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David Cameron was hit by another defection of a London councillor to Ukip today - as a shock poll showed one in five Tory members could vote for Nigel Farage’s party.

Richmond councillor Scott Naylor, elected in 2010, said he was joining Ukip because it would best represent local people and promote reform to the European Union.

“I have decided that Ukip offers me the freedom to represent local people without feeling restrained in what I can say on local issues like the development of Twickenham station,” he said.

Mr Farage told the Standard: “It is a great pleasure to welcome Scott to the party. He is utterly focused on providing a service to his electors and has shown over the years that those efforts are supported.

“That he feels that UKIP is the party that cares about local people tells us a great deal about the way this party is becoming a real force in local politics.”

There has been a spate of defections to Ukip in recent weeks, including three councillors in Merton and four at Hounslow. Mr Naylor had fallen out with his local party and was deselected last month.

A YouGov survey found a fifth of Conservative members were considering voting Ukip and more than half did not feel respected by Mr Cameron and his inner circle.

Only 19 per cent expected the Conservatives to win an overall majority at the general election, and six in 10 were against gay marriage.

Another survey of 101 UKIP councillors showed 21 per cent were former Tory councillors and 33 per cent had been Conservative members.

Mr Farage said hs party was growing fast. He said: “This is not a splinter group on the right of the Conservative Party. This is a new national party, not hidebound by political correctness, prepared to stand up and say things that everybody else has tried to brush under the carpet for decades.”