This morning, David Campbell Bannerman MEP resigned from UKIP to join the Conservative Party. He will now sit as a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group in the European Parliament.

I caught up with him briefly over lunch. He told me that he hasn't spoken to UKIP leader Nigel Farage today, that the Conservatives have not offered him "anything special" to come over and that his former party's backing of AV was a "disaster".

Campbell Bannerman on…

EU withdrawal

"It's been an interesting morning. It's obviously a major decision but I think it's the right one. I am still very much promoting the cause of EU-withdrawal. I will continue to do what I am doing now but within the Tory fold."

UKIP

"It's not a political party. There used to be 18 policy papers on the website. You can update policy. On a personal level, I think it's silly. I want to be in a fully-fledged political party with a full set of policies. Otherwise you might as well be a single issue pressure group. "

"[I've been thinking about returning to the Conservatives for] quite a few months. UKIP never really lifted a finger to run a campaign to influence the voting system. Then they went and backed AV which was a disaster. That came out of the ether. There was no proper discussion about it all. A political party has got to have a clear strategy. It has to win MPs seats. It has to have a domestic policy. All Nigel [Farage] is interested in is vague policies."

"No, I haven't [spoken to Nigel]. He's doing some event this afternoon. I'll probably send him a letter. I haven’t called him, he hasn't called me. I haven't called for him to resign. I have called for him to completely review his strategy. UKIP is haemorrhaging MEPs here. That's four gone. It just isn't where it should be. I have devoted seven years to trying to make the party a credible political force. I've got a lot of time for Nigel and a lot of respect for his skills – oratory, courage. But the party is adrift without a plan."

The Conservatives

"They've not offered me anything special. I'll just be treated the same as any Tory MEP in terms of applying next time."

"I do acknowledge that the Tories are Eurosceptic. I fully acknowledge that, with me coming over, there is not going to be a referendum on the EU. But there are a lot of people in the party who believes this [in EU withdrawal]. I think the whole situation will change over the next few years."

"I'm not entirely popular with everyone but that's the way it is. I want to win the cause that's what matters to me. "

When asked if he would apply next time as a Conservative MEP, he replied: "Yes, I think so."

UKIP has now called for the MEP to resign his seat so that "a real" Eurosceptic might take his place.

Campbell Bannerman has represented a seat in the East of England since 2009. He left the Tories in 2004 over the party's "two-faced position on Europe".

Tags: David Campbell Bannerman, EU REFERENDUM, European Conservatives and Refor, European Parliament, UKIP