NOT a day goes by without another twist and turn in the political turmoil surrounding the UK's membership of the EU.

Prime Minister David Cameron is pitching for a new deal but if he is unsuccessful, he has promised to hold a referendum to let voters determine whether the UK stays in the EU or not.

For Jeffrey Titford, the UK's first UKIP MEP, it is vindication for decades of work. He spoke to Gazette reporter WENDY BRADING.

AT 82, Jeffrey Titford could be excused for pulling on some comfy slippers, sitting back in a welcoming armchair and letting the others get on with it.

Not a bit of it.

The country is on the brink of a referendum into whether to stay in or leave the European Union.

Prime Minister David Cameron is negotiating for change but battle lines are already being drawn up between pro and anti-Europe groups should the discussions fail.

For a man who has called for a referendum into the UK’s relationship with Europe for decades, it is a historic moment in time.

In 1999, Mr Titford became the first UKIP representative to win a seat in the European Parliament.

The following year, he took over leadership UKIP and during the subsequent years he has lobbied long and hard for British sovereignty free from the restraints and dictats of Europe.

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He served again as interim party leader in 2010 and is now its honorary life president and the closest thing the relatively young party has to an elder statesman.

Mr Titford's career in politics came relatively late in life but his interest had always been there, waiting latently for the right moment.

He was born in West Mersea, the grandson of a oyster merchant, Thom D'Wit, who was of Dutch descendent.

When he was three, his family moved to Holland-on-Sea, when his father, Guy, joined the established family funeral business.

Mr Titford also joined the business when he was 20 and continued working for it for the next 35 years also serving as president of the National Association of Funeral Directors.

His first volley into politics was when he was elected as a Conservative councillor on to the Clacton Urban District Council in 1970.

"I really became a politician to play my part in Clacton but I didn't have much enthusiasm for matters like sort out the loos in Harwich.

"I was still running a business and had four children so decided after four years not to stand again."

In the early 1970s, he became disillusioned with the Conservative party when Prime Minister Edward Heath decided the UK should become part of the Common Market.

"I was totally against it as were people from both parts of the political divide.

"I was convinced it was a mistake. It worried me considerably we were giving up our democracy and sovereignty to dance to the tunes of other nations."

At the tender age of 55, Mr Titford decided to take early retirement and to sell the 200 year old family business.

His children had their own career paths and it was time for Mr Titford to answer the voice in his head telling him to put his money where his mouth was and re-enter the political arena.

"Maastricht (the 1992 agreement for an integrated Europe) was the final straw," said Mr Titford.

"I could see the writing on the wall and knew it was never going to work.

"I resigned from the Conservative Party and I was looking for a group which would say 'No, this is wrong'."

Mr Titford joined the Referendum Party, established to fight on the single issue of calling for a referendum on the UK’s relationship with the European Union.

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Mr Titford stood as a candidate for it in the 1997 General Election and won ten per cent of the vote in the Harwich constituency.

His haul, combined with the swelling tide of Labour votes, sank Conservative Iain Sproat's hopes of retaining the seat.

His achievement did not go unnoticed and he was contacted by Nigel Farage from the UK Independence Party.

"I joined the group," said Mr Titford, "because I felt it was going somewhere."

In 1999, Mr Titford became one of the first UKIP representatives to win a seat in the European Parliament.

There was something of a contradiction in it.

Mr Titford was fundamentally against the European Union and the powers held by the European Commission and yet he was now a member of the establishment.

"The only way to know what was going on and to get ourselves heard was to be an MEP," he explained.

"It was an avenue to express my opinion and those of the people in the country.

"I wanted the UK to come out of Europe and it was a case of you have to know the devil to do something about it.

"We voted negatively all the time."

The following year, UKIP's Michael Holmes resigned amidst serious infighting in the party.

Mr Titford narrowly won the ensuing leadership election.

He said: "There was an enormous amount of infighting. I knew I had to quieten it down to unite the party."

He lead UKIP into the 2001 General Election, fielding more than 420 candidates, but stepped down the following year to concentrate on his next Euro election.

He was re-elected in 2004 but decided not stand again in 2009 as he would have been 80 by the time the term of office ended.

Now living in Sussex, he is, nevertheless, still heavily involved in UKIP and was a member of the selection panel for would-be election candidates.

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He is also close to UKIP maverick leader Nigel Farage and has an almost paternal relationship with him.

He said: "He is terrific. He has more ideas before lunch than many people have in 12 months," he said.

"He is a ball of fire, his enthusiasm is enormous. I think he probably the best politician in the country at the moment."

The principles which drove Mr Titford to stand for change still burn brightly.

"We have run this country for 1,000 years and are the fifth largest trading nation in the world and a member of Nato.

"You have to look at the effect of the EU on our farming, fishing and the City of London.

"If you want a union, it should be just on trade and perhaps security.

"You do not have to get into the nitty gritty of what electric light bulbs we should have.

"It has become so petty and regulated.

"On the issue of migration, we saw that problem coming."

The prospect of a referendum on staying in or leaving the Europe Union is, Mr Titford believes, a vindication of his political career.

But his experience tells him it is far from a done deal.

He is, perhaps predictably, unimpressed with Mr Cameron's proposals for renegotiation with the EU.

"It is a useless piece of paper," he said. "It might as well be toilet paper.

"He has not stated what the UK requires. Everything is about negotiating with 26 other states."

He added: "Even if the country wants to leave, under the Lisbon Treaty it will have to stay in the EU for four years.

"The UK will have to renege on every agreement to leave and Cameron does not have the guts to do that."

Despite the gloomy prognosis, Mr Titford feels his work has been valuable.

He is currently writing his autobiography which will appropriately be entitled From Death to Life.

He says with pride: "It has been worthwhile. We have moved from being a pressure group to being a political group."