UKIP Uncovered

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

Sunday, October 19, 2003

Further Facts on Financial Finagling!

(It is recommended that the two postings immediately beneath this are first read to fully understand what follows).

Another post from an internet discussion group related to the questions that have been raised following the Daily Mail advertisement., is quoted below. The source of the information was not provided but it certainly appears extremely well informed that we are convinced of its accuracy. We have removed the names of those who appear to have been innocently caught up in what appears to be a very murky matter.

Quote

1 The appearance of the ad (Daily Mail ed.)was not referred to the NEC beforehand, either through e-mail or meeting, and nembers 'and NEC members' first learned about it when in an e-mail referring to it on ind-uk. The ad solicits interest from all over the country, not just the South East, so is a national promotion. Curiously, as the ad was not in all issues of the Daily Mail many assumed that the ind-uk message and that UKIP did not, in fact, have a national UKIP ad in the Daily Mail. Of course there was one!

2 As at 18/10, no memberships or moneys have been accounted to head office or to the party treasurer for these ads. Additionally, no moneys have been accounted to Head Office (or memberships passed through to be processed) from Ashford telesales since 23rd September, almost four weeks.

3 At the October NEC, retrospective mention was made of the ad and Farage claimed that the ad would be self financing and that **** was financing this national operation but that it was being run at Ashford. The figures for response sounded very good. When questioned by &&&& about how much **** was putting in to this campaign,Farage said that he would not tell the NEC that information. &&&& said that this was wrong. In the view of many also this is wrong, as it opens up many possibilities and precedents for individuals to undertake national promotions on behalf of the party in a manner which enables them to raise money for local initiatives.

4 The South East committee appears to be in an unusual position regarding the Ashford operation - while it has been claimed by Farage that the Ashford operation is part of the South East regional committee, the South East regional committee has aparently had no details or financial figures regarding it (whether through telesales or the Daily Mail ad) and there is
some doubt as to whether it is indeed part of the South East's remit. The importance of this is that all cash-raising parts of the party have to fall within a recognised and established cost centre under the terms of PPERA.

So Head Office is one such, as is the South East Regional Committee. If something falls outside of agreed centres, then it is not a party operation. Of course, new centres can be set up, but I understand that no such centre has been established outside of these two to accommodate the Ashford operation. Pejoratively, this means that some might regard Ashford as a rogue operation, but tonight's South East meeting has this item on the agenda. It is important for them that they establish the position of Ashford within their own area, whether it is or is not part of the South East Regional Committee. The South East treasurer is %%%%, and NEC member George Stride is also on the South East committee. They might be able to throw more light on this matter.

5 At the NEC meeting in September it was minuted that Farage would provide financial details of the Ashford operation at the next NEC. No such details were provided for the agreed October NEC. Bearing in mind the criticism at various NEC meetings of this operation as a possible method of diverting national funds to Nigel's campaign, it was very important that these
details be provided.

6 Additionally, Ashford telesales has been operational since July and no figures of profit and loss have been provided to the NEC in spite of the repeated insistence by Farage that London figures be made available and criticism of the occasion at the outset when figures had not been provided.
Although Ashford telesales is claimed by Farage to be part of the South East region (and they have not seen figures either), the Ashford centre appears to use national data and it is therefore important that the NEC is aware of what it is doing. The London telesales operation has seen provision of profit and loss details for four months, with a sheet being provided to NEC members each month. On the basis of this information it was decided to close the operation and reconsider options on continuing in a more cost-effective way. There is a fear that Ashford will continue to be detached from the party, will solicit memberships in a way which does not provide the party with enough revenue to meet regular costs of servicing those memberships, and will continue to be unaccountable to the centre or indeed to its region. One of the main fears is that a national donor will be persuaded to fund the loss making centre, and that the funds which flow in will go direct to a campaign untrammelled by costs: this precedent is a matter of concern as it encourages a complete fragmentation and competition for national donors, and allows rogue cost centres to be regarded as normal. This may or may not be happening, but the important thing is that the NEC does not know and does not appear to have the ability to find out.

7 Ashford owes HQ something in the region of £2,000, but there has beendifficulty in getting the money.

Unquote

We wonder if those with the patience to grind through all this detail are left with the same impression as ourselves, namely that now only some outside authority backed by the full force of the law seems likely to get to the bottom of this situation. It certainly is obvious that the party Chairman, who should be now leading ruthless inquiries, apparently lacks both the inclination and also the necessary steely determination.

It would appear from the above that a rogue financial unit has been operating within the party for some months, with no commitments to the party whatsoever, while being the recipient of various fund-raising activities, and that an attempt has been made to keep the Party's NEC in ignorance of this operation. The role and reaction of the Party Chairman when questions on these matters have been raised at the NEC meetings would quickly provide a guide as to whether or not he can now be expected to root out the truth.

posted by Martin |9:05 AM