THE MAN being used as the face of UKIP’s appeal to “British workers” who fear losing their jobs to EU migrants has been revealed as an Irish immigrant to Britain.
The anti-EU party was left red-faced this morning just days after it launched its largest ever advertising campaign.
It includes an advert that shows a downcast builder begging for spare change next to the words: “EU policy at work. British workers are hit hard by unlimited cheap labour.”
Encouraging viewers to vote for UKIP at next month’s European elections, it adds: “Take back control of our country.”
But it has now emerged that the man in the advert is himself not a British worker.
Instead he is Edinburgh-based Dave O’Rourke, a Dublin native who has lived in Britain for 10 years.
The embarrassing news was broken by blogger Steve Griffin, a friend of Mr O’Rourke, and has been confirmed by The Irish Post.
It comes after the party was mired in controversy when it was forced to suspend the star of another of its adverts after he attacked Islam and suggested Africans should “kill themselves off”.
As news of Mr O’Rourke’s identity emerged yesterday on Twitter, readers scoffed at the irony of an anti-immigration party failing to find a British actor for its advert.
“He's taking an Englishman's job then - like Farage's German wife,” said one person.
“I thought #UKIP wanted to give British jobs, only to British workers. Hang on, that man is an actor who is Irish,” added another.
“Even the Irish are taking our jobs of pretending to be out of work Brits,” joked another.
However, some people pointed out that Irish people could enter Britain before it joined the EU and claimed they are not the target of the UKIP’s anti-EU campaign.
Existing agreements between Britain and Ireland mean that Irish people over here are treated like British citizens for the purposes of tax and benefits.
They would also continue to have free access to the British job market if Britain left the EU.
Conservative MP Bob Neill said the revelation of Mr O'Rourke's identity was "another example of UKIP being cynical and not being straight with the British voters".
But the party hit back, branding Mr Neill "wilfully stupid".
"The vast majority of people used in political poster campaigns are actors. It is totally standard practice," added UKIP Director of Communications Patrick O'Flynn.
“It is nonsense for the Conservative Party to try and depict this as anything out of the ordinary. For example the people depicted in the Conservatives’ “You paid the taxes…” campaign under William Hague were actors."
Meanwhile, as UKIP came under fire for its new advertising campaign this week, which was branded “racist” after its launch on Tuesday, the party said it did not consider Irish people as immigrants.
The “shared history between Ireland and the UK” mean the party does not consider Irish people as foreigners, a spokesperson said.
“I do not anticipate any suggestion that the Irish would be expected to join the work permit scheme for immigrants – the Irish are simply not immigrants but our kith and kin,” he added.
“I could mention at this point that Parnell is regarded as something of a hero by [UKIP Leader] Nigel Farage, and that we have an Irish Press Officer in Brussels as well as many friends in the Republic from the days of the ‘No’ campaign against the Lisbon treaty.”
Mr Farage sought to defend the controversial new UKIP adverts this week after they were attacked by politicians.
One of the posters shows a giant hand pointing at the viewer and reads: "26 million people in Europe are looking for work. And whose jobs are they after?"
Labour MP Mike Gapes said they were "racist" and appealed to "all decent British Commonwealth and EU citizens" to register to vote in May's polls.
Meanwhile, Former Conservative minister Lord Debden said: "UKIP stands for the worst in human beings: our prejudice, selfishness, and fear."
But Mr Farage said he was not bothered by the criticism.
He claimed the posters were "a hard-hitting reflection of reality as it is experienced by millions of British people struggling to earn a living outside the Westminster bubble."
Referring to Paul Sykes, the Yorkshire businessman who funded the advertising campaign, Mr Farage added: "UKIP is hugely grateful to Paul Sykes for his magnificent contribution to the great cause of restoring Britain's ability to be a self-governing nation. The political earthquake I have spoken of is on its way.”
But the party was plunged into controversy yesterday as it emerged that the star of its first European election TV broadcast published a series of vile messages on Twitter.
Andre Lampitt, who poses in a builder’s hat for the broadcast described Islam as an evil religion with a paedophile prophet and said peace would come “when Aids does what it should and reduce African density”.
In another message he added: “Get over it, slavery was an act of war. you lost stop being so damn jealous and move forward."
A UKIP spokesperson said the party was “shocked” by Mr Lampitt’s “repellent” comments.
"His membership of the party has been suspended immediately pending a full disciplinary process,” the spokesperson added.
