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Boris Johnson’s former right-hand man at City Hall today announced he has ditched his Tory membership to instead join Ukip.

Former Deputy Mayor of London Richard Barnes told the Standard that the Tories, Labour and Lib Dems did not “speak the language of normal people”.

He argued Ukip was the only party with the right answers on leaving the EU, sorting out immigration and taking a strong position on HS2 and Heathrow expansion.

The news came as his old boss Mr Johnson prepared to speak at conference, rallying troops who are nervous after two Conservative MPs already defected to Ukip.

Last night the Mayor risked outraging Ukip supporters with a bizarre jibe that would-be defectors were people who might inflict "barely credible" injuries on themselves by "vacuum cleaner abuse".

Mr Barnes, who served as Deputy Mayor between 2008 and 2012, said he took his decision due to a mix of London and national issues.

He said: “There seems to be a detachment from ordinary people’s lives in the Westminster Village.

“The parties just don’t seem to relate and talk the language of normal people.”

Mr Barnes said he wanted the UK to pull out of the EU and return to a free trade agreement with the continent.

He went on to claim that David Cameron’s plan to renegotiate a deal with Europe was “unrealistic”.

He said: “Do we really believe they can create a new settlement by 2017, with the agreement of all the member states. It’s just unrealistic. There has to be more clarity and it’s not there at the moment.”

Immigration was another problem the Government had failed to properly deal with, said Mr Barnes.

He told the Standard: “Our borders are massively porous. Immigration is a good idea, but it has to bring a benefit to our economic, social and cultural life.

“It cannot be to take advantage of the NHS or to exploit the benefits system. At the moment it’s a mess. We don’t count people in, or count them out. That would be a good place to start.”

Mr Barnes, who is gay, dismissed claims Ukip was homophobic after one UKIP councillor, a former Tory, blamed floods across Britain on the Government's decision to legalise same-sex marriage.

He said: “I’ll stand my ground against any prat. They are in all the parties. I don’t think they become homophobic the moment they join Ukip.”

He highlighted the impact on West London of the HS2 route and possible Heathrow expansion as reasons for becoming disillusioned with the Tories.

Mr Barnes was London Assembly for Ealing and Hillingdon from 2000 to 2012 and is a former Hillingdon councillor.

The politician says he may eventually seek elected office for his new party, though most likely not in the House of Commons.

But he was caught in a scandal last year when naked pictures of him were posted on his Facebook account. The pictures were later removed with Mr Barnes claiming the account was hacked.

Mr Johnson was due to address Tory delegates in the main conference hall today, but spoke to party members at a rally last night.

He said it was time for "the great conservative family" to unite to defeat Labour. He also joked about how the EU Commission wants to ban vacuum cleaners on the grounds that they are too powerful

He added: "If you do not handle your vacuum cleaner correctly, you may end up inhaling the hamster - the budgerigar through the bars of the cage.

"And I have read that there are some people - probably the type who are thinking of defecting to Ukip - who present themselves at A&E with barely credible injuries sustained through vacuum cleaner abuse."

Last night Mr Cameron admitted he had a “double battle on my hands” fighting Labour on one front and Ukip on the other.

Speaking this morning the Prime Minister tried to reach out to eurosceptics saying that he cared “1,000 times more strongly about the UK, than about the EU”.