ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

PA News

Robert Kilroy Silk, the former Labour MP turned daytime TV star, hit the campaign trail today as the race for victory in the Hartlepool by-election nears the finishing line.

With just 12 days to go before polling day the East Midlands Euro MP spent the afternoon meeting voters in the harbour town.

Mr Kilroy Silk’s visit follows that of Tory leader Michael Howard and Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy, as well as a host of Labour ministers.

The former TV host was accompanied by UKIP’s by-election candidate Stephen Allison and a large group of supporters.

One of the first people Mr Kilroy Silk spoke to was Rose Gentle, whose 19-year-old soldier son Gordon, was killed in Iraq in June.

Mrs Gentle, who had a picture of her son pinned to her coat, had travelled from her home in Glasgow to speak to the politicians contesting the by-election.

Accompanied by her mother, she told Mr Kilroy Silk: “My son was sent to Iraq with just six months training.

“We just want someone to listen to us – the troops have got to come home.”

Mrs Gentle, who is backing the Respect candidate, presented the MEP with a letter she had received from Tony Blair and urged him to read it.

Mr Kilroy Silk said he wanted to discuss her case in more detail but added: “Your son was an honourable man and he died fighting for a good cause.”

As he entered the town’s main square he was faced by campaigners from Respect, Fathers 4 Justice in an array of super hero costumes and the English Democrats, who were accompanied by a large coffin sporting an English flag, as well as a dozen Christians.

Some of the public were less than impressed with the large entourage of political campaigners, as they struggled to do their shopping on packed Saturday afternoon in Hartlepool.

But most were happy to shake hands with someone they recognised from the TV.

Mr Kilroy Silk told everyone he stopped that this by-election was about honesty.

“This campaign is all about telling the truth and about Queen and Country and not about being ruled from Europe,” he said.

“Vote for a new politics – for the party that tells the truth – not the old liars.”

Mr Kilroy Silk was a Labour MP between 1974 and 1987 before embarking on a hugely successful daytime chat show career as the host of ‘Kilroy’.

However, it came to an abrupt end when the BBC dropped the programme after he made a series of sweeping generalisations about Islam in a newspaper column.

In May he joined UKIP, and the following month he was elected as an MEP for the East Midlands.

However, a poll for Channel 4 News this week was bad news for UKIP as it put the party on just 9% – in fourth place behind the Conservatives.

The by-election will be held on September 30. It was caused by the resignation of Peter Mandelson following his appointment as a EU Commissioner.