UKIP has denied accusations it borrowed Labour candidates in a bid to scupper the chances of a rival group in Isleworth.
Phil Andrews, of the Independent Community Group (ICG), claimed UKIP's three candidates for Isleworth were 'loaned' by Labour as part of a 'sordid alliance' to 'con' voters in the ward.
He wrote on his blog : "...these are UKIP candidates with a difference. That is because they are not UKIP candidates at all, but rather are 'Labour' candidates who have been 'loaned' to UKIP by Labour, or at least by one of its ward councillors, to the right-wing party in an attempt to split the protest vote which is likely to go to Labour's main rival in the ward, the politically centrist and non-racist Independent Community Group (ICG)."
Mr Andrews claimed UKIP candidate Kelly Adams was a 'very close friend' of Isleworth Labour councillor Sue Sampson, while Sharon Smith's previous messages on a community forum suggested she had Labour sympathies.
As for the third UKIP candidate, Melanie Flynn, he said 'she seems to have arrived on Councillor Botterill’s doorstep at the same time as the others and must be assumed by her continued participation to be happy in the company she is keeping'.
Hounslow UKIP Group leader Colin Botterill was quick to refute the allegations.
He told getwestlondon Ms Sampson had helped Ms Adams secure a council home for her father, where Ms Adams now lives with him as a carer, but insisted they had followed the same procedures as anyone else applying for a new home.
He said Ms Adams had applied to represent UKIP but had initially been rejected because the party only planned to field one candidate in the ward.
However, when the group expelled David W Griffiths over his controversial comments , she was offered the chance to stand in his place.
He says Ms Adams then found the two other UKIP candidates because she was so upset by Mr Andrews' behaviour towards her on the street, when he claimed she was a secret Labour candidate.
"I have never made any deal with Labour and don't plan on doing so. I think Mr Andrews is clutching at straws," said Mr Botterill.
"We just want to get people elected who care about their community and that's certainly true of Karen and the others."
Ms Sampson had not responded to getwestlondon's enquiries when this article was published by Labour election agent James Swindlehurst said: "I know nothing about the three UKIP candidates - they're certainly nothing to do with the Labour Party in the borough, and Phil Andrews' claims are, quite simply, ridiculous in this regard."
getwestlondon also asked to speak directly to Ms Adams but was told by Mr Botterill he was speaking on her behalf.
