Enlarge imageLONDON (Reuters) - TV chat-show host turned politician Robert Kilroy-Silk failed on Friday in his bid to become an MP again.
Kilroy-Silk, who founded his own party Veritas on a tough anti-Europe, anti-immigration agenda, was standing for parliament in Erewash.
A one-time Labour MP before he moved into daytime television, Kilroy-Silk polled just under 3,000 votes. The seat was held by Labour’s Liz Blackman with over 22,000 votes.
Bookmakers had said the flamboyant Kilroy-Silk, who quit his BBC chat show in 2004 over anti-Arab remarks that sparked outrage, was the most heavily backed candidate for any individual constituency in the country after they received a string of bets including two of a thousand pounds each.
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Ian Hislop, editor of satirical magazine Private Eye said the result spelled the end of Veritas.
"I think that is the end of the sun-tan party," he said on ITV television in reference to Kilroy-Silk’s legendary year-round tan.
Kilroy-Silk helped the United Kingdom Independence Party stun the political establishment and win 12 seats in the European Parliament last year.
But he left UKIP amid bickering over his leadership pretensions, and launched Veritas - "Truth" in Latin - in February 2005.
The party, which fielded 65 candidates countrywide, promised to introduce a flat tax of 22 percent, to withdraw Britain from the European Union and to clamp down on the number of refugees entering the country.
Kilroy-Silk remains a member of the European parliament.
