MILLIONAIRE businessman and Ukip donor Arron Banks has withdrawn his candidacy to become Clacton’s next MP.

Mr Banks threatened to stand against the town’s MP Douglas Carswell following a public spat when the MP left Ukip to become an independent last month.

But Mr Carswell last week announced that he will not be seeking re-election on June 8.

Mr Banks, who last week admitted he knew “absolutely nothing” about Clacton, visited the Lifehouse Spa in Thorpe to meet Ukip councillors before visiting the seafront in Clacton and Jaywick.

Mr Banks told the Gazette he would take part in a hustings event on Wednesday to decide who Ukip’s candidate for the election will be.

But after visiting the town he withdrew his candidacy.

He said: "I today met with all the UKIP councillors in Clacton and senior party figures.

"It was a constructive meeting and it was great to see everyone come together.

"It's clear that Douglas Carswell has been a hugely divisive figure and let a lot of people down in Clacton.

"The local branch of Ukip was full of genuinely decent people. One of those councillors, Jeff Bray has put his name forward as a candidate for the seaside constituency at the forthcoming General Election.

"I have consequently made the decision to withdraw my candidacy for the seat of Clacton.

"I will not be standing either as a Ukip candidate or as an independent.

"Instead, I am putting my full support behind Jeff Bray."

Clacton and Frinton Gazette:

He added: "I have no intention of standing in the way of hard working activists who are the soul of the party.

"Therefore after visiting Clacton I believe it would be wrong of me to stand against Jeff in the forthcoming hustings.

"Both myself and Nigel will be campaigning hard in Clacton and I have agreed to give the local party financial assistance to fight this election.

"Finally, we visited Jaywick, one of the most deprived neighbourhoods in England. The local Ukip councillor there told me Carswell had never visited the area before.

"Douglas Carswell is the epitome of a nasty little career politician who didn't give two hoots for the area.

"He stood originally for Ukip because he knew they would win the seat in a general election.

"He used Ukip and did nothing for Clacton.

"Good luck to Jeff. We will soon be down to help."

Before withdrawing his candidacy, Mr Banks told the Gazette: “I originally wanted to stand because of the hostility between Douglas and myself – I feel he let Nigel Farage down.

“But I said I would stand and I still wanted to come down and talk to local councillors.

“I didn’t expect him to resign after 24 hours of me saying I was going to stand."

Clacton and Frinton Gazette:

Mr Banks was criticised after telling the Gazette he knew “absolutely nothing” about Clacton.

But he added: “I’m honest and not going to say I know everything about Clacton when I obviously don’t.

“I’ve come down to look around to see what the issues are, but also to take a business-like approach to that.

“It’s a lovely place but there are clearly issues.

“What we want to do is put forward a national plan for regeneration in these sorts of areas that have felt a bit left behind."

UKIP councillor Jeff Bray said a hustings would still take place on Wednesday.

“Arron has a lot of experience that could help Clacton, but what he lacked was local knowledge and, to a degree, local support," he said.

"I would like to thank him for his kind words and for his offer of support, which will be crucial.

“Across the country the message has been from the Government that people need to vote Tory to keep anti-Brexit people out, but here it is the opposite – Ukip needs to keep this seat.”

Clacton and Frinton Gazette:

  • Jeff Bray

But voters told the Gazette they would not have been willing to support Mr Banks.

Fred Varley, 82, from Fleetwood Avenue, Holland-on-Sea, said: “Arron Banks admits he knows nothing about Clacton. Why would we want someone like that?

“I’ve never voted Conservative before, but I think Theresa May is going down the right track.”

Giles Watling, who is hoping to be selected as the Conservative candidate for the election, said: "I was really disappointed that Douglas Carswell wasn't standing - he and Arron Banks would have split the Ukip vote between them.

"As for Arron Banks coming to Clacton, I thought 'bring it on' - it would have been an interesting fight.

"It's sad that he didn't last five minutes.

"Whoever Ukip chooses to be their candidate, good luck to them."

Mr Carswell declined to comment.