Ukip will announce this Friday who will be on the shortlist for the target seat of Thanet South - with party leader Nigel Farage odds-on favourite to secure the nomination.

The constituency association will make its choice of a general election candidate at a hustings meeting scheduled for the end of August.

Ukip recently topped a poll in what will be a key target seat at the general election.

The poll put the Euro-sceptic party above the Conservatives, who recently selected Craig Mackinlay to replace the departing MP Laura Sandys.

Mr Farage has dropped a succession of hints that he may put his name forward for the Conservative-held seat, recently disclosing in an interview that it was a “distinct possibility.”

With a recent poll suggesting Ukip could make its parliamentary breakthrough in the constituency, Mr Farage would be an obvious favourite but would still need to go through the selection process for a seat he contested in 2005.

He is on record as saying that Thanet South is one of several seats he is weighing up, including Folkestone and Hythe.

UKIP would expect to pour resources into the contest if Mr Farage was selected.

Another possible candidate is the newly-elected Ukip MEP Janice Atkinson, who lives in Kent and joined UKIP from the Conservatives.