Smoke rebel Hogan will stand as UKIP candidate
Smoke ban rebel Nick Hogan has vowed to stand as a UK Independence Party (UKIP) candidate in the next election — days after his release from prison.
Hogan was jailed last month after failing to pay fines and costs of more than £10,000 for allowing people to smoke at the pubs he used to run — the Swan with Two Necks and Barristers in Bolton.
More than 1,000 people were behind a campaign that raised more than £9,000 to secure Hogan's release just 12 days after he began a six-month sentence at Forest Bank prison in Salford, Manchester.
He confirmed he will still run as a parliamentary candidate for the constituency of Chorley, Lancashire.
"I am not pro-smoking, I am pro-choice," said Hogan, explaining his affiliation with UKIP. "There are still 39 pubs closing every week — that's 39 families homeless.
"Chorley is a ghost town at weekends."
Hogan will speak at the UKIP Spring conference on Friday in Milton Keynes.
