William Cash, UKIP's spokesperson on heritage matters, has complained that it is almost impossible to find a live-in housekeeper "capable of starching and ironing your Turnbull & Asser shirts without burning the collars" in modern Britain.

He said the struggle became real for him after he decided to hire "a new housekeeper to replace a friendly but hopelessly chaotic young east European couple" to live at his Shropshire stately home and look after his family.

In a piece for the Daily Telegraph, Cash said he recruited the original couple after his sister "found them selling the Big Issue outside a Tesco's in Chelsea" but with a second child on the way "they decided they were better off moving to Birmingham and claiming benefits".

Cash, the son of Conservative MP Sir Bill Cash, is the founder of Spear's magazine, which describes itself a publication "exclusively for members of the new global class of high net worth".

The UKIP candidate's website describes how he lives at the 15th-century Upper Cressett Hall with "his wife, Lady Laura, along with their labrador Cressetta and pug Thimble". He said he needed the live-in assistance for ironing, cleaning, and "home-cooking for dinner parties".