UKIP Uncovered

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

Tuesday, August 31, 2004

Farage vetoes reimbursement of mis-donated DM funds.

The following is the latest in the saga of the Democracy Movement's wrongful donation of two thousand pounds to UKIP by Farage's friend John Moran Chairman of the DM's Kingston branch:-

Quote Hi,

Our latest statement is what started this discussion on EuroFAQ before the weekend.

The Kingston branch has, by this incident, naturally lost our trust to act in the name of the DM according to our principles and clearly stated non-party nature and has therefore been closed.

Everyone with the slightest involvement with euroscepticism knows we are a non-party organisation and it's obvious that making donations to a political party compromises that. You can't be non-party and support one political party with words or money. It's not rocket science but, sadly, too complex for some.

Further, our statement also said: "We will be pursuing John for the recovery of the misused money and of the other funds in the Kingston DM account." So I wouldn't say that recovery of the money is being ignored.

I would admit that there has been delay on this front because, as you alluded to in an earlier posting, Petrina Holdsworth, the new UKIP chairman, recently approached us about the situation, wishing to smooth over the trouble this donation has needlessly caused and prevent any untoward publicity that the action we are being forced to take to recover the funds will no doubt provoke.

After looking at the evidence she offered to return the donation to us. But then a week later she told us that she had consulted Nigel Farage as 'leader' of UKIP in the South East and he said there was no money in SE funds to give back.

We believe her intentions in contacting us were genuine and were of course very welcome. But it turned out that, despite being the chairman, she had neither the authority nor the means to suggest repaying the money.

That was obviously disappointing, as although UKIP are not responsible for what happened - it is clearly those licenced to act in our name who are subject to our principles - that would nevertheless have been a much more satisfactory conclusion for all concerned than the action we now have to revert back to taking.

I hope you will understand that we do not intend to publish exactly what our thoughts, intentions and actions are in that regard on this public list before it is concluded. Given the obvious interest here, I will of course let everyone know when there is news that can be published.

It is because you are absolutely right in what you say about the implications for the DM's campaign if our independence from party politics is seen to be compromised that we do not intend to let the matter go. There are only two ways to effect change in our relationship with the EU in the short to medium term: to become the government at the next election, or to win the EU Constitution referendum.

If you think it's more than likely Labour will win the next election, then the Constitution referendum has to be the focus of our efforts and no one party can deliver the over 50% of the vote we will need to win that.

There has never been a bigger need for a strong, broad-based, non-party eurosceptic campaign that those on all sides of the political spectrum can get involved in, like the DM. Thousands of people are involved in our campaign against the EU Constitution, and hundreds of thousands have registered their support, precisely because we are not party political.

We do not intend to allow a few people in one of our over 100 local branches getting over-excited about their particular political party at election time risk that.

best regards,
-Stuart-Unquote

posted by Martin |9:17 PM

Lance-Watkins' links to UKIP leadership exposed!

A veritable deluge of confrontational e-mails from Greg Lance-Watkins has recently been circulating on various eurosceptic e-mail discussion groups. Among the subjects controversially covered being the futility of having MPs in Westminster, the proper use of Democracy Movement funds and the usual personal attacks against others in the eurorealist movement for whom he seems to bear often personal grudges.

Some months ago, following his widely publicised support for the murderous attack on the Swedish Foreign Minister during the Euro referendum campaign, the UKIP NEC instructed all its members to cease contact with this specific loose cannon. Such instruction is now quite clearly being ignored and proof positive to that effect now exists as all the members of the NEC have been made aware. This matter will be under discussion at next Monday's NEC meeting.

There follows an excerpt from a memorandum sent by one NEC member to the rest of the Committee detailing the problem for the party:-

Quote
"... the attacks by Greg Lance Watkins on Damian Hockney are beginning to rebound on us. We all know that some members of the NEC and their staff are in regular touch with Watkins, It was made clear at the October NEC last year that Damian Hockney had neither met nor spoken to Watkins, so it was clear even then that the attacks were motivated by an agenda. Why otherwise was this non-member attacking someone he had never met or spoken to?

I have counted 10 such attacks in one week on a eurosceptic chat room. They couldn't do a better job of damaging the party if they tried. It is clear in the latest ones that Watkins has been told things by someone at the top of the party about conversations between Damian Hockney and Petrina of which only the leadership had knowledge. It is beginning to appear that this is a blatant attempt by someone high up in the party to brief against Damian Hockney, as no-one can be that motivated by bile and filth against someone they have never known or met or spoken to.

This has got to stop, as it is giving the impression which may be wrong of course that some are continuing the campaign against Damian Hockney by trying to belittle what a very efficient and motivated team appear to be doing in London. There's a whiff of envy in the attacks, a sort of envy and fear. I don't rule out that it may well be a double bluff and that Watkins may well be trying to damage Nigel and others by making Damian Hockney think this is the case.

My members have also begun to ask something. We hear a lot about what the Assembly team are doing but zero about the MEPs? We actually got a briefing before the recent story from the London team about the Olympics and I can't recall one occasion in the past when this has occurred from the party nationally or at MEP level.

One of my members saw Hockney actually on the ITN news, then heard him on the radio. He appears to have set up a fairly major operation at the GLA and it does us no credit to be seen to be smearing the efforts there through a discredited third party like Watkins who, we must remember, praised the murder of one of our opponents as "the act of a patriot". We must act to distance ourselves from this man at all costs.

I beg the NEC to ensure that whoever is briefing to stop this as it appears like sour grapes and jealousy on their part at the fact that Hockney and team are making an impact. Whether this is true or not it is how it is beginning to look. And what is true is that Watkins continues to be briefed by someone at a high level, and most of the NEC are aware of who it is."

Unquote

posted by Martin |8:00 AM

Monday, August 30, 2004

The UK Independence Panties

News this Bank Holiday is pretty sparse on the UKIP front, as may be judged from the late hour of this first posting of the day. I had toyed with an item on outstanding rates payments on the old London offices, but felt that insufficiently lighthearted for a rare non-working Monday. How about this item from 3rd June in The Scotsman column of SIMON PIA , which appeared under the headline as posted above.

IT’S not the first time the course of history has turned on ladies’ undergarments.

But still, Peter Clarke, the self-proclaimed "extremist politico of the Ettrick Valley", was looking particularly rueful with 10 June approaching and the UKIP riding high in the polls and likely to take a Euro seat in Scotland.

The former Tory and maverick free-marketeer explained that this time last year he was being interviewed by the UKIP supremo, Roger Knapman.

He had set off to meet Knapman at Edinburgh Airport, only to find Roger in a tizzy because he had taken the wrong luggage off the carousel.

Instead of a case full of Euro-subverting policy initiatives, his portfolio turned out to be someone else’s underwear. The UKIP’s most secret documents were found to be on their way to Oban.

Clarke says Knapman felt this was in some sense his fault, so Clarke’s UKIP career was promptly aborted.

Clarke bears no grudge - "God bless UKIP. They may be dafties, but they are my kind of dafties." (A rather polite way of putting it).

But surely Clarke would have enjoyed excursions on the gravy train chugging between Strasbourg and Brussels? "I think I’d rather be dead than an MEP."

Funnily enough this item turned up as first result from a Google search for 'Knapman and Lloyds', though I can't think why.

posted by Martin |4:47 PM

Sunday, August 29, 2004

How money has corrupted Britain's political system!

While the main targets of Nick Cohen's accurate and badly needed Observer attack on the undermining of the British political system are the major political parties, Mandelson and Blunkett - UKIP also comes in for its fair share of criticism. The full article is highly recommended and may be read from this link, whiled the section on UKIP is quoted here:-

Last week's figures showed that the UK Independence Party received more money than the Liberal Democrats in the run-up to June's European elections.

Its good fortune wasn't the result of a surge in membership, but because a Yorkshire businessman, Paul Sykes, gave Ukip £715,000.

Suppose that as well as hating Europe, Sykes despised gays and loathed fox hunters. WouldUkip's leaders and members dare risk losing his money by drawing-up a manifesto which was for homosexual equality and for fox hunting? Maybe they would, but it isn't over-cynical to believe Sykes has bought himself a party which would never dare cross him. (My emphasis - ed!)

It isn't just Ukip. Iain Duncan Smith's fate was sealed when Stuart Wheeler, the Conservative's biggest donor, said he wouldn't give a penny more to the party.

When Duncan Smith was duly fired and Howard took over, the spread-betting tycoon opened his wallet and gave another £500,000. The Tories are no longer dependent on the support of business as a whole, but of one businessman, Wheeler, and a handful of like-minded tycoons.

Think of how many raffles and discos ordinary party members would have to organise to raise Wheeler's £500,000, Sykes' £715,000 or Ondaatje's £1m.

posted by Martin |8:48 AM

I won't be your leader, 6ft 4in lesbian tells UKIP's gay members

The Sunday Telegraph, rather than a tabloid, carries this rather startling headline in an article this morning which may be read in full from here.

posted by Martin |8:43 AM

Saturday, August 28, 2004

Democracy Movement Kingston Branch disbanded for UKIP Donation.

The following is a communication put out by the Democracy Movement regarding the unconstitutional donation made by their Kingston-upon-Thames branch to UKIP during the European election campaign.

Quote
To: Democracy Movement Communications
Sent: Friday, August 27, 2004 2:53 PM
Subject: [DMNet] Kingston shame

Some of you may already know that our Kingston branch made a substantial donation to the UKIP during the euro elections, in contravention of the DM's aims and objectives.

I want to update all branches on the latest developments.

The (pounds) 2000 donation was publicly listed on the Electoral Commission's web site and that fact was circulated on various public e-mail groups, so it is necessary for the DM nationally to respond with clear, public action in order to preserve our vital non-party reputation. This would have
been the case whichever party had been given a donation.

Following an investigation and correspondence with John Moran, the branch chairman, the Kingston branch has been closed and John has also been removed as SE Chairman of the DM.

We would like to clarify that John Moran is no longer a representative of the DM nor speaks for the DM in any capacity.

We are obviously hugely disappointed with this situation. You will all know that John has made a superb contribution to recruiting support for the DM in the Kingston area and to promoting our campaigns. However, John persisted in seeing no problem with a DM branch giving thousands to
a political party. Nor has he been willing, when asked, to account for the other thousands of pounds raised by his branch over the years in the name of the DM. We have therefore had no option but to withdraw our trust in him and his committee to properly represent the DM in Kingston or beyond.

In due course we will be organising a meeting of DM supporters in the area in order to recruit a new committee who know the meaning of "non-party", in order to carry on the vital local fight against the EU Constitution from the non-party basis which we feel is most likely to attract maximum support to the campaign.

We will be pursuing John for the recovery of the misused money and of the other funds in the Kingston DM account. Naturally we all feel it is a great shame that things have come to this.

Regards

Russell Walters

Director
Unquote

John Moran has been known for his close association with UKIP's Nigel Farage MEP, and we believe that this MEPs known mouthpiece and attack-hound, Greg Lance-Watkins has already mounted a scathing attack protesting this move on his usual intenet outlet .

Once again the UKIP is seen to be associated with the less than savoury side of Euroscepticism - damaging all euro-realists in the process.

posted by Martin |1:00 PM

All-postal voting to go after NE Referendum!

Such is the report by Benedict Brogan in the Daily Telegraph today, linked from here.

posted by Martin |6:43 AM

Friday, August 27, 2004

UKIP press coverage in Washington and Jerusalem

The Jerusalem Post, linked here, describing UKIP as an 'extreme right wing party' picks up on the Olympic story and 'wonders whether any public would be able to stand up to the temptation of hosting the Olympic Games, with all the glitz and glory that brings, even if they knew that the cost would have to be borne for years and decades to come. It seems more likely that any government worth its salt would be able to successfully sell the idea to its citizens and win a mandate from them to host the games.'

The Washington Timesfrom here, covers the possibilities for electoral fraud in Britain's postal ballots.

posted by Martin |7:34 AM

YouGov has UKIP at 6 per cent.

The Daily Telegraph this morning, linked here, concludes its reporting on the latest poll as follows:-

It is minor parties that are making headway. In particular, six per cent of voters now would vote for the UK Independence Party at an early general election. That is considerably lower than the 16 per cent who backed UKIP at the European elections in June but it is vastly greater than the derisory share UKIP secured in 2001.

UKIP is unlikely to win any more Westminster seats next time than three years ago: namely, none. however, if UKIP draws a disproportion share of its vote from the Tories, as seems likely, the Tories next year or the year after could find themselves seriously disadvantaged.

posted by Martin |7:32 AM

Thursday, August 26, 2004

A TALE OF TWO CITIES - UKIP TAKES ITS OLYMPIC CHALLENGE TO PARIS

The story of UKIP and the Olympic Games reached a surreal pitch when Leader of the UKIP Group on the Assembly Damian Hockney and the Paris bid officials had a huge prime time row on French tv!

The French accused the UKIP group of being nationalists deviously sabotaging the Paris bid by supporting it. Damian, in impeccable French, revealed the news to them that Athens had just that minute announced a $12 billion deficit, and not $7 billion (which itself was twice over budget). And then he challenged them to give the people of Paris a vote, or on those figures every one of them would be paying about 3,000 euros for the pleasure. "Are you going to tell the people of Paris?" he said. And the bad tempered collapse of the officials was a joy to watch!

This matter has struck a chord with people generally and it'll be interesting to see what happens from here. Watch this space.

posted by Martin |12:18 PM

Euro-sceptic Disintegration!

The fate of the "List Pim Fortuyn" in Holland reported from here by Radio Nederland Press Review should be a warning to all seeking to oppose the EU - unity is necessary! The linked article opens as follows:-

The "Lijst Pim Fortuyn", or LPF party, which the populist candidate Pim Fortuyn set up only a few months before his assassination in May 2002, appears to be disintegrating. Elections shortly after Fortuyn's murder swept his orphaned party into parliament and the coalition government. Now two years later, the LPF is no longer in the government and has a sharply reduced number of seats in parliament, thanks to a consistent record of internal chaos, public infighting, political inexperience, and scandal.

posted by Martin |10:56 AM

George W. and UKIP in Olympic hot water!

Reuters reports that the Olympic organisation are perturbed over misuse of their logo. It appears from their report that UKIP are in less trouble than the US Republican party's re-election campaign for George Bush. Read it from here.

posted by Martin |7:57 AM

Wednesday, August 25, 2004

Totnes Tory taunts Kilroy!

This report from South Devon, linked here, has local Tory Anthony Steen challenging Kilroy and Knapman as follows:-

Uk Independence Party politician Robert Kilroy-Silk won't even have a tail left to tuck between his legs if he takes on the Tories in Totnes, Anthony Steen has declared.

Suggestions that the UKIP MEP could win the Totnes constituency at the next General Election were laughed off by a confident Mr Steen who has held the Devon seat for the Conservatives for the last 21 years.

All publicity playing into UKIP's hands, no doubt designed to distract attention from their deliberate destruction of their own real chances of gaining a Westminster seat at Hartlepool. In a general election campaign no seat will ever be as potentially winnable for UKIP as Hartlepool looks today.

Were UKIP to field a high profile candidate of proven campaigning ability backed by frequent appearances from Kilroy and the financing of Paul Sykes what an upset could be engineered!!!!!!! We hear, however, that all is not sweetness and light as far as the latter is concerned with Mr Sykes place on the new Political Committee having been taken by Petrina Holdsworth - the new party chair!

posted by Martin |5:02 PM

Paris rejects UKIP backing

The Evening Standard carries the report which also expresses French dismay at misuse of their logo. Read it from here.

posted by Martin |4:55 PM

UKIP London's anti-Olympic Games announcement gets Farage fumbling.

We hear that although supposedly on holiday, it was UKIP's leader in the Brussels Parliament that was contacted by the press for reaction to yesterday's PR stunt against the London 2012 olympic bid. It appears he knew nothing of the matter and was apparently left to waffle.

This seems one more indication that Farage considers UKIP a one man party - HIS. Why else would he have not delegated such simple matters as press liason, during his leave.

As stated here earlier and in some detail - if Nigel Farage MEP really does consider himself UKIP's mainstay - only he can now save the party by making a bid for Wesminster from Hartlepool. Time is still available, and action is required the Eurorealist cause will become a laughing stock if UKIP put forward no candidate of calibre and continue with the former conservative election agent!

posted by Martin |8:06 AM

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

Paul Sykes was major UKIP election donor!

A BBC report, linked here, carries the headline item as follows:-

The UK Independence Party had a five-fold rise in donations in the run-up to this June's European elections.

Most of the £1.2m - more than the Lib Dems received - came from Yorkshire businessman Paul Sykes' firm, which spent £715,000 on adverts.

All cash and non-cash donations may be viewed from this link to the Electoral Commission.

posted by Martin |12:46 PM

Press Coverage of UKIP's Olympic Campaign

The Evening Standard as could have been expected was first off the mark with coverage linked here.

The headline of the London evening paper 'UKIP backs Paris for Games bid' is taken a step further in the EPolitix coverage which opts for "UKIP snubs London 2012 bid" which coverage may be read from here.

My initial reaction is that this is a bold PR stroke that will gain in value down the months if not years to come, especially as the extent of the Athens' hangover becomes widely apparent and the aftermath of Olympic corruption and drug disqualification take their possibly final toll on the remaining sparkle of an increasingly tarnished event. The propaganda that will be made of the 2008 Beijing olympics will not aid that organisations reputation unless there are huge and immediate gains in human rights within that country.

For once an inspired UKIP move, putting them ahead of - rather than well behind public opinion and events!

posted by Martin |12:32 PM

UKIP London launch Olympic Referendum Campaign!

The following is a press release regarding a campaign today being launched by the UKIP members of the London Assembly:-

UKIP at the London Assembly calls for referendum on London's 2012 Olympic Bid

"London's bid for 2012 is delusional and empire building on an Olympian scale".

"This Great Sporting Event would be the Twenty Year Council Tax Swindle with Londoners picking up the costs for decades".

"We must have a referendum, with ALL the facts and figures available to the public".

"We do not trust Cherie Blair, Ken Livingstone and Lord Coe to protect the backs of London Council Tax payers".

The UK Independence Party members of the London Assembly have formally withdrawn their support for the London bid for the 2012 Olympics and have declared that they support the Paris 2012 bid. They have announced they will only re-consider if the Government promises a referendum for Londoners. Damian Hockney, Leader of the UKIP Group in the Assembly, said yesterday: "If the government wants Londoners to pay for the Olympics in London, there must be a referendum".

With the costly Athens games playing to empty seats and a huge drop in tourism in Greece, UKIP at the Assembly thinks the time is not right for London's bid. Every recent host city has been virtually bankrupted by the Olympics. Montreal is still paying off its debts from the 1976 Games. Now Mayor Ken Livingstone says he wants to spend £10 million of public money every year just to keep unwanted venues open after the Games. Isn't one Millennium Dome fiasco enough?

The party caused a sensation at City Hall when it unfurled a giant banner promoting the Paris bid.

Adds Hockney: "With deepest respect to those organising the London bid, they appear to be suffering from delusion on an Olympian scale. They say that the cost will be £3 billion. Athens is reckoned to have spent anything between £5 billion and £9 billion on the Olympics, several times over budget, threatening the financial stability of the city and spiralling the nation's deficit. Our politicians have been responsible for the Scottish Parliament fiasco (10 times over budget) and the mouldering Dome. Can anyone trust our politicians to stick to the mythical £3 billion costs eight years hence when even the current Games cost so much more?

This Great Sporting Event will be the Twenty-Year Council Tax Swindle if we do not stop the empire building of the politicians NOW.

Will Tony and Ken tell us the facts, put the figures to the public and let us vote? They will be out of power by 2012. It is the people of London who will suffer the costs and the environmental damage.

The UKIP London team are staging a photo opportunity at 12 noon on Tuesday 24^th August 2004 at City Hall where they will unveil a large banner in support of the Paris Olympic bid for 2012.

NOTES

In the June London Assembly elections, the UK Independence Party won two seats. The Assembly Members (AMs) are Damian Hockney and Peter Hulme Cross.

1. The 1976 Montreal Olympics were so far over budget that the citizens of the City are still paying ? it is estimated that the debt will only be paid off in the financial year 2005-2006. Before the event the Mayor said that "The Olympics can no more lose money than a man can have a baby. "The people of London will collectively go a stage further and will have kittens at the financial liabilities after the event" says Damian Hockney.

2. Los Angeles told the IOC that it would not build anything new and ran one of the only Games in recent memory, which did not produce a serious deficit.

3. Much-vaunted infrastructure benefits have never been properly or independently quantified ? they are part of a spin process. Past Olympic Games include venues and housing which has subsequently and quietly been pulled down. The only serious auditing of Olympic Games impact on cities and nations has produced very uneasy and negative reading.

4. If London, New York and Madrid pull out, leaving just Paris, it would leave Paris to do what Los Angeles did in the early 1980s. UKIP at the Assembly believes that French politicians are better at these tactics than British ones, so those who value the future of the Olympic Games would rather Chirac and Co played these cards than leaving them in the hands of Tony, Ken and Sebastian.

5. Environmental damage has been caused on a large scale by pandering to the pampered and cosseted Olympic elite. The bid said: "The environment will not only be protected: It will be improved." However, earlier this month the World Wide Fund for Nature said that "serious and irreversible damage" had been done as a result of the Greek Games. In the bid, Greece promised to protect a precious wetland ? home to 110 species of birds but ended up building an Olympic rowing lake on it, angering environmentalists.

6. It is an outrage that organisers and apologists of the Olympic bid for London have attacked the BBC for proving and pointing out the large-scale corruption within the Olympic Games. It shows what these people think of democracy and accountability and we congratulate Panorama and the BBC for having the guts to run the story.

posted by Martin |12:00 PM

UKIP's lack of ambition or vision

Having disgraced, demeaned and exposed its mercenary motives over the Hartlepool candidate selection, UKIP's leadership, have now compounded the fiasco by setting out in a ludicrous press statement the complete lack of planning, ideas or ambition at the head of the party. Looking at the press statement, which is linked from the post immediately below this - what are Roger Knapman and Nigel Farage actually trying to say. The original press report is in italics, with my comments in bold type.

The UK Independence Party has announced plans for prominent politician Robert Kilroy-Silk to stand as a candidate for the party's most winnable seat, which could lie in the Westcountry.

UKIP leader Roger Knapman has confirmed Anthony Steen's Totnes seat lies in an area where the party has raised considerable support.

Rather than a co-ordinated strategy for the entire country and party, we here have apparent acceptance of and capitulation to the harshest recent media criticims that UKIP is but a one issue party with only a single worthwhile celebrity candidate in Robert Kilroy-Silk.

Mr Knapman was speaking after The Times carried an interview with Nigel Farage, leader of UKIP's group of 11 MEPs in the European Parliament.

Mr Farage revealed Mr Kilroy-Silk, already an MEP, would make a bid for the "most winnable constituency," backed by a full manifesto.

He said the party aimed to destroy the BNP's chances by offering an outlet for voters who felt threatened by the domination of Europe, who might otherwise vote for the far-right party.

This sudden obsession with BNP makes little sense. They are a fringe party sharing the main UKIP aim of Britain's withdrawal from the EU. Most people join UKIP with the aim of obtaining a restoration of Westminster sovereignty, seats at Westminster are thus required - clearly these are now held by Labour, Conservative and LibDem MPs all to a greater or lesser extent wishing a continuation of the UK's EU membership regardless of whether democracy and accountability exists or not. BNP are not the enemy - sitting MPs ARE!

Mr Farage tackled the accusation that the UKIP politicians were the "BNP in blazers". He said: "The UKIP is a country mile away from the BNP on any issue. We're not racist, we're for free trade."

He added: "There is only one party in Britain that can stop the BNP and that's UKIP. Why should we be frightened of that?"

What can such a statement mean? Where lies any connection between racism and free trade? Slavery itself could be said to have been the very epitome of free trade! And why this renewed fixation on the BNP ? Are accusations of far right connections suddenly becoming too close to home?

Mr Knapman, who is based in Newton Abbot, said the party would fight to win as many seats as possible in the next election.

He said: "No decision has yet been taken, but nearly all the MEPs will be standing for good seats.

Here of course is demonstrated the major problem at the very centre of the UKIP. Knapman demonstrates that the leadership have become obsessed with Europe and their new grand role in the EU Parliament. The UK Independence party seeks freedom from the EU - the best in the party are not the scum that has now risen to the top as in jam making. The lying, cheating and other skullduggery involved in drawing up the UKIP lists for MEP candidates ensured that fact.

The anti-EU movement cannot count on UKIP to promote their cause, this now could not be made any clearer! Why on earth will voters in a General Election vote for newly elected UKIP MEPs?

posted by Martin |8:58 AM

Monday, August 23, 2004

UKIP hiding Hartlepool embarassment? - suggest Kilroy for Totnes!

Trumpeting the potential of UKIP's MEPs to stand for Westminster seats in the General Election is a poor substitute for the real opportunity that could still be recovered in Hartlepool! Read the report from This is Cornwall, linked here.

posted by Martin |5:33 PM

UKIP ignores the EU and returns to internal ructions!

The latest dispute exercising the party leadership and activists is: should Ashley Mote the number two South East region MEP for the party be forced to resign.

One communication fired across the present party divide on the subject gives a fascinating insight into how UKIP's MEPs view their presence in Strasbourg and demonstrates their reasons for being reluctant to do anything to really advance the anti-EU cause, such as, for instance, by standing in an almost certainly winnable by-election at Hartlepool:

"If Ashley were to resign his seat now as you suggest, he would be quite within his rights to demand payment for loss of earnings and status, should he be proved innocent of all charges - a sum I guess will be in the vicinity of £500,000 over the period of the parliament. If you are so convinced he is guilty I am sure you will have no problem making that guarantee."

Half a million pounds or a few months in Westminster? Party and principle or all that money? No contest is there?????? (Remember too, the three sitting MEPs estimated last Christmas that their seats were truly worth some quarter of a million a year putting Mote's potential losses at one and a quarter million pounds!)

posted by Martin |8:41 AM

Sunday, August 22, 2004

UKIP Ignored in Hartlepool

A BBC News report of yesterday, linked here, makes much of a LibDem rightward drift as does this Guardian report in an Observer article linked from here . A quote from its close:-

These are paradoxical times. The Conservative Party is nowhere, but conservative ideas are everywhere, not least on a left whose manic skid to the far right makes the slipperiness of the Liberal Democrats and the willingness of Labour to betray its principles appear modest changes of position in comparison.

This report from icWales also takes its theme from the LibDems rightward drift in Hartlepool, and again UKIP goes unremarked.

As the campaign develops we will have daily evidence of the depth of UKIP's and the Conservative Party's betrayal of all those who believe in this country's independence and its very democracy. Those who purport to represent that cause while so blatantly, deliberately and duplicitously betraying it - cannot be likely to be forgiven nor certainly ever ever forgotten!

posted by Martin |1:24 PM

Where are UKIP's Leaders? - more comment from Victoria of Stevenage.

Quote

"The debate is opening up I am glad to see, we need more encouragement from all who care about Great Britain's independence, and our desire to govern ourselves without the interference from bureaucrats in Brussels. It seems to me that on the ground we have resounding support, the ideals and aims of UKIP are what most British people say they want: The full ability to govern from Westminster without intervention from the European Union
To keep our currency, our weights and measures, our British ways.
A fair and democratic Justice system, where "you are innocent until proven guilty" regulated from Westminster.
A well maintained and managed Health service for all British citizens.
Encouragement for farmers and small businesses, they are the very backbone of our islands. An education system that encourages the cleaver and assists the less advantaged.
An integrated workable transport system, financially supported if necessary by the government.
An immigration policy that protects the British people, and our islands, from overcrowding and ethnic discrimination.
A pride and investment in our rich history and heritage, to pass on to future generations. Freedom of speech without fear of recrimination from the politically correct brigade.

So, where are our leaders?

We need an active leadership in Great Britain, not in Brussels. Our MEP's are I am sure doing a great job out there in the wilderness, but we need leadership at home, every day, full on, now until the next general election and beyond, in other words Home commitment!

Each ward has committed people who deserve a voice, at present it is a struggle to get heard, and to win we need to be heard by thousands.
Our leadership must come back home and lead, or find some new voices to encourage and support at the grass roots.
UKIP has the message, and the ability to win into Westminster, we need to prove it to the British people, we need to be heard!
It would be interesting to hear from our leaders on this web site or have they become to lofty to join us here?" From Victoria of Stevenage

Unquote

Detailed policy proposals do not necessarily meet with the approval of this blog. They are posted here to stimulate debate and e-mailed comments or argument can be posted! A constructive contribution from any in the UKIP's leadership cabal to this blog , would indeed be a surprise

posted by Martin |1:02 PM

Mandrake from the Sunday Telegraph - August 15 2004 Quote Silk cut Robert Kilroy-Silk never had any problems silencing people he considered boring on his eponymous BBC1 show. Oh that it were as easy with his lesser known UK Independence Party colleagues in the European Parliament. The latest complaint from UKIP's moaning minnies is that while other candidates were asked to underwrite the costs of the recent European election campaign, Kilroy was not. "I made absolutely clear when I joined the party that I did not want to give them any money, as I didn't want it to look like I was trying to buy a seat," Kilroy tells Mandrake from his £2 million bolthole near Marbella. "I am sorry, but I am different. Those were the terms on which I joined the party and no one has ever disputed them to my face." Unquote

posted by Martin |7:22 AM

Saturday, August 21, 2004

UKIP's Manipulations over my Hartlepool candidature and membership re-application.

Spending August, September and possibly even a couple of months longer pounding the streets of Hartlepool, with all the attendant expenditure and physical wear and tear and the uprooting and stress on my own family was never a prospect that I particularly relished. The best possible outcome would have been a likely few short months as a Westminster MP. After that oblivion!

So why did I push myself forward, swallow my pride and re-apply for party membership with the very serious offer to have a go at winning? Principally because I was convinced from the start that UKIP had failed to appreciate the true extent of the disgust amongst all voters at all existing main party politicians (Mandelson's appointment and resignation was the perfect trigger to ignite that disgust), secondly the depths of the crisis within the conservative party could have pushed their vote to deposit endangering levels and thirdly, but still hugely important - the real message regarding the true menace of the EU seemed at last ready to be listened to and absorbed among the mainly labour and therefore most disgruntled and protest-prone receptive voters of this proven independently minded constituency.

I believed the delay in starting the campaign could have allowed time to mount a protest that would have deservedly shamed and humiliated all three main political parties. Sending a strident anti-EU voice to Parliament for a few short months would have had tremendous local appeal - far more than the local issues of the hospital now disappeared and the so-called 'ghost ships' situation. UKIP, the only party that could have led such a popular protest needed a dedicated, well-informed clearly anti-EU and preferably non-political candidate. I guessed none such from the senior levels of the party - celebrity or otherwise - would be forthcoming as has now clearly been proved to be the case.

The facts of my membership re-application and UKIP's reaction and subsequent manipulations are as follows: I re-applied online in late July and received a membership acknowledgement reference number on that same day which I retain. I use a low limit UK credit card for all UK internet purchases which is in the name of my wife, that was debited for the twenty pound membership fee on Thursday 5th August.

The deadline for applications from fully paid-up UKIP members for consideration in Hartlepool was set by the constituency association for midnight on Sunday 9th August. I informed the committee that I was such a member and that I wished my application to be considered. I heard nothing from the committee after that point until late in the week when the interviews and candidate selection had been made on the Wednesday evening.

UKIP, unable to react over the crucial weekend of 8/9th August - must then have realised that I was indeed a properly paid-up member and on Monday 10th August they issued a membership card in the name of my wife, totally contrary to the details on the application I had submitted on 30th July.

This membership was against the constitution of the party as my wife not being a UK national nor residing within the UK is quite clearly ineligible to join the party. We have now been told that the twenty pounds will be refunded and we await receipt of the funds.

The Party Secretary has informed me that I had never been re-accepted as a party member which is clearly not the case given the facts above.

I have now been informed that UKIP officer, Ms Nikki Sinclaire of these facts and my own relief that I am now once and for all rid of her fraudulent party and free of the burdensome obligation I was prepared to undertake when putting forward my name for consideration as a party candidate.

I hope that the personal sacrifice I and my family were prepared to undertake to fight the EU by-election in Hartlepool will be perhaps understood and appreciated by some true sceptics within the UKIP who might now realise their own work and efforts would clearly be better directed elsewhere. I stood to gain nothing by putting myself forward and merely hoped to halt the advance of the EU and particularly gain a chance to argue against the new EU constitution in the next session of Parliament. I will continue to speak out through the medium of my various blogs as detailed on the side bar, while hoping a genuine and dedicated anti-EU party might emerge (as hinted at by Dr Alan Sked in the interview linked from the post beneath this).

UKIP through its handling of the Hartlepool candidate selection has clearly exposed the apparently purely mercenary motives of their MEPs and higher party hierarchy. The fact they purport to oppose the organisation on which they now hypocritically depend puts them even beneath the venality often displayed by the debased three main parties - some of whose members, at least, have no doubt previously sincerely but wrongly believed that the EU project might once have been considered a force for peace and progress.

posted by Martin |5:57 PM

Alan Sked in depth interview on UKIP - Past, Present and Future of 1st July 2004.

The full interview with Jeremy Bradshaw on Chat Show can be viewed by visiting this link.

The interview proper concludes with a question regarding Dr Sked's own future; the interesting reply was that depending upon what the Conservatives now do.... he might have to form a new party!

posted by Martin |10:08 AM

A BNP view on the Darlington result.

I received the following reaction to the Darlington by-election result and exchanges from Trevor Agnew which is quoted in full below:-

Quote

From David Davies

this is the first time that i am aware of that UKIP has fought a council seat in Darlington

It is in fact the third time that UKIP have fought an election in Darlington. The first was in 1999 when Trevor Agnew (now with the BNP) took 16.5% for UKIP in the local elections. The other was Jennifer Maile who took 4.5% approximately.

Behind all the bluster and wound licking, UKIP have the benefit of a media who love them. The BNP are done down by that same media at every opportunity.

UKIP have a whole host of celebrities to endorse their campaign. The BNP have none.

And on the subject of running recruitment drives, wasn't the recent Euro elections just that. Broadcasts, leaflets with UKIP contact details delivered to every home in the country.

We in the BNP have a contact in the local UKIP who informs us that up until the euro elections UKIP only had 3 members in the town - The candidate David Davies, Charlotte and a Doctor. So I suppose 2 out of 3 mucking in with the election isn't bad!

With all that UKIP has going for it & all that is thrown against the BNP, it is fair to say that UKIP were forced into last place by the BNP who overcame their handicap fair and square. How many more advantages does UKIP want?

To be fair though and putting tribal party politics to one side, the far right parties scored nearly 10% in the ward. I look forward to the day when both parties can pool their resources and fight an effective fight against our enemies.
Unquote

posted by Martin |10:05 AM

Friday, August 20, 2004

Message from UKIP's Darlington Candidate.

I have received the following message in response to my post beneath this:-

Martin, you have put far to bleak a picture on the Darlington by-election, from scratch two people tried to fight a ward that has as a norm has 3 councillors, they tried to fight the ward against 4 established parties with better resources on the ground, this is the first time that i am aware of that UKIP has fought a council seat in Darlington, so this can only be regarded as a first step, yes a recruitment drive is required not just in Darlington but throughout the North East, yes more support and direction from HO is required, we need to establish a good media profile within the region and so on. On comparison with last election we can see that in reality the BNP have in no way shape or form forced UKIP into last place, in fact looking at previous results i would say that UKIP took the BNPs voters from them and perhaps a couple from the Tories aswell, the build up of UKIP in the region will be a long haul, i do see this result very different from yourself for several reasons, i know that in Darlington the BNP is well established and has good pockets of support who can be depended upon to get out onto the stump, the leg work by UKIP i can assue you was put in albeit by only two people and finally i was the candidate.

Darlington Borough - North Road: Lib Dem 789, Lab 571, C 119, BNP 87, UK Independence Party 61.
(May 2003 - Three seats Lib Dem 963, 881, Lab 818 734, 696, Lib Dem 690, C 211, 197, BNP 154). Lib Dem hold. Swing 4.2% Lab to Lib Dem.

REGARDS

Dave Davies

Fair enough Dave, from that background I take your point The recent history of UKIP's in the North East certainly cannot have been any help. The party's organisation and Regional Committee having been been deliberately destroyed by Nigel Farage's EEC manipulations, the scandal shamed Piers Merchant having been foisted on the region as June's lead MEP candidate and of course having the disgraced Peter Troy frequently in the pages of your local daily paper - the renowned Northern Echo - while still and unaccountably hanging on as UKIP's Branch Chairman in neighbouring Sedgefield.... given all that and the Hartlepool no-show of the leadership as WESTMINSTER candidates - Well Done indeed!

It does make Farage's bravado in yesterday's The Times look pretty foolish though!

posted by Martin |4:46 PM

BNP forces UKIP into last place in Darlington Poll

The local election results just published by The Scotsman, linked here, show UKIP reaping the results of their appalling strategic decisions ever since 10th June's victories. This result comes after an ICM poll yesterday showed UKIP support had fallen to a mere one per cent since they polled almost 17 per cent in June. The deliberate sabotage of the party by its leadership is obvious to the voters - if not yet to its more gullible continuing membership.

Darlington Borough – North Road: Lib Dem 789, Lab 571, C 119, BNP 87, UK Independence Party 61.

posted by Martin |12:20 PM

Thursday, August 19, 2004

Farage targets BNP!

The following is a quote, attributed to Nigel Farage, in a somewhat sceptical article in today's The Times of London:

"The UKIP is a country mile away from the BNP on any issue. We're not racist, we're for free trade," he said. "The BNP is authoritarian, whereas the UKIP is basically a liberal party, which used to be classed as left wing; now it's seen as right wing," he said.

Farage has a funny idea of what being liberal means, as can quickly be guaged by reviewing this blog.

posted by Martin |1:51 PM

Wednesday, August 18, 2004

LibDems now Hartlepool Favourites!

Following the betrayal of eurosceptics by UKIP's leadership the LibDems are now favourites to win the Hartlepool seat once held by new Brussels trougher Peter Mandelson, according to a report this afternoon in The Scotsman, linked here.

The report raises the interesting prospect of the last General Election Conservative Candidate running as an Independent against his own former Tory election agent, who is himself standing for the UKIP (their entire leadership and senior party members too self-interested to abandon the perks of EU granted office).

The Conservative Party themselves, meanwhile, seem to be relying on any passing vagrant or similar that they can grab, who might be sufficiently politically naive to stand for a party run by the hypocritical and justifiably widely distrusted former Thatcher polltax champion and John Major Home Secretary - Michael Howard.

posted by Martin |5:43 PM

Hartlepool and Ukip Morale

I have been admonished for excess negativity of late. First by Eric Wilson who is Branch Chairman in Hartlepool and reports the following positives from the campaign:-

"Stephen Allison is by far the best candidate so far appointed by any party in this election. We have a well thought out campaign plan which can win us this seat.
The campaign team is a good mix of experience and enthusiasm.
The two people who you have frequently criticised have both left the campaign team.We have had many offers of help from other branches.
Our pre- election campaign is well under way. In the last week alone we have delivered 15k. leaflets to homes in Hartlepool."

Another complaint comes from Victoria of Stevenage who I have quoted here before and has requested I post the following:-

Quote

I keep reading on the Blog that UKIP is as good as dead!

ONLY if we let it be, is what I say.

Come on where is your fight? where is your will?

Most people who read this page have already formed their views, I want to rally YOU, the people who care about our Country.

If we give up at the first hurdle we deserve to fail, problems are what will make us strong, obstacles are what will teach us how to win.

Who is with me? do I have to fight alone, believe me I will if necessary and I will win.

I want a Great Britain for my Grandchildren, I want to keep our hard won independence, DO YOU?

Stop saying that UKIP cannot find its troops, and spread the message, stop being defeatist at the sight of obstacles.

A faint heart never won a fair Lady, and our land is the fairest land of ALL

We can win Hartlepool, then another, and several others, WE will be the voice in Westminster, But only if we believe!

From - Victoria of Stevenage vmhjt@hotmail.com
Unquote

That is certainly the spirit of much of the membership I would agree. Pity about the Party leadership seeking comfort and perks in Brussels and apparently nothing more.

My blog Teetering Tories has two relevant posts this morning, one linking to an article in The Scotsman highlighting the Tories Hartlepool mess. Read the blog from here.

posted by Martin |9:18 AM

Tuesday, August 17, 2004

More Bemusement on UKIP and Hartlepool

Anthony Wells returns to UKIP's wierd gyrations over Hartlepool - linked here.

posted by Martin |5:07 PM

UKIP's Betrayal of Euroscepticism Forces the Fight into France!

Following the by-elections failures in Leicester South, Hodge Hill and now the even greater fiasco of Hartlepool - it is perfectly clear that UKIP is in the process of betraying its members and other eurosceptics within the country, just as the other three political parties have already accomplished. It is clear to me that their own mercenary motives are principally to blame.

The fight against the forces of the EU therefore seems to be lost or fairly hopeless within the UK. France, with a referendum on the EU Constittion tentatively scheduled for the second half of next year now appears the area for extra effort. The French media supplies little in the way of critical reporting on the activities of the EU and I have therefore begun a blog in French - 'L'UE L'A EU ' linked here , and from this blog's sidebar. Please pass it along or link it - the internet will be a critical tool in the drive for a French 'NON' which now appears the best bet to sink the EU Constitution once and for all.

Early posts stress the dangers of the Popperian tyranny now being constructed in Europe, the full finally agreed text in French of the 852 page Constitutional Treaty, Protocols and Annexes.

(Native French speakers, able to correct my inevitable grammatical errors and spelling howlers, are invited to be as brutal and critical as they wish in the 'Comment' facility. I hope and believe the blog's title literally translated is "The EU's had it'.)

posted by Martin |11:17 AM

A Party Adrift?

The post-election issue of the UKIP party news letter 'Independence News' is finally arriving on doormats. Was the delay caused by yet more internal disputes?

We are informed that while the NEC is shown as having two Vice-Chairmen - nobody is listed as occupying the actual chair. As the party has shown every sign of the disarray and disorganisation one would expect if in a leaderless state since the victories of 10th June, this would appear to be more than just a printer's error.

Petrina Holdsworth, still listed as Party Chairman on the party website, apparently has no such title alongside her name in this newsletter.

posted by Martin |9:39 AM

Press Release on Denis Macshane from the Libertarian Alliance.

The following was issued yesterday. The sections in bold are passages this blog feels should be emphasised.

Press Release Date: Monday 16 August, 2004

"SACK AND PROSECUTE EUROPEAN MINISTER FOR VILE RACIST SLURS", SAYS FREE MARKET AND CIVIL LIBERTIES THINK TANK

Denis MacShane, the European Minister, should be both sacked and prosecuted following the vile racist abuse he expressed in a recent 'Daily Telegraph' interview, says the Libertarian Alliance, the radical free market and civil liberties think tank and pressure group.

Libertarian Alliance Director, Dr Chris Tame commented:

Racist Slurs

"Mr. MacShane's foul accusation that the English were characterised by "a dark streak of xenophobia and racism" and "offensive xenophobic hatred", is an outrageous racist slur.

Orwellian Hate-Mongering

MacShane further compounded this racial abuse by a hateful and hate-mongering attempt to demonise opponents of the European Union by claiming that opposition to the project of a European superstate was motivated by hatred and xenophobia.

The Reality of Euro-Sceptism

In reality euro-scepticism is overwhelmingly motivated by rational liberal concern over the creation of an unaccountable elitist despotism, the EU's destruction of the political polycentrism (national independence) that scientific historians and economists recognise as the source of its previously progressive character, its destruction of British liberal common law and civil liberties and their replacement by the illiberal Code Napoleon, its roots in Nazi, Fascist and Communist thinking, its crackpot socialist and economic interventionist policies, its corporatist privileging of Big Business, and its racist protectionist barriers against the Third World. Socialist opponents of
the EU, some of whom still exist within the Labour Party, also rightly condemn the EU as a "rich man's club". They are right, but confuse neo-mercantilist corporatism (which benefits big business interests) with free market capitalism (that benefits the masses)".

No Place for Racialism or Incitement

The racialisation of political discourse, the foul racial stigmatisation practiced by Mr. MacShane, and the cynical use of Orwellian hate language to demonise and exclude liberal critics of the European Union
are quite simply unacceptable.

MacShane's vile diatribe can also be seen as a form of incitement to repression, since the EU has constantly been seeking to make so-called "xenophobia" a criminal offence and government bodies and others in this country are calling for the removal of civil liberties of those they brand as "racists".

There can be no place in the public and political life of this country for a man of Mr. MacShanes's ilk. He should do the decent thing and resign, or the Prime Minister should sack him. We also call upon the Labour part to expel this hate-mongering racist from its ranks."

The Libertarian Alliance is also formally reporting Mr. MacShane to the Metropolitan Police, with a request that he be investigated for possible prosecution under the race relations provisions of the Public Order Act.

posted by Martin |8:18 AM

Reuters International re-issues UKIP 'Wreckers' press release

Those who missed the UK release last week, can see this re-issue from Reuters in the USA, linked here.

posted by Martin |8:11 AM

Monday, August 16, 2004

UKIP to target County Councils.

Anywhere, in fact, it would seem - other than Westminster - the one legislative and elected assembly where EU withdrawal can be begun and achieved. Read Jeffrey Titford's comments to the Norfolk local press, linked here and it is perfectly clear that here is a bunch of self-serving men keen only to become an established corrupt political party just like the others. The article ends as follows:-

While best-known for their policy of pulling out of Europe, he denied they were a single-issue party and said they were drawing up local policies, which would be unveiled in the coming months.

Key areas are thought to include planning, farming, a rejection of more windfarm development, and opposition to the spread of regional government.

"We are moving on further than just withdrawal from the European Union, though that shapes our political ambitions," said Mr Titford.

"But policies we are working on will be looking at services at a local level and that's what we are going to build on."

posted by Martin |8:35 AM

Sunday, August 15, 2004

Scotland on Sunday boosts Bloom

Under the title 'The anti-PC show' Godfrey Bloom is given a boost. Pity they got the name wrong!
The article is linked here.

posted by Martin |9:26 AM

A Sunday diversion

The following appeared in this morning's Sunday Telegraph, linked here:-

Rhyme and Reason

By Peter Pindar
(Filed: 15/08/2004)

I vow to thee, my party

A new version of the hymn a bishop tried to ban
(With apologies to Cecil Spring-Rice)

I vow to thee, my party, on message I will stay.
With inclusive health and safety, for woman, black and gay.
My vote will ask no questions on crime rates after dark,
Identity-card issues, or fighting in Iraq.
I'll eat my five fruit portions, support speed-camera fines,
And wait to greet the warden on double yellow lines.

There was another party that ruled us long ago.
Under the heel of Thatcher, who led us into woe.
She took the jobs of millions, and lapped up Argie blood,
Jailed paupers for the poll-tax, crushed miners in the mud.
How different from our leader, so caring, straight and nice!
How wicked of the country to re-elect her twice!

There is a future party to which we must belong.
To speak against its teachings will certainly be wrong.
And yet our institutional bias we confess:
The party must know better, and our ideas grow less.
Thus cleansed of inappropriate thoughts from days of old,
We seek ever closer union in one New Labour fold.

posted by Martin |9:12 AM

Saturday, August 14, 2004

How to throw the Hartlepool Contest

The following is taken directly from The Guardian's report, (click here) of UKIP's candidate selection:-

Mr Allison was the election agent for Tory candidate Gus Robinson in the 2001 general election.

And here is a direct quote from that candidate, as blogged in July, and linked from here.

"I learned in the last election that the people of Hartlepool did not have a stomach for a Conservative candidate."
"If I want to be an MP in Hartlepool, I have to take that into account."

UKIP tipped to win have now selected his agent!!!!

posted by Martin |6:31 PM

Ineptitude?

The question I have yet to see asked about UKIP's Hartlepool candidate, let alone answered of course, is:-

"Once Kilroy decided not to run - why did Farage or Knapman not step forward?"

Peter Oborne in this week's 'The Spectator' has this to say:-

Michael Howard’s less important piece of luck concerns the UK Independence party. At the time of its European election triumph in June it looked as if Ukip - which holds a poignant appeal to the most atavistic and, sadly for Michael Howard, by no means least numerous section of the Conservative party activist base - could cause desperate problems at the general election. The worry is not that Ukip could win parliamentary seats on its own account, rather that it would shave thousands of voters in marginal constituencies, costing the Tories dozens of seats.
this
This disconcerting prospect has become rather less likely over the past few weeks, thanks to the fathomless ineptitude of Ukip. At the time of the European elections I described the party as a 'rackety collection of conmen, perjurers, convicted criminals and semi-racists', and for weeks afterwards my postbag featured howls of complaint from outraged Ukip supporters. But it was not long before this assertion began to be vindicated. It soon emerged that one of Ukip’s victorious MEPs, a certain Ashley Mote of the South-East electoral region, was facing trial on allegations of housing fraud. Now comes the Hartlepool by-election, and signs that Ukip is falling apart. I am told that the party originally planned to run Robert Kilroy-Silk as Peter Mandelson’s successor. This could have been a brilliant stroke: Kilroy-Silk is a charismatic and plausible candidate who might well have taken the seat by storm. Envious colleagues seem to have blocked the plan, and the Tories can heave a provisional sigh of relief that Ukip is going nowhere for the time being.

The article (linked here) was brought to my attention by the blogger of EU Referendum linked here, for which thanks. The same Richard North also pointed me towards Guacemoleville blog concentrating on the Hartlepool by-election which is linked from here.

posted by Martin |8:46 AM

Friday, August 13, 2004

Manchester Bishop aids UKIP

The Guardian reports here, that UKIP have been associated with the words of 'I vow to thee my country' a much loved and evocative hymn, in an attack almost certain to have the opposite affect of that presumably intended. Or is he a Eurosceptic fifth columnist buried deep in the C of E?

Elsewhere this morning Reuters have put out a detailed piece on the growing influence of the UKIP - linked here, which was reproduced in full in South Africa as may be seen from this link.

Faced with such excellent publicity from those not normally noted for publicising the anti-democratic and totalitarian tendencies of the EU, the mystery of the crass stupidity of the Hartlepool by-election candidate selection gets ever greater. It now appears UKIP's candidate was none other than the Conservative Party's election agent at the last general election. As the candidate himself remarked when declining to run in the by-election - Hartlepool has no stomach for the conservatives! So what do UKIP think they are about?

I can confirm the depth of that disdain from personal experience. While visiting the town a self-avowed 'non-political local' expounded in some detail his contempt for the Tories, mainly due it appeared - not so much from the actual policies of Margaret Thatcher, but more from the fact that her party - by removing her from office - had robbed him of the ability to do the same, by use of his own vote at a general election. He at least had a firm grasp of the true meaning of our precious right to vote - removing our rulers regularly and bloodlessly. That precious right too has now been given away along with much else by the three main treacherous political parties. Soon it will be beyond recovery.

posted by Martin |8:35 AM

Thursday, August 12, 2004

UKIP abandons any pretence of role in National Politics

The UK Independence Party Hartlepool Constituency representatives last night selected a Hartlepool born, former independent local councillor as their candidate for the coming by-election. They gave no consideration to my offer to stand, although I had made every effort and complied with their requirement of being a fully paid-up party member when applications closed last Sunday.

When did Mr Allison join UKIP? - and WHAT are his anti-EU credentials?

I do not blame the Hartlepool Committee for this exclusion or question their motives for this decision. In conversation with their Branch Chairman, Mr Eric Wilson, I had understood their concern over strictly local issues, particularly the potential loss of their local hospital. The NEC, who the constitution grants a guiding role in by-elections, is not, of course, similarly blameless.

In fact the NEC and leadership of UKIP are an entirely different matter. The pretence that UKIP believes in the cause of EU withdrawal has now been shown for the empty sham this writer had long ago begun to suspect was truly the case.

A detailed report of the Hartlepool candidate selection fiasco, starting from the presentation by John Harvey to the Party's NEC declaring Hartlepool as the golden possibility for a national break-through, up to last night's final decision will be posted here in due course. It will naturally concentrate particularly on the delay in publicising Robert Kilroy-Silk's decision not to stand on the basis of the impossibilty of holding dual mandates, a fact of which both he and the party should have been aware since the Hodge Hill declaration. Why was no other candidate of stature ready to go from the moment of Mandelson's appointment?

The BBC report on the candidate selection may be read from here and The Scotsmanfrom here.

My offer to have buried the past and selflessly throw myself into the herculean task of making UKIP a national force by fighting the Hartlepool by-election on the issues for which the UK Independence Party purportedly stands - namely for restoring Britain's democracy - having been so callously disregarded; needless to say my rescinding of my party membership is already on its way.

This quote is from the last linked press report :-

Mr Allison is a married father of two who was born in Hartlepool and, until recently, was an independent councillor.

A spokesman for the party said he had been very active in the local area.

He added: “He knows the local issues and has campaign actively to save the hospital and campaigned on issues such as the ghost ships. He knows what’s happening in the area and he is a good choice.”

It sums up UKIP's irrelevance and ineptitude, and demonstrates its apparent present purpose, (secondarily, of course, to keeping its undeserving MEPs on the gravy train) as having its first prospective Westminster MP be able to :-

'Save the hospital and understand the Ghost ships' - UKIPs new party purpose - Shameful and Treacherous!

Can any now doubt that UKIP seems to mainly serve the EU Federalist cause?

posted by Martin |8:30 AM

Wednesday, August 11, 2004

Cole's Candidature Ignored as Fuel Protester enters the Hartlepool ring!

True to form, UKIP will ignore my application and clear eligibility to be a candidate for Hartlepool.

It seems my agitating might not have been in vain however as a third and potentially more viable candidate enters the fray. Andrew Spence a County Durham farmer and fuel protester from 2000 will be interviewed with the other candidates this evening. Mr Spence may well be more suited for this constituency than myself, as set out in my posting below - a serious bid by UKIP with victory in mind is absolutely essential!

The BBC report on Mr Spence's candidature may be read from here.

posted by Martin |9:23 AM

Why UKIP must win Harlepool!

The Land Registry reported yesterday that house prices in neighbouring Middlesborough rose last year by almost 60 per cent, read from here. (Mandelson might make two hundred thousand pounds profit on his Hartlepool house according to one press report!) The lunatics have taken over the asylum!

Who will provide this undeserved windfall to an MP already shamed over undeclared housing loans! Some middle-class family saddled with a huge mortgage debt for twenty-five or thirty years presumably! What local employers pay the salaries to justify such an advance? Not the hospitals, schools or other instititions upon which the any town or community depends! The lunatics have taken over the asylum!

Not everyone in Hartlepool owns a house! But everybody needs a place to live almost to the day we die, so for most single home families the feel good effect of a sixty per cent price hike brings no immediate material benefit - but with it comes fear - the fear of an even steeper price fall - should a family trade-up or scale-down (decisions of how and where to live become a speculative lottery) normal considerations of family size and needs become secondary and nagging doubts over fulfilling the housing needs of those who come behind us loom large! The lunatics have taken over the asylum!

Second-home owners, or multiple home buyers such as our Prime Minister ( remember he and his wife, seeing the direction his government's policies were inevitably leading the country bought not just one flat in Bristol for their student son - but two). Tony Blair, therefore like his crony Mandelson can now directly benefit from his Chancellor's reckless and unsustainable policies. Prudence! Gordon Brown declares as his watchword, while recklessly inflating a market hugely important in the daily lives of all in the nation but deliberately excluded from the inflation indices by which he measures his own performance. The national currency and wealth of the nation is squandered as a result. The lunatics have taken over the asylum!

Take the average MP in Westminster, how many do not own a home? How many - rather own two? How many protests have been heard from Parliament? From overseas I can see the wood from the trees. Although living outside my country for some dozen odd years I have not been absent nor felt apart. Britain is on the brink of chaos! A regular but infrequent visitor perhaps sees this more clearly.

Nothing is what it seems nor works as it should! Ordinary people and ordinary lives used to go something like this - start school- get a job - marry- make a home - raise a family- retire. None of these basic steps is nowadays either sure or secure. Politicians of all three main parties are to blame - pretending to be in control but effectively having abrogated much responsibilty and control elsewhere - the EU is both their excuse and vehicle towards their own greater comfort. The climate of non-accountability among the political classes caused by the EU - spreads into areas still securely within national control.

Thanks to the efforts of Sir James Goldsmith, Britain is not within the Eurozone. Thanks to the common sense of the ordinary people of the nation, who with his lead demanded and obtained - first from the conservatives and then labour, the right to a referendum - an exit zone still exists. Thanks to the hard work and persistence of the anti-EU lobby culminating in UKIP's successes last June, the EU failure is now accepted and acknowledged across the nation.

As the Eurozone economies face collapse and the first signs of civil unrest appear on the Continent (see Ironies post of yesterday, from here,) - the people of Britain must deliver the strongest possible message to all those within Westminster- ' that an urgent return to accountable governance in the country has become a burning necessity'. Reducing the votes of the three main parties to the merest handful at the Hartlepool by-election, especially given the cause for the contest - would seem the most feasible means of getting that message to Westmister. Using the vehicle of a vote for the UK Independence Party candidate would seem the best possible way to make the message crystal clear. The lunatics have taken over the asylum!

The Hartlepool by-election needs fighting on National Survival Issues, as the root cause of our problems lies within the corrupt and non-democratic EU!

posted by Martin |7:39 AM

Tuesday, August 10, 2004

Hartlepool Candidate Election

The following has been circulated by Peter Troy, disgraced North East region MEP candidate and failed lead candidate in Scotland in the Euro elections last June:-

Quote
From: Peter Troy EUroRealist List Sent: Sunday, August 08, 2004 3:10 PM Subject: [eurorealist] Hartlepool 2004 A meeting of the Hartlepool Branch of UKIP will be held at The Grand Hotel in Hartlepool on Wednesday 11 August 04 starting at 7pm, to select the candidate for the by-election. My understanding at this time is that two people have put them -selves forward. Chris Williamson, a local businesswoman and party activist and Stephen Allinson a local, or perhaps former, independent councillor. It has been reported today that the high profile media personality Robert Kilroy- Silk MEP will not be standing in Hartlepool for UKIP. Other nominations for the Hartlepool candidature can perhaps be expected today. In the meantime the local committee have been busy this week end leafleting the towns voters. My understanding is that the local members decision will be subject to confirmation by the party's NEC.
Unquote

I believe as a fully paid up member of UKIP (newly rejoined for this specific campaign!), my candidature is worthy of some consideration. I hope my credentials and potential will also be considered this time tomorrow evening as I feel I have much to offer the euro-realist cause.

I know nothing of the Independent Councillor, Stephen Allinson and if he is elected will happily abide by the decision of the local party members, who of course must have the personal knowledge I lack.

I hope there are more than these two candidates, however, and that Peter Troy's report is as inaccurate as others he has been known to issue in the past.

If UKIP wishes to campaign on an anti-EU rather than local-issues basis, please urge the party and any local UKIP Hartlepool members you might know, to have my name considered on the ballot. My general views can be read in depth from Ironies here , Teetering Tories from here and The Strasbourg Cesspit from here.

I believe that with Robert Kilroy-Silk and the other MEPs campaigning strongly, good financing and solid cross-country UKIP support - Hartlepool is easily winnable on a straightforward anti-corrupt politician, anti-mainstream party and anti-EU platform.

I stand ready to go for it...What can we...the United Kingdom Independence Party possibly lose!!!!

posted by Martin |5:57 PM

Hartlepool's nearest foreign neighbour gets more Eurosceptic!

This report from EUobserver, linked here, makes clear how easy it is to survive as an independent democracy even for a comparatively small country like Hartlepool's closest neighbour - Norway!

posted by Martin |5:46 PM

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