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Conservative Party Conference: White Dee on benefits, the common touch and why she might vote Ukip
After the defection of two MPs to Ukip, the Tory party has really been hoping for some popular support.
But if they were looking for it in the form of Benefits Street star White Dee – whose real name is Deirdre Kelly – they might be disappointed.
White Dee, who has also appeared in Celebrity Big Brother, was speaking at a fringe meeting during the Conservative Party conference, held by think tank Policy Exchange today.
Though she has been described as the least likely Tory party conference speaker of the year, the media poured in to hear what she had to say:
https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/516514979944869888
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According to various reports, including this one by Digital Spy, she described Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Iain Duncan Smith as being “out of touch with the real world”.
This was her suggestion for the Tory party – but it might be difficult for them to achieve:
Source: Twitter
When asked about people on benefits she also claimed that “not everyone wants to work in an office or build a wall”.
Then she said that she might actually vote for Ukip after all:
Earlier this year, Kelly said she would stand as an independent candidate and was roundly mocked by Tory MP Kwasi Kwarteng, so it was perhaps a long shot to expect she would come out with ringing endorsement for the party that in many ways represents everything she is not. She has previously come out in support of Labour and the Lib Dems.
But after the defection of Tory MP Mark Reckless to Ukip at the weekend – and a few weeks after the surprise announcement Douglas Carswell was doing the same – David Cameron was presumably really hoping this session would allow the Conservatives to step outside Nigel Farage's ever-growing shadow.
https://twitter.com/RaheemJKassam/status/516515036081426432