THE Bradford branch of UKIP has been accused of being “duped” by an imposter claiming to be the son of a former Bradford MP.

The party had announced that a man calling himself David Rooney was being lined up as a potential parliamentary candidate for Bradford West after “defecting” from Labour, the party for which Terry Rooney held a city seat for 20 years.

UKIP had claimed the defection as a major coup, with the party's Bradford chairman Jason Smith saying he would back the man as a local election candidate in 2018 and the party's Bradford West general election candidate for 2020.

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But the story, reported in yesterday’s Telegraph & Argus, was met with an angry reaction from Terry Rooney who called it a “complete fabrication.”

And now UKIP chiefs are facing questions about how they appeared to welcome an imposter with a fabricated back-story into their local party.

“David Rooney” had claimed to be the eldest child of the former MP, saying he had left Labour to join UKIP.

But Terry Rooney said the man is not his son. His real son is, in fact, called Peter and lives in Cumbria.

He said: "I am appalled that this has been said. It’s a complete fabrication.

"I am staggered that UKIP have been taken in by this.

"My strong feelings now are for my family who have had their integrity traduced and don’t deserve to have been treated like this."

David Rooney, a Muslim convert who also goes by the name Mohamed Ali, appeared to have a wealth of detailed information about the Rooney family when interviewed and even claimed his father had requested not to be contacted by the media about his defection.

He had shown the Telegraph & Argus his passport, which was in his Islamic name.

He also runs a Facebook page called UKIP TV, by the name David Rooney.

Mr Smith has called the development "bizarre" and said he had never come across a situation like it in his many years in politics.

"We just took him in good faith,” he said. “To be honest, we would never query who someone is. I have never had any reason to do that.

"He has not just turned up five minutes ago - then I would have been suspicious.

"He has been knocking about for about a year and telling everybody who he was and who he is related to."

Mr Smith said the man had even been campaigning with UKIP over the weekend and introducing himself to members of the public as the former MP's son.

He said: "Whether all this is a total fabrication, I don't know. If Terry Rooney says it is, it must be, presumably.

"We never had any reason to doubt him.

"If this chap is an imposter, we apologise for any offence caused to Terry and his family."

Mr Smith said David Rooney had not officially been chosen as an election candidate, a process which would have involved background checks.

Yesterday, the Telegraph & Argus asked to see David Rooney's birth certificate but did not receive it.

Numerous calls to David Rooney's phone went unanswered and the Telegraph & Argus also visited his address, in a block of flats in Sunbridge Road, but was unable to speak to him.