‘Game on’ was the rallying cry of Paul Bullen as he announced his bid, officially, to contest NE Cambs for the Brexit Party at next month’s general election.

The former leader of the UKIP group on Cambridgeshire County Council claimed his new party was the only option for those wanting "the real Brexit".

He said he was relishing going head to head with NE Cambs Tory MP and Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay at local hustings.

"Any time, any place," was, he said, the challenge to Mr Barclay to debate Brexit face to face during the coming campaign.

Mr Bullen, a marine engineer, said he had been in London today with 550 other candidates to begin preparations for the election and to get their nomination papers in order.

"The electorate has two choices," he said. "Either to vote Lib Dem to remain or to vote for the Brexit Party and leave. The Tories won't give us Brexit even if they get in- what's on offer is simply May's deal with Northern Ireland the only semblance of difference. The deal as outlined is horrendous - we might as well stay in."

Mr Bullen said: "If you look at the deal Boris Johnson has put forward it is Brexit in name only. It gives all the power back to the EU - we won't be able to negotiate trade deals elsewhere, we must still comply with EU laws and we will still be subject to the European Court of Justice".

He said his party was offering a radical new approach to politics.

Locally, he said, that meant "putting Fenland first because we have to change British politics. This is not just about Brexit as we have to change the political system.

"We now have got judges who are political we have no constitution in this country and our local MPs have become lethargic and, in my opinion, they are not looking after their constituencies.

"So if I do get elected I will be spending more time in the constituency and not always in London."

Between 2013 and 2017 he led UKIP through what might be termed its finest hour in Cambridgeshire having won 12 seats on the county council.

But with that now a dim and distant memory (UKIP lost all their seats) and a failed bid to become the elected Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Mr Bullen had been hoping to stand for the Brexit Party as their candidate for NE Cambs.