British UKIP Candidate Robert Blay Suspended After Threatening To Shoot Tory Rival Ranil Jayawardena

A British Parliamentary candidate from UK Independence Party (UKIP) was suspended on Tuesday after threatening to shoot a rival lawmaker. Robert Blay, who was running for election in North East Hampshire, had told undercover Daily Mirror reporters that he was prepared to “put a bullet between the eyes” of Conservative Party lawmaker Ranil Jayawardena.

He added that Jayawardena had been tipped to become the country’s first Asian prime minister. "If this lad turns up to be our prime minister I will personally put a bullet in him. That's how strong I feel about it," he said.

"I won't have this f***** as our prime minister. I absolutely loathe him."

Blay went on to question Jayawardena’s ethnicity and background, saying: "His family have only been here since the '70s. You are not British enough to be in our Parliament.

"I've got 400 years of ancestry where I live. He hasn't got that."

A UKIP spokesman called his views “abhorrent” and said that Blay had been suspended from the party, the Telegraph reported.

“Any comments of this sort have absolutely no place in British politics or public life, and the party would like to take this opportunity to apologize to Mr Jayawardena for any distressed caused. UKIP acts immediately in circumstances such as these,” the spokesman reportedly said.

Responding to the statements late Tuesday, Jayawardena defended his political record and his history: "My family believes in hard work. My father came to this country to do just that - never claiming a penny from the state,” he said, according to the Guardian.

"He's contributed to society as a magistrate and I've done the same as a local councilor. I hope to contribute positively to our country by representing my community - the community in which I grew up - in parliament,” he said.

North East Hampshire is reportedly considered to be a safe Tory seat, which was comfortably won with a majority of over 18,000 votes in 2010. Blay reportedly did not respond to requests for comment.