If anyone else saw the permatanned buffoon on Channel Four News just now, you’ll know exactly what I mean. I hope they get video of that up – or at the very least a transcript (I’ll keep a lookout). It was a perfect Kilroy moment – self-righteous, arrogant, aggressive, and packed with a range of vague assertions (and outright lies) backed up with nothingness. The long and the short of it? As expected, he’s finally quit UKIP.

UKIP have come up with some amusing responses, slagging off Kilroy’s supposed new party, allegedly to be called Veritas (Latin for “truth”): “‘He’s going to call it “Vanitas” we hear,’ UKIP spokesman Mark Croucher said sarcastically. ‘We’ve got its manifesto. It has nothing new to offer voters other than the opportunity to swoon at Kilroy-Silk’s feet.'”

Here’s Kilroy’s take:

“I have to say that [UKIP] is regarded by those outside it as a joke. I am ashamed to be a member. I cannot ask people to vote for it because it has no policies, no spokespersons, no energy, no vision, no idea of how Britain should be governed.

“Instead I shall advise people not to vote for the party. To do otherwise will be to be dishonest, to pretend that the party has a purpose – when in fact it is a charade, an empty vessel.

“But while Ukip has turned its back on the British people, I shall not. I will be standing, at the next general election. I shall be leading a vigorous campaign for the causes I believe in.

“And, unlike the old parties, we shall be honest, open and straight”.

So, only a few months after being elected as an MEP (and promising to “wreck” the EU), Kilroy’s going to run away from his Brussels seat – abandoning the constituents who voted for him in their droves – in the vain pursuit of a return to Westminster. Hardly shows much loyalty to his constituents, does it?

He hasn’t got a hope in hell – superb! Roll on the General Election and Kilroy’s humiliating defeat!

It’s truly fantastic to have people like Kilroy running around the shop – they’re always good for a laugh. The only trouble is, after having a good chuckle you start to realise that some people actually think he’s a sensible and respectable chap who’s fully worthy of their votes…

Could Kilroy be the final proof that democracy isn’t all it’s cracked up to be?

Friday morning update: Lenin has some great turns of phrase to sum this up, and Tim Worstall spots some interesting internet-related tidbits, following the Honourable Fiend‘s note that websites for “Veritas” seem already to be taken. Meanwhile, Nick Barlow is conducting a survey to find out what people reckon Kilroy’s chances are. Not great, by the looks of things… But as has been pointed out in the comments, we don’t want to jinx it now, do we?

(By the by, can someone with better knowledge of the new electoral laws tell me whether he has to quit as an MEP before running, or only if he wins? Either way, he’s surely going to have to fundraise and campaign – he can hardly do that while fulfilling his Brussels duties, can he?)