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NOT HORSING AROUND
Ukip leadership candidate apologises for claim ‘a gay donkey tried to rape his horse’
John Rees-Evans announced he was running to replace Nigel Farage in a car-crash TV interview
A CANDIDATE to replace Nigel Farage as Ukip leader has apologised for once claiming a ‘gay donkey tried to rape his horse’ in a car-crash TV interview.
John Rees-Evans, an activist for the party in Wales, went on the Daily Politics to announce his grand plan – but instead was faced with a barrage of embarrassing incidents from his past.
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Chiefly it was the comments made while he was standing for Parliament last year, when he answered a question about whether he agreed with a fellow Ukip supporter’s bizarre claim “some homosexuals prefer sex with animals” with an even more bizarre answer.
Back in December 2014 he told anti-Ukip activists in Merthyr Tydfil: “Actually, I’ve witnessed that.
“I’ve got a horse and it was there in the field. And a donkey came up…which was male, and I’m afraid tried to rape my horse.”
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Today he was forced to explain that outburst, along with other details about his home and business ventures in Bulgaria.
Mr Rees-Evans said he wanted to bring “direct democracy” to Ukip as he takes on party heavyweights Suzanne Evans and Paul Nuttall, who both announced they were running for leader yesterday.
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But the show’s host brought up a profile of the entrepreneur, which revealed he had carried a pistol into a branch of IKEA.
The story said he “persuaded the sales assistant it would be safer to let him carry his handgun, in case terrorists laid siege to the building”.
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He dismissed the story as an “embellishment”, saying the reporter was “writing for an audience that likes exaggerated journalism”.
But when pressed if he did carry a weapon into the furniture store he said "yes".
The article also said Mr Rees-Evans saw rural Bulgaria as “the perfect place to establish a secure compound that will support his family and friends in the event of global meltdown”.
It added: “When it's finished, it will include a church, a leisure complex with spa, sauna, and jacuzzi, an underground bunker including a garage for seven cars, a firing range with a cache of weapons, and a panic room.
“There will also be a watchtower that will double as a diving platform for a swimming pool below.”
He again claimed it was an exaggeration, arguing a “secure compound just means a garden with a wall”.
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He tried to drag the conversation back to his leadership bid, saying; “With all due respect people are interested in why I’m standing.”
But Ms Coburn tried for a third time, bringing up the comments about the “gay donkey” during his unsuccessful bid to be MP for Cardiff South and Penarth.
He initially dismissed them, saying: “It was a bit of playful banter with a mischievous activist.”
But asked if that was how he would answer the same question if he was elected Ukip leader he said: “No I concede it was a mistake to be playful with an activist in the street.
“The fact is I’m not a politician, the fact is the guy was just asking a question in the street.
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“It was an error in judgement, I was very early coming into politics and I’m sorry if I offended anyone in doing that.
“But please can we move on.”
Mr Rees-Evans, who also once told the audience at a hustings he urinates in a bottle to reduce his carbon footprint, is one of eight candidates so far to take over from Mr Farage, who was put in interim control last month when Diane James quit after just 18 days in charge.
Nominations close on October 31 and the results of the election will be announced on November 28.
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