UKIP Uncovered

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

Wednesday, August 27, 2003

Relative MEP Mendacity

In an earlier post regarding the unhealthy control Nigel Farage exerts over the NEC on 2nd August titled UKIP's NEC in thrall to Farage I ended by stating that of all the extraordinary and shady events in which Farage had landed the party, the worst in my view, had been the attempt to extort money from the Tories for agreeing to stand down certain candidates and I quoted this passage from an article on the subject regarding ethics by Free Traders want to be bought off

“They want us to call the dogs off,” says Nigel Farage, MEP and party spokesman. “For the UKIP to convince its constituency associations and candidates to stand down will only be possible if there is something in it for us. £1 million would be a good start.”

In yesterday's commentary on the whole matter, taking into account the new information available as a result of The Times reports of 2nd March 2001, it appeared that authorisation for this matter had been obtained by Farage from party leader Titford, and that consequently both men should be held equally culpable for the disgrace which the party has subsequently incurred.

While a mountain of evidence exists regarding the conduct and practices of Farage, however, Jeffrey Titford's errors have mainly been those of ommission rather than commission and are apparently confined to the matter referred to above and one other specific incident, namely, the shady business of the Video Tape copyright infringement

In his public attack on the BBC by open letter to Greg Dyke dated 7th August 2000 Titford's assault seemed sure-footed. and within acceptable bounds. That could not, however, in our view continue to be said by early September.

As we quoted in our original post, the party leader, Jeffrey Titford, on 24th August wrote to the party secretary regarding a warning he had received stating: “ The facts are that Nigel has permission to reproduce the video, this was given by Mosaic who made the programme. I have seen this letter.”

We have had sight of the exchange of resignation letters between then Party Secretary, Bryan Smalley and the Party Leader, Jeffrey Titford. We had expected that in view of our frequently raising the matter of the breach of Trading Standards Laws, Jeffrey Titford might have come forward to set the record straight and discontinue his shielding of Farage's activities. That has not been the case so we will now provide our view based on this further information.

In his resignation letter dated 1st September 2000, to Titford, Smalley states:-

" I was disappointed to receive your response saying that you had seen the letter giving Nigel Farage permission to sell copies of the video. It is clear this letter doesn't exist. I was also disappointed to read in Nigel's memo dated 24th August that you and Mike Nattrass supported Nigel in this video piracy.

I have done everything in my power to support you as the elected Leader and so I find it particularly hurtful that you preferred to support someone who consistently demonstrates that he has no regard for the law or the truth"

The reply from Titford dated 2nd September 2000 included the following: "The fax transmission from Adam Alexander that you sent me, although dated 9th August, I was not aware of until yesterday. This is not an excuse for trusting Nigel but sometimes it is necessary to accept a colleagues word."

Against that background it is worth re-reading Titford's public statement on the incident made two days later on 4th September 2000:-

UKIP & The Video ‘The Enemy Within’- A statement by Jeffrey Titford MEP, Leader, UK Independence Party

The BBC has spent a great deal of licence payers’ money producing a film series about the European Union. For reasons about which we can only speculate, the BBC has shown no inclination to screen on its terrestrial channels an episode that featured the UK Independence Party, despite the fact that UKIP MEPs went to great lengths to co-operate in the film’s production.

As a result, Nigel Farage MEP took a personal initiative to obtain copies of the film with a view to selling it to UKIP members in order to raise badly needed funds for the South East region. It subsequently transpired that distribution of the film to Party members would not be possible until it has been screened on a BBC subscription channel.

More recently, a Trading Standards Officer resorted to what amounted to deception in order to obtain a copy of the video and so prove that a technical offence has been committed. As a result, the videos have been returned to their source, where they will remain pending clarification.

Nigel accepts that he acted somewhat precipitously - though with the best intention of making the film available to a wider audience. I am also satisfied that no personal gain was either intended or realised. Any further enquiries or approaches on the matter, from whatever party involved, will be referred to the UKIP South East regional office.

This unfortunate matter would never have come about if the BBC properly fulfilled its Charter obligations in regard to balanced reporting. Also, I wholly deprecate the duplicitous tactics of Trading Standards at a time when their officers are terrorising small traders with an unlawful interpretation of Weights and Measures legislation, and turning a blind eye to the sale of thousands of illegal car number plates emblazoned with the infamous EU ring of stars.

Signed Jeffrey Titford London 4 September 2000

Given all these exchanges and statements, it is evident that Titford from the earliest days of his leadership, if not even before, was not able to fully control his companion MEP and supposed party junior. It must be in this light that we consider his supposed authorisation for Farage to enter into the negotiations for the one to two million pounds to be paid by the Tories. Money Lord Tebbitt described as "Ballot Box Blackmail".

We have little additional material on which to comment regarding Jeffrey Titford. We still believe he would be mistaken to run for re-election next June, given his record in this parliamentary term and previous lack of firm party leadership. In looking at the terrible state of UKIP today and the dire consequences for the British Eurorealist cause it would be tempting to heap much of the blame on Jeffrey Titford's shoulders, and we came close to so doing in our post of yesterday. It is abundantly clear from all the information that has come our way since starting this blog, that Titford is a mere bit player in the real cast of villains which is headed by Farage and continues down through Lott, Knapman, Harvey, and others with far to go before reaching the probably well-intentioned but misguided ex-Party Leader.

As stated in our original posting on the Video Tape matter we will happily correct any errors of fact, and or post any statement those involved may wish to make.

posted by Martin |7:55 AM