative Party so soon after the general election, apparently because of a lack of support and change of policy by the Lib Dem Party.

All I can say is that on the many occasions our paths crossed during the election campaign Mr O'Hare was always well supported and I am not aware of any change of policy by the Lib Dems in the months since the general election that would cause somebody to leave the party.

It seems more probable that due to his poor performance for the Lib Dems in the general election he has decided to jump ship and join any party, irrespective of their policies, that gives him a better chance to protect the allowances he receives as a councillor, fearful that he may lose them if he stays with the Lib Dems.

He is also arrogant in the extreme if he thinks that people voted for him because he cuts their hair rather than for the policies of the party he was representing.

Mr O'Hare was also recently campaigning in the local press, urging people to support proportional representation. Perhaps he could tell us if he still holds the same views now he is a Conservative.

I am sure the residents of East Wickham ward will not forgive him for betraying them. Nor will the residents of any other ward he stands in support someone who is not true to his word and cannot be trusted.

One can only wonder if the Conservatives made him an offer he couldn't refuse in order to persuade him to desert the friends and colleagues that gave him so much support in the past.

Michael Barnbrook, UK Independence Party, Bexley branch