Robert Kilroy-Silk launched his new Veritas political party today with a promise to be "quite startlingly different" from any other political group.

The former chat show host planted his flag on the issue of asylum, claiming the country was "being stolen" from the British by mass immigration .

He told reporters at the launch in Westminster: "We no longer control our own borders."

Mr Kilroy-Silk was elected Member of the European Parliament for the East Midlands as a member of the UK Independence Party last year. After a turbulent few months and a failed leadership bid, he resigned from Ukip to set up his own political party.

The name, Veritas - already corrupted to 'Vanitas' by his detractors - means 'truth', and today Mr Kilroy-Silk promised that "straight talking" would be his watchword. He wasted no time in giving his unvarnished view of the current state of every other political party in Britain.

"(The British electorate) are fed up with being taken for granted and talked down to," he assured his listeners.

"They are fed up to the back teeth with being told what they should think and say. They are fed up with the yah-boo politics and name-calling which passes for political debate.

"They are bitter about the politicians not attending to their anxieties, not addressing their aspirations."

He admitted not always telling the truth in his former role as a Labour MP, saying: "I would be very surprised if I had", but insisted there would be "no lies, no deception, no evasion" from his new party.

He said of the concept of multi-culturalism: "We are going to put a stop to this nonsense", and added: "Our country is being stolen from us and we have never been asked for our permission." Conservatives and Labour promised to control immigration and asylum but had surrendered powers to Brussels, he said.

Veritas will announce detailed policies over the next few weeks on Europe, immigration, pensions, crime, and defence, he said.

He went on: "What the British people want is politicians who are real people who have done a job of work, who know what it's like to make ends meet. They want to be represented by real people who understand their problems, share their interests."

The East Midlands MEP will announce tomorrow which Westminster constituency he will contest. He is widely expected to stand against Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, in Ashfield in Nottinghamshire.

Damian Hockney, a London Assembly member and long-time Kilroy-Silk supporter, has already quit Ukip to join Veritas. Mr Kilroy-Silk's celebrity was widely credited with helping Ukip to win 12 seats in the European Parliament, but since his failed attempt to seize control of the party has been embroiled in an increasingly bitter feud with his former colleagues.

He quit last month saying he was ashamed to be a member. He accused it of betraying millions of voters and squandering its opportunity to become a major political party. He said people saw Ukip as a "joke" with no policies, vision or idea how Britain should be governed. In a documentary screened this week he branded some members "bloody right-wing fascist nutters".

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