The leader of Queensland’s Palmer United Palmer has been accused of deriding voters as “junk-food eating bogans”.

The comments by Queensland MP Alex Douglas were in an email leaked to the Courier Mail by disgruntled former PUP candidate, Marti Zucco, who stood for a Tasmanian seat in the federal election.

“The interesting observation about Boganland is not just how common it is now but how the sufferers just copy one another so quickly with each trend … It is no longer satisfactory that they will just buy (and wear) ugg boots, watch Big Brother, choke on a diet of grease, dye their bright purple (sic), tatoo (sic) and rejoice in their ignorance,” Dr Douglas allegedly said in an email.

The Courier Mail says the email was sent to Mr Zucco on September 27, who has leaked the emails in an increasingly bitter dispute within Mr Palmer’s party.

In the emails, Dr Douglas describes now PUP senator-elect Jacqui Lambie as the ace up the sleeve to win over Australia’s battlers because she comes from Boganland.

Mr Zucco on Wednesday quit PUP to run as an independent at next year’s Tasmanian election.

When contacted by the Courier Mail, Dr Douglas initially described Mr Zucco as a disgrace, but did not deny writing the emails.

“They were basically between myself and Marti to say that I was very unhappy about certain things that were going on,” he said.