The Ukip activist picked last week to fight a key Parliamentary seat made homophobic, racist and obscene comments and accused Nigel Farage of corruption, it was revealed last night.

In tape-recorded phone calls leaked to The Mail on Sunday, Kerry Smith, chosen to fight Ukip target seat of Basildon South in Essex:

Mocks ‘f***ing disgusting old pooftahs’ who belong to a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning group, calling them ‘BLTs’ – bacon, lettuce and tomato.

Jokes about ‘shooting peasants’ and mocks Ukip activist Lucy Bostick for printing ‘boring c**p’ on her leaflets.

Refers to a woman with a Chinese name as a ‘Chinky.’

Makes baseless claims about party leader Farage accepting a bribe to promote a Ukip ally over another rival.

Calls Ukip’s immigration spokesman Steve Woolfe a ‘f***ing carpetbagger and a***hole.’

But Mr Farage last night refused to sack Mr Smith. A well-placed Ukip official said: ‘Kerry wants to make a full apology and is hoping it all blows over.’

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Kerry Smith (left) was recorded making a series of astonishing comments including a baseless claim Nigel Farage (right) had accepted 'a nice fat envelope' for promoting a Ukip ally

In a desperate attempt to avoid being fired, Mr Smith has made a grovelling apology and withdrawn his corruption claim.

In a statement made on Smith’s behalf by Farage’s official spokesman, Smith said: ‘I wish to issue a wholehearted and unreserved apology to those who I have offended within the party and anyone else.’

Smith also retracted his claim that Nigel Farage had accepted a ‘nice fat envelope’ for promoting Ukip immigration spokesman Steve Woolfe over his rival, Euro MP David Coburn, in the 2012 London Assembly elections.

The Mail on Sunday understands there is no truth in the allegations and that neither Mr Farage nor Mr Woolfe did anything wrong. The false claim was due to a ‘misunderstanding,’ said Smith.

He added: ‘With regards to the leadership and management of the party I was completely wrong and my comments were fuelled by frustrations.’

The homophobic comments by Smith refer to a Ukip gay group called LGBTQ. The ‘Q’ added to the usual LGBT initials stands for ‘Queer/Questioning.’

The disclosure of the tape recording is the latest outbreak of vicious infighting in Ukip.

Smith was sacked as Ukip candidate for Basildon South and East Thurrock earlier this year and right wing former Tory MP Neil Hamilton was a hot favourite to be chosen to replace him last week.

With Ukip support rising fast, the party has high hopes of winning Basildon South.

'IF YOUR HUSBAND IS A CABINET MINISTER AND HAS A FONDNESS FOR TOURING TRAVEL LODGES, YOU'VE GOT REASON TO WORRY': SENSATIONAL CLAIMS OF FORMER UKIP ASSISTANT Alexandra Swann insists affairs and sexual harassment is more commonplace throughout Westminster than thought The sexual harassment of young, female aides by high-powered Wesminster politicians is more rife than ever imagined, one former European Parliament assistant has claimed. In the week that a Ukip candidate alleged she had been sexually harassed by the party's former general secretary, Roger Bird, another of the party's insiders has said incidents such as the woman's claims are 'prevalent'. Alexandra Swann, former Ukip assistant in the European Parliament, has revealed it is an 'open secret' that one Cabinet Minister has indulged in two affairs with junior staff members, while another 'prominent' politician enjoyed an 'insatiable' appetite for later-night phone sex. 'I know from my experience working in Westminster and Brussels for UKIP just how prevalent these incidents are - but in all parties, not just UKIP,' Miss Swann said. 'In Westminster it is an open secret that one senior Cabinet minister has had two affairs with junior staff members over the past few years, right under his wife’s nose. 'Another senior politician – one of the most prominent of the past two decades – had a seemingly insatiable appetite for late-night phone sex when in his office, all conducted while his wife slept a few doors away. 'When that wasn’t enough for him, a "dinner" would be arranged at the London home of a party donor, with him and his mistress as the only guests, and the host not even present. 'Another former Tory cabinet minister maintained a heated relationship with his young special adviser, but only ever behind the locked doors of his hotel room when she was accompanying him on overnight trips. 'She would innocently go inside with papers for him to sign, and simply not emerge until morning. 'If your husband is a cabinet minister and has developed a fondness for touring the country’s Travelodges, you’ve got reason to worry.' Miss Swann added it was a 'depressing yet enduring' element of her job that she felt the need to 'learn who to avoid in lifts and taxis;. 'Female friends used to refer to one Labour shadow cabinet minister as NSIT, meaning ‘not safe in taxis. 'Over the years, his unwanted attentions have grown so voracious, he’s now known as NSA: ‘not safe anywhere’. Advertisement

Mr Smith was last week announced as the candidate chosen to replace Neil Hamilton (pictured) for the seat of Basildon South in Essex

But in a shock last minute move, Smith, leader of the Labour group was reinstated.

MILLIONAIRE BACKER SUSPENDS DONATIONS Nigel Farage’s General Election plans were thrown into doubt last night after Ukip’s single-biggest funder announced that he was suspending donations. Multi-millionaire Paul Sykes, who has given Ukip about £1.3 million over the past year, said he wanted ‘grassroots’ members to finance the party’s Election campaign instead. He told The Mail on Sunday he was making ‘no commitment’ about future big donations to the party because that would ‘destroy’ Ukip’s bid to build up a grassroots base and he was ‘standing back’ because party membership fees were rising. He added: ‘I am making no commitment and no statement regarding me writing big cheques out to Ukip because it destroys the fabric of what we are trying to build.’ The move will potentially be a huge blow to Mr Farage’s plans for a breakthrough next year by winning Commons seats. Ex-tyre fitter Mr Sykes, whose cash was crucial to Ukip’s record results in this year’s European elections, has been the party’s single most important funder. Last night Mr Farage said: ‘For a political party to be too dependent on a few donors is not a good thing.’ Asked if Ukip could make up any donations shortfall from other sources, Mr Farage said: ‘We’ll have to.’ The party is reportedly in line for a £300,000 donation from Daily Express owner Richard Desmond. Advertisement

Hamilton was forced to pull out after damaging information about his expenses claims were leaked by Ukip enemies.

Ukip insiders say Farage was determined to stop Hamilton because of his controversial past in the notorious ‘cash for questions’ scandal in the 1990s.

Hamilton’s allies claim Farage is ‘jealous’ of him and fears if Hamilton became MP for Basildon South and Farage fails to win in Thanet South across the Thames Estuary, Hamilton would be the party’s most high profile politician.

Some Ukip insiders say the decision to deselect Smith as Basildon South candidate earlier this year came after a copy of the recording was sent to party HQ. ‘Farage’s people heard it and that is why Kerry was booted out,’ said one insider.

‘They were panicked into reinstating him because they were more worried about Hamilton getting the seat.

‘They gambled that the tape wouldn’t be leaked. Now it has. It serves them right.

‘We cannot have grubby people like Kerry in the party, let alone standing for Parliament.’

Hamilton was on a list of five candidates in the running to become Ukip’s candidate for South Basildon.

He claimed he was the victim of a ‘dirty tricks’ campaign when a letter challenging claims for staying in his wife’s flat was leaked to the media just hours before the selection.

His withdrawal triggered a toxic row after the party’s second largest donor, Stuart Wheeler, reportedly threatened to cut off funds unless Hamilton was picked as a candidate for next year’s General Election.

It led to a furious reaction from Ukip’s treasurer, Andrew Reid, who said: ‘Nobody gets to buy a seat for someone else in Ukip.’

Ukip game to rate 'blacks' and Muslims to win £100... or golf umbrella: Farage in another race row over 'rate on immigrant' survey

The Ukip leader has found himself embroiled in another row over race

Nigel Farage was in another race row last night after asking supporters to rate ‘blacks, Muslims and Eastern Europeans’ in a game – with prizes of cash and a Ukip golf umbrella.

The ‘rate an immigrant’ survey is part of a Ukip private survey of members aimed at helping the party draw up its policies.

Sent last week by Ukip chairman Steve Crowther, it asks members to say ‘how close they feel’ to a number of groups.

They include ‘Blacks, Asians, Muslims, English, Eastern Europeans and Whites’ as well as the four main political parties.

Ukip activists are urged to rate each on a scale from 0 for ‘not close at all’ to 10 for ‘very close.’

But the survey was slammed as a racist stunt after details were leaked to The Mail on Sunday.

Last night, senior Labour MP Margaret Hodge condemned the Ukip survey as ‘shocking’.

Mrs Hodge, who won a campaign against the BNP in her Barking constituency in east London, said: ‘This openly brings race into politics. It’s shameful, it’s shocking and it’s offensive.

'It lifts the lid on the unacceptable face of Ukip.’ The survey comes after a series of claims of racism involving Ukip, although Farage has insisted ‘stupid or offensive’ comments by a handful of candidates ‘never have and never will’ represent the views of his party.

The email to thousands of Ukip members from chairman Crowther is headed: ‘Help the Party and Win Prizes!’

It declares: ‘Ukip is growing quickly. We want to strengthen our party by understanding our rapidly growing membership. We are asking all our members to complete a new survey.’

The aim was to ‘use the insights to strengthen the Ukip operation… Your responses will be invaluable in making sure we fulfil our promises over the coming years – and in government!

‘So please, do complete the survey. It should be fun! You might even win some prizes!’

Prizes included ‘one prize of £100, two of £50, three prizes of a Ukip golf umbrella, four prizes of £25, five Ukip notebooks and six Ukip pocket diaries.’

Other Ukip race rows include:

National executive member Gerard Batten’s call for Muslims to sign a ‘charter of understanding’ in which they rejected violence and parts of the Koran that promote ‘violent physical Jihad.’

Parliamentary candidate in Grimsby Victoria Ayling was recorded saying ‘let’s keep the blacks out’. Council candidate Andre Lampitt said Africans should ‘kill themselves’.

Council candidate William Henwood said Lenny Henry should ‘emigrate to a black country’.

Exeter activist David Challice denounced the ‘lunacy of multiculturalism’ and called Greeks ‘vile’.

Town hall candidate David Wycherley said Mo Farah was African, not British.