THE Kent Euro MP Nigel Farage is demanding an apology from David Cameron after the Tory leader labelled members of the United Kingdom Independence Party as “closet racists".

Mr Cameron’s outburst came during a radio interview in which he said members of UKIP were mostly “fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists.”

Mr Farage, who comes from Sevenoaks and is a leading figure in UKIP, said he was outraged and suggested the comments reflected the Conservative leader’s concerns that traditional Tories were rejecting his “touchy-feely” style of politics.

He added: “We have parked our tanks on his lawn in terms of our policies and many traditional Tory voters are continuing to come over to us. These comments show his inexperience and the fact that we have got him rattled."

UKIP had “absolutely no truck” with anyone who was a racist and he challenged Mr Cameron to produce evidence to back up his claims.

“You simply cannot go around chucking these allegations of racism around, particularly at a party that got 2.7million votes at the last European election.”

Mr Cameron made his remarks when pressed to comment on a threat by UKIP to use the Freedom of Information Act to unmask its secret loaners.

UKIP is fielding a large number of candidates in the local elections in May and Mr Farage said it was “quite possible” the Tory leader was concerned that he stood to lose ground to his party.