Former Rochester and Strood MP Mark Reckless has brushed aside a series of personal jibes by senior Conservative figures about his defection to UKIP.

An under-fire Mr Reckless responded for the first time today to what appeared to be a concerted effort to undermine him and also serve as a warning to other Conservatives pondering defection.

He said: “I am saddened rather than surprised. I think people will see this as an indication of why they are worried. I am not going to respond in kind.

"I think they are in a bubble in Birmingham. They are a tribe and as a tribe are just lashing out.”

Conservative party leader David Cameron entered the fray on Tuesday.

He is alleged to have told party activists that volunteers had “knocked on doors, stuffed envelopes, licked stamps to get his fat arse on the Commons benches, and this is how he repays them.”

Meanwhile, the communities secretary Eric Pickles said he had wanted to ditch Mark Reckless at the last election.

In a radio interview, he said: “To tell you the absolute truth, I was party chairman, and before the election I wanted to throw him out of the party then, because I didn’t think he was a Conservative.”

A few days earlier, party chairman Grant Shapps had told activists at the party conference: “He lied and lied and lied again.”

In a separate development, UKIP revealed a former Conservative county councillor from Thanet had defected.

Chris Wells, who is a Thanet district councillor in Broadstairs, said he would be leaving the Conservatives.

In a statement, Mr Wells, a former cabinet member for schools, said: “I have become increasingly disillusioned with the direction of the Conservative party under David Cameron and feel that locally UKIP now offer the best potential for positive change in Thanet.”

He added: “Residents will have chance to pass their judgement on my decision in only seven months time during the coming elections, when we must all work hard to prevent the horror of the Labour administration.”