News


Sec of state Clark’s visit


THE Secretary of State for Business has been in Staple- hurst to study rural diversifi- cation. MPGreg Clark called at


Frankie’s Farm Shop in Clap- per Lane tomeet the husband andwife behind the business. Frankie andMarcel Franke


opened the shop in June 2012. Itnowmeets theneeds of local shoppers aswell as providing a communityhubanda cafe in which to eat, drink and relax. The farm shop is next door


to Staplehurst Nurseries, a commercial nursery,


run


under Marcel’s direction, which produces more than half-a-millionplants a year for the wholesale and retail mar- kets in London and garden centres across the south east. Frankie told the minister:


“As a business, you continu- allyneedto change tomeet the challenges of an ever-chang- ing business climate, and ad- just


to meet customer demands and newtrends.”


downsmail.co.uk


AnnWiddecombe joins Farage’s pro-Brexit party


FORMER Maidstone and the WealdMPAnnWiddecombe has left the Tories and joined the Brexit Party to stand in the Euro- pean election later thismonth. Miss Widdecombe (71), who


served as a Tory MP for 13 years, said she hoped the new party led by Nigel Farage would “sweep to victory” and send a “clear mes- sage” to her old party and Labour. Mr Farage toldDownsMail that


shewill stand in the southwest of England,where she nowlives. Writing in herDailyExpress col-


umn, she said: “I am standing for the Brexit Party in order that Imay campaign vigorously andconvince my fellowvoters that this time it is imperative to fire a very loud warning shot across the bows of the parties they would normally support. “What the Remain campaign


failed to achieve by fear must not be achieved by fatigue.”


A new batch of MEPs are on


track to be elected after Theresa May twice asked for Brexit to be delayed because she could not get a deal through theUKparliament. Miss Widdecombe said she


hoped Labour would lose in its heartlands and the Conservatives in the shires to send amessage that “wewant you to get onwith it”. She added: “Iwill be votingCon-


servative in the local elections and I remain a member of the party, butwhen central office reads this I


expect theywill kickme out.” MissWiddecombe’s resignation


aspresident of theConservative as- sociation inMaidstone onApril 24 was accepted “to head off any in- tervention fromcentral office”, ac- cording to one insider. Mr Farage said: “Ann is nowliv-


ing in the south west, so it makes sense for her to stand in that area.” Mr Farage said former Conser-


vative Maidstone MP Sir John Wells had joined Ukip and now Miss Widdecombe signed for the Brexit Party. He added: “I guess you could


say there is something aboutMaid- stone!” Miss Widdecombe has enjoyed


an even higher profile away from the frontline of politics, where she was known for her forthright opin- ions andstraightforwardspeaking. The former parliamentarian has


taken part inCelebrity Big Brother and Strictly ComeDancing.


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