KIP Waistell, UKIP parliamentary candidate for Hereford & South Herefordshire, has quit citing “personal vendettas” within the party amongst his reasons for doing so.

In a resignation letter sent to the Hereford Times , Mr Waistell, currently in France and due back home in Vowchurch later this week, offers “sincere apologies” to his constituency supporters.

 He writes: “There are those within UKIP who have sought from day one to manipulate people against each other in this constituency. I feel a deep regret that as a party we could not rise above such behaviour.”

UKIP has responded by saying “lacklustre”  Mr Waistell “jumped before he was pushed.”

Behind the scenes, Mr Waistell was known to be at odds with UKIP activists in the county over the targeting of seats on Herefordshire Council. He thought it counterproductive for UKIP to try and eject Independent councillors he respected and split the vote where Independents were, in turn, targeting seats.

He stands down saying that Hereford and South Herefordshire will be a missed opportunity for UKIP.

“With good, sensible  teamwork and working for the stated main aim of the party - quitting the EU - UKIP could have won this seat,” said Mr Waistell.

But there were, he said, a “few in particular” whose primary aim did not seem to be getting out of the EU but to engage in personal vendettas, be utterly disruptive and divisive, and not to accept democratic decisions.

In full, Mr Waistell’s resignation letter reads:

“With sincere apologies to those who support me and to those who have  encouraged me to continue the fight, I declare that I will no longer contest the Hereford and Herefordshire South constituency for UKIP in the 2015 Westminster elections.

Since my adoption as prospective parliamentary candidate back in March, I have spent less time campaigning than I have trying to counter unproductive issues within UKIP itself, and with a few people in particular whose primary aim does not seem to be getting out of the EU (something I started campaigning for in 1971) but to engage in personal vendettas, be utterly disruptive and divisive, and not to accept democratic decisions.

We will never exit the EU without a good presence of MP's in Westminster. UKIP MEP's and local councillors will not get us out. 2015 is the best chance UKIP will ever have of getting MP's, yet the final straw for me was that I was being pressurised to back fighting for local council seats in this constituency at the same time as trying to win the Westminster seat.

In  Herefordshire, we are lucky to have excellent Independent Councillors who are there by virtue of personal hard work and commitment. I therefore made it clear that in THIS constituency it would be counter-productive to support efforts to eject those Councillors, and to split the vote where Independents were trying to oust Tories Liberals or Labour. My opponents were not prepared to accept this logic, and were insisting that I  change my mind (even though UKIP were not paying a penny towards my campaign, which was to be financed entirely by myself) or they would move to get me deselected.  I will not change my mind.

With good, sensible  teamwork and working for the stated main aim of the party - quitting the EU - UKIP could have won this seat. But I cannot run as a candidate when I am constantly attacked by those who should be behind me, leaving our committee floundering. I never offered myself as a candidate because I wanted to be an MP.  I stood because I thought it right to do so in order to continue my contribution to the effort to leave an organisation which is ruining our democracy and sovereignty.

There are those within UKIP who have sought from day one to manipulate people against each other in this constituency. I feel a deep regret that as a party we could not rise above such behaviour.

I stand down in time for UKIP to find another candidate more amenable to their motives, whatever those are, and apologise again to my supporters.”

UKIP West Midlands UKIP MEP, Jim Carver, has expressed his "relief and delight" at Mr Waistell’s resignation.

In a statement Mr Carver said: "This is a clear case of someone jumping before they were pushed. My frustration over Waistell's lacklustre approach to the role of PPC, since his selection, has led me, on numerous occasions, to directly raise my concerns with him. 

"He has spent more time at his home in France than he has in Hereford, and would have been aware that I have recently asked the UKIP candidate team to start investigating his lack of activity with a view to moving towards his de-selection. Quite frankly, both the people that he seeked to represent and the local UKIP branch deserve far more commitment than that given by him."

"This is great news for UKIP Hereford & South Herefordshire, who can now move forward, with my full support, in selecting a fresh PPC, as well as local election candidates, ahead of next year's local and general elections".