The father-in-law of horse racing icon Frankie Dettori has announced his intention to stand for UKIP in the upcoming elections for East Cambridgeshire District Council.

Professor William ‘Twink’ Allen will be standing as the local UKIP candidate for Cheveley in May.

Originally from New Zealand, the professor forged a career as an equine veterinary researcher and is well known within the Newmarket horse racing and breeding communities.

Professor Allen’s daughter, Catherine, has been married to jockey Dettori for more than 16 years.

He is a fellow of Robinson College, in Cambridge, who created and ran the Equine Fertility Unit, initially in Cambridge and, during 1989 to 2007, at Mertoun Paddocks, in Newmarket.

Professor Allen said: “Like so many other people in modern Britain I am attracted to UKIP simply because, in marked contrast to all the other political parties, it says it as it is and promises to do what needs doing to put the country back on the rails and steam towards a brighter and more realistic future for all.

“A rapid departure from the sinkhole of the EU and aggressive development of other world trading markets; quality and quantity controls on immigration; the creation of more and better schools, the rapid firing of bad teachers, incompetent and surplus NHS managers and self-serving and overpaid council officials are just a few of the eminently sensible UKIP policies that are literally crying out to be introduced and implemented.”