Paul Sykes leads UKIP campaign

Paul Sykes applauds UKIP leader Nigel Farage as he addresses his supporters at the UKIP Annual Conference. Tom Maddick / Rossparry.co.uk

Mr Sykes has been a prominent backer of the party for years and is understood to have contributed more than £1million to its European election campaign last spring, which saw the party take 12 seats in Brussels.

The Tycoon has been appointed chairman of the party’s campaigns group and will now head up the team targeting key marginal seats and developing a national campaign strategy.

UKIP chairman Steve Crowther said Mr Sykes was “committed passionately to UK independence” and had been “working to re-establish our right to govern ourselves and control our own country for 25 years”.

He added: “Paul has played a huge role in our successes this year, and we are delighted to have him on board for the big one’ - our drive to get UKIP MPs into Parliament next May.”

Mr Sykes said: “I would like to thank UKIP’s national executive committee for having the trust in me to head up the campaign to win as many target seats as possible. Only by electing UKIP MPs to the House of Commons can we hope to start getting back control of our own borders from the EU, and making our own laws in our own Parliament, and once again become a truly self-governing democracy.”

Mr Sykes,lives on the Studley Royal Estate near Ripon. He made his fortune from scrap metal, vehicles, and property.

His £650m fortune has made him the 26th wealthiest person in Britain.