UKIP Uncovered

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

Wednesday, June 04, 2003

The UKIP 'Thug' Image

Earlier today we posted a long attack on this Blogspot from an individual called Greg Lance-Watkins.

Who is this individual? At the opening of his attack he states he is a member of no political party; how then does he have access to "mail UKIP" which contributing party members are denied?

Longstanding UKIP members advise us that he is generally known within the party as a mouthpiece for Nigel Farage. This seems borne out by researches we have undertaken; one of the earliest references to his name being associated with UKIP coming in the documentation concerning the Metropolitan Police inquiries into the missing party membership lists in the spring/summer of the year 2000.

Subsequently his name appears as a contact for Foot and Mouth Ground Force Contacts alongside that of Diane Ellis, the one time partner of Peter Troy, who of course, is at the very epicentre of these present problems. Hardly the independent impartial observer of events that he tries to paint himself.

What of the charge made much of that we seek to hide behind anonymity. Absolute nonsense, the e-mail of last Saturday was shown as having been sent by Martin Cole, from both the two hotmail addresses used. Had GLW been a party member he would have received the e-mail direct with the sender's name clearly shown. In our attempt to restrict circulation to UKIP party members only, his name was excluded, although we did of course have his e-mail address and knew of his association with Nigel Farage.

In spite of being asked to consider the facts, which are nonexistent, we are instead subjected to a stream of vicious personal attack of which this quoted below is certainly the most outrageous:-

We are asked to wonder whether contributors to this blog are still on the sex offenders register for abusing children?

We can categorically state that no contributor to this blog has ever appeared on such a register nor ever had any criminal record. The suggestion is totally without foundation and must stand as a monument of shame against he who made it, and those who choose to be associated with this individual. So much for facts.

It is perfectly clear the writer, although running a bookshop has certainly no idea of the meaning of the word debate, to which he challenges us at the end of his diatribe, and which we therefore decline.

We reproduce it partly because it answers some questions for which we have been seeking answers, particularly:

1) Why did three separate people from Newcastle University ask Martin Cole to refrain from bad language, personal attacks and prevent rowdiness when he appeared there to make a speech in March?
2) Why did the Daily Telegraph make the statement in its editorial that readers could vote UKIP if that's your cup of tea?
3) Why have friends of long standing queried some members of this team about their membership of this party "with its known reputation for thuggishness and possible far right connections"? All of which accusations we have until recently been fiercely denying.

The decisions by the NEC on the matters relating to the problems in the North East have apparently been postponed until next Monday 9th June. We ordinary UKIP members thus have a few more days to make our voices heard; time to finally drown out the kind of venom that is spewed out from this particular friend of Farage.

Why did we put the whole sorry thing on our site? It is unsavoury, it is badly constructed and frequently grammatically incorrect and many of the spelling errors are basic and painful. BUT it illustrates an attitude. One we can best descibe as the''thuggish' tendency within UKIP.

posted by Martin |3:44 PM