William Cash signs 'non aggression pact' over the UKIP 'ding-dong' with his father, Bill
William Cash, the Bridgnorth landowner turned would-be Ukip MP, said he has signed a "non aggression pact" with his father, arch Tory Eurosceptic MP, Sir Bill Cash.
Mr Cash Junior, of Upton Cressett Hall, said his decision to stand with Nigel Farage had caused a bit of a "ding-dong" with his father, the MP for Stone, but they had since put that behind them.
"I will not stand in a seat close to my father - we have a non-aggression pact," said the younger Mr Cash.
"The test will be local radio. I won't stand for a seat whereby you could be listening to William Cash and not know which it was."
Mr Cash said he had joined UKIP because, in his view, the Conservative Party had abandoned the countryside - particularly with the sacking of North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson as environment secretary.
"At the moment, it looks to me increasingly that the Conservatives are only interested in developers' interests", he said.
But Mr Cash said he would not stand against Mr Paterson and Ludlow MP Philip Dunne.
"It's a private thing. I've written to them to tell them I won't stand against them. We have civilised relations."
Although he said he agreed with Shropshire Conservative MPs on most subjects – but said the "tide is turning" on the argument that the only way to get a referendum on Europe was to vote Tory.
He said: "The blue line in the sand, or purple if you want, is they believe the only way to get a referendum on Britain's membership of the EU is through a Tory majority.
"Personally, I would hate to see Labour get in. My view is that there is sufficient support, because Ukip has the right policies that resonate with people in the countryside, that they can hold the balance of power."
Mr Cash claims the Tories have "wholly underestimated" the extent of rural anger.
He added: "What if the disgust that people feel ends up driving a stake through the heart of English country life to the point that people there can no longer support the Tories? There are 12 million rural voters and a very great many I know have had enough. And they are not switching to Labour."
Mr Cash said he has his eye on a seat in Warwickshire on the route of the controversial HS2 railway line.
He said his priorities would be introducing "rural conservation areas", removing VAT on repairs to listed buildings and making it easier for historic homes to get brown tourist signs.
He also spoke of the selection process involved in joining Ukip, which involved a three-hour interview in front of six people from the party's executive rank.
"You have to do a combination of speeches, one unprepared.
"It reminds me very much of an Oxbridge-type exam where they try and catch you out with the question," he said.
"You are interviewed with Newsnight-style cameras on you. You are asked very difficult political general knowledge questions."
Mr Cash said the process also involved background checks, "huge amounts of research checking out everything you've ever written."
"It is almost like getting into MI6," he added.
See also: Sir Bill's the most talkative MP in the West Midlands.
