UKIP’s national housing spokesman Andrew Charalambous – who twice fought Parliamentary seats as a Conservative- will confirm today (Tue) he will become his party’s candidate for NE Cambs.

Cambs Times: UKIP's housing spokesman Andrew Charalambous (fifth from right) with UKIP county councillor Alan Lay and independent Fenland councillor Peter Tunley among those at Estover playing fields.UKIP's housing spokesman Andrew Charalambous (fifth from right) with UKIP county councillor Alan Lay and independent Fenland councillor Peter Tunley among those at Estover playing fields. (Image: Archant)

The multi millionaire buy-to-let property magnate (he is said to own 1,000 homes in and around London) has been a UKIP member for five years.

On his website he reveals his “commitment to tackling homelessness” and says in his property business he “never charges tenants deposits or admin fees.” Neither, he says, does he ask tenants for references “believing that it should be easier for people to not only buy properties but rent them if they choose.”

He said the Daily Telegraph once poked fun at him for picking up homeless people from the streets of central London and putting them in his properties.

He says he is passionate about saving the countryside and green spaces and one of his early forays in the Fens was during the recent campaign to “save Estover from development from the local Tory council”.

Cambs Times: Estover public meeting: Andrew Charalambous with UKIP county councillor Alan Lay. Back row, first left, is Cllr Peter Reeve, UKIP candidate for NW Cambs.Estover public meeting: Andrew Charalambous with UKIP county councillor Alan Lay. Back row, first left, is Cllr Peter Reeve, UKIP candidate for NW Cambs. (Image: Archant)

Mr Charalambous, now in his 40s, said he had been a Conservative since the age of 14 but joined UKIP for three main reasons.

He said the Conservatives closed the casualty department of a hospital which he had “campaigned tirelessly to keep open”.

He also felt that despite what he claims were Tory promises, immigration was not going down but up.

And thirdly he became angry when “the Conservatives failed to support my campaign to make our St George’s Day a national holiday”,

He also says he knows what it means to struggle in life having started his business from nothing.

The UKIP candidate says: “This Conservative government has gone too far in cutting public services without regard for the consequences for the needy, the disabled and the chronically ill. Under the Tories the poor have got poorer.”

He added: “The British people are sick and tired of career politicians living in ‘ivory towers, who prefer to spend over sixty billion of your hard earned cash on the HS2 railway rather than invest the money on stopping pain and saving lives through the NHS.”

In one of many articles on his website he also believes “the world’s raw materials, food, energy, scientific know how and educational facilities belong to everyone. We therefore need to share resources rather than waste energy competing for them. It is time for a new sense of globality.”

He also feels “humanity is at an evolutionary crossroads. As we emerge into the aftermath of this historic global recession humanity recognises the need for a different kind of politics, a different kind of economics, a different kind of thinking.

“According to current estimates there are 7.5 billion people living on our planet today. On current UN projections there will be 11.5 billion global citizens by 2050.

“Clearly, if we are to survive as a species we need to evolve into a new global paradigm which will include not only planetary sustainability but the prospect of more underground residential development and space colonisation.”

His website also offers other insights into the new UKIP candidate for part of the Fens.

He believes “there is no greater privilege in life than being a free thinker. Having a mind liberated from ideology, vested interest and peer pressure”.

He also says he is devoted to protecting indigenous tribes and spent time with the Dayak tribe in Kalimantan of Indonesian Borneo.

Mr Charalambous says at the same time he is “fascinated by the possibilities inherent in human potential, believing that the unfolding of quantum physics, nanotechnology, robotics, environmental innovation and information technology can lead humanity to a new golden global order”.