A former Tory MP who defected to Ukip and is rumoured to be considering joining the Tories will be blocked from returning the Conservative Party.

Mark Reckless, a member of the Welsh Assembly, has allegedly applied to sit alongside the Conservatives. However The Telegraph understands that he will be barred from formally rejoining the tories.

There are suggestions that he will instead apply to sit alongside Conservative members of the Welsh Assembly. Mr Reckless did not answer calls or respond to messages.

Nigel Farage, the former Ukip leader, said: "I will be very sad to see the back of him. Unlike Mr Carswell I have always thought him an honourable person. I'm sure the pressure on him has been enormous over the last week."

Mr Reckless left the Conservatives in 2014, triggering a by-election which he subsequently won. However the following year he lost the seat at the General Election to the Tories.

David Cameron, the former Prime Minster, allegedly launched an extraordinary attack on Mr Reckless at the time of his defection, accusing him of betraying activists who had worked to get his "fat arse" on the Commons benches.

In the November 2014 by-election, Mr Reckless defeated the Conservative candidate Kelly Tolhurst by a majority of 2,920. But at the general election in May, Ms Tolhurst defeated Mr Reckless with a majority of more than 7,000.