UKIP Uncovered

UKIP Uncovered
What motivates the leaders of the United Kingdom Independence Party?

Wednesday, May 28, 2003

The Northern Echo 28th May 2003
Having been writing of the above newspaer already today, we were surprised to learn that after reporting little on UKIP for several weeks, that paper has now returned to the subject with the following report quoted in full:-

Candidate for Europe withdraws as party feud escalates
by Chris Lloyd

A CANDIDATE for the 2004 European elections in the North-East has withdrawn - despite winning his party's bitter nomination battle.

Peter Troy won the chance to be the UK Independence Party's (Ukip) lead candidate in the elections, but stood down in the name of party unity. He is the second Ukip candidate to withdraw.

Last month, businessman Martin Cole, who lives in Switzerland, withdrew in an increasingly acrimonious feud within the regional party about alleged infiltration by British National Party members. An internal party investigation found that the claims were "groundless".

Last night Mr Troy, chairman of the party's Sedgefield branch, said: "I won by a small margin, but it is right for me to withdraw because it has been a fairly contentious contest and this is the only way for the party to unite so it can get on with its campaign.

"There was a personality clash and there was a danger the party could become polarised and no one wants that.

"I am still going to be very active within the party and the region."

But Michael Rollings, chairman of the party's North-East regional committee, which was suspended by the London headquarters, said: "There are still some outstanding issues surrounding a meteoric rise in membership in the region prior to the ballot. This rise may have been down to telephone canvassing or it may have been because of irregularities."

Ukip, which wants Britain to withdraw from the European Union, is hopeful of winning a seat in the North-East in 2004. If boundaries are unchanged, the region will return four MEPs to Brussels. Given historic voting patterns, three are likely to be Labour with the fourth being a fight between Conservative, LibDem and Ukip.

The four Ukip candidates who are standing are: John Pearson, a retired Northumberland farmer who was educated at Barnard Castle School; Charlotte Bull, a supply teacher who lives in Darlington; Tony Scholefield, an economist from London, and Cambridgeshire businessman Ian Gillman.

To read the article from the paper please use the link below:-
Candidate for Europe withdraws as party feud escalates

The first indication that something was amiss with the UK Independence Party membership recruitment practises came from an article in this Darlington's daily newspaper in its edition of 23rd March this year headlined Right-wingers target town in coming local elections.

This led to BNP member Mr Trevor Agnew writing to the newspaper on 2nd April to claim 'I received a (UKIP)membership card out of the blue and I certainly did not pay for it. Read some of the earlier comment from the following link to the first post on this Blog, alternatively read on to the immediately following pertinent article where the same link is repeated.
Northen Echo Items

posted by Martin |4:59 PM