UKIP Uncovered

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

Friday, June 30, 2006

The frightful cost of Farage

Not the reported seventy five thousand pounds spent by UKIP on the Bromley by election, but the opportunity to capitalise in votes on the deep disdain for the two main poltical parties as commented upon by this article from this morning's Independent linked from here.

Hopefully UKIPmembers will reflect on this disaster during the coming UKIP leadership campaign.

The full results of this lost opportunity, taken from the article, were as follows:

BROMLEY & CHISLEHURST

C hold

Bob Neill (C) 11,621 (40.00%, -11.11%)
Ben Abbotts (LD) 10,988 (37.82%, +17.52%)
Nigel Farage (UKIP) 2,347 (8.08%, +4.88%)
Rachel Reeves (Lab) 1,925 (6.63%, -15.57%)
Ann Garrett (Green) 811 (2.79%, -0.39%)
Paul Winnett (NF) 476 (1.64%)
John Hemming-Clarke (Ind) 442 (1.52%)
Steven Uncles (Eng Dem) 212 (0.73%)
John Cartwright (Loony) 132 (0.45%)
Nick Hadziannis (Ind) 65 (0.22%)
Anne Belsey (Money Reform) 33 (0.11%)

C maj 633 (2.18%)

14.32% swing C to LD
Electorate 71,818; Turnout 29,052 (40.45%, -24.37%)

2005: C maj 13,342 (28.92%) - Turnout 46,137 (64.82%) Forth (C) 23,583 (51.12%); Reeves (Lab) 10,241 (22.20%); Brooks (LD) 9,368 (20.30%); Hooper (UKIP) 1,475 (3.20%); Garrett (Green) 1,470 (3.19%)

posted by Martin |8:01 AM

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Knapman to Quit

"Too old" he tells the BBC's Politics Show, linked here. UKIP will be featured on the West edition of the programme on Sunday.

Nominations for the new UKIP leader close at the end of June.

posted by Martin |9:01 AM

Friday, June 09, 2006

English Democrats name Bromley by-election candidate

Steven Uncles, long active at the heart of the English Democrat Party has been named as their candidate for the 29th June by-election.

The party has recently strengthened its anti-EU stance as we reported on 30th March in a posting regarding the UKIP Leadership, linked from here. Not disconnected from that later contest it will be interesting to see the relative perormances of Nigel Farage MEP and Steven Uncles in the by-election vote.

Mr Uncles a married man of seventeen years will have the undoubted advantage of no recent News of the World article (nor other such baggage as reported on this blog) trailing in his wake, the existence of which has made Farage's nomination by UKIP a complete mystery to many eurorealists. We posted on that scandal on 31st January, linked here, and the newspaper column itself will presumably be much in circulation during the campaign.

The official announcement of Mr Uncles candidature may be found on the English Democrats website, linked here, which is quoted below:

Quote

Steven Uncles Parliamentary Candidate - Bromley & Chisehurst English Democrats

The English Democrats have selected Steven Uncles as their parliamentary candidate to stand in the By-election to be held in Bromley & Chistlehurst Constituency on 29th June 2006. Steven Uncles is 42 years old, married with two children, and lives in Wilmington, Kent. He has run Small Businesses in Healthcare & IT, and is currently working as an Interim Manager.

He attended Chislehurst & Sidcup Grammar School, and played Rugby for several years at a Club located in the Borough of Bromley.

Having been brought up in the neighbouring Borough of Bexley, Steven is well aware that many residents of Bromley & Bexley regard themselves as being in part of the traditional county of Kent, even though the constituency was made part of Greater London in 1963. Mindful of large increases in Council Tax (13+%) imposed by Ken Livingstone and consistent with the English Democrats' policy of maintaining traditional English counties, Steven believes that a local referendum should be held to determine whether people in Bromley & Bexley wish to return to Kent (Council Tax increase 2006-2007 4.5%)

Prior to becoming involved with the English Democrats, Steven was not politically active. By 2003, he had become aware that 'something needed to be done for England' and joined the English Democrats Party shortly after attending its second AGM in Greenwich in the Autumn of 2003.

Steven stood in the South East Region in the 2004 Elections for the EU Parliament when he attracted 29,000 votes. He is an English Democrats National Council Member and also co-ordinates activity in the South East of England.

As with all current English Democrats National Council members, Steven contributes his time purely on a voluntary basis.

Unquote

posted by Martin |3:27 PM

Friday, June 02, 2006

I really don't want to go here again....BUT REALLY!!!!

Most will have noticed this blog has been quiet of late. One or two posts per month and that was it.

Life was calm and tranquil - but now Nigel Farage is to run in Bromley and repeatedly readers keep hitting on the blog!

So, I surfed and what did I find ......aaaaaarrrrrrggh! Page after page of vituperation!

Faint hope was provided from a Times Online article of 7th May, linked here, the two opening paragraphs of which tells me that perhaps the MSM are at least taking note of the shame:

THE leader of the anti-immigration UK Independence party (UKIP) has imported cheap east European labourers to renovate his West Country mansion.

Roger Knapman, an MEP and UKIP’s leader since 2002, hired Polish workers through his son, who runs a company that specialises in bringing foreign labour to Britain.

The anti-EU movement now seems more dysfunctional than the Home Office - and isn't that just about saying it all?

posted by Martin |9:16 PM

Nigel Farage MEP is to stand for Westminster in Bromley!

The announcement appears on the UKIP website as reproduced below, and was also covered on Channel 4 News this evening. (The Conservative Party select their candidate tomorrow evening.)

Quote

www Ukip Uncovered

Nigel Farage MEP is UKIP's candidate for the Bromley by-election

02-06-2006

The UK Independence Party has announced today (2.6.06) that local resident Nigel Farage MEP will contest the Bromley & Chislehurst by-election, caused by the death of Eric Forth MP.

Nigel is 42 and married with 4 children. He has lived in Bromley Borough all of his life and currently lives in the village of Downe. He was elected to the European Parliament in 1999, and re-elected in 2004. He is the UKIP MEP for the South Eastern Counties and the leader of UKIP's MEPs and co-President of UKIP's European parliamentary bloc, the Independence & Democracy Group.

Unquote

A fascinating contest seems set to develop, not least in view of my posting earlier today which was made before this news broke and before Vapid Cameron's plea to the Bromley Conservative Constituency Association for the protection of his A List.

posted by Martin | 8:12 PM

UKIP and the Bromley and Chislehurst by-election.

After reading the following others might agree with my conclusion that UKIP should not run against Mr Chad Noble in Bromley.

Quote

Independent Conservative Candidate Seeks To Continue Fight For Eric
Forth's Values In Bromley & Chislehurst

(PRWEB) May 30, 2006 -- Ex-Conservative Party member Chad Noble who
resigned from the party in March this year in protest at the same issues
that caused Eric Forth to question David Cameron whether he was any
longer a Conservative, today detailed his intention to stand in the
Bromley and Chislehurst by-election following the unexpected death of
Eric.

"As Eric himself directly complained to David Cameron, those who believe
in more grammar schools, immediately lower taxes and higher prosperity
through business are no longer represented by Cameron's Conservative
Party which has taken a deliberate step closer to New Labour's big
government approach.

As an ex-Conservative party member myself, with passionate modernising
and traditional conservative values, it seems that for now, the only way
to be able to promote these values, Eric's values, is outside the Tory
Party itself.

However, we conservatives face a real dilemma; we cannot vote for the
Conservative Party, no matter which candidate they put forward as the
party itself is now opposed to our core values like grammar schools, but
we also do not want to damage conservatism by allowing one of the
opposition small parties with a mission to destroy the Conservative
Party to steal protest votes; the only way forward is for independent
conservative candidates, allied with the overall core conservative
values to emerge, and to work outside but alongside the Tory Party
itself." Noble said.

The Bromley & Chislehurst by-election is likely to be contested by
several centre-right political parties like UKIP, which seek a
parliamentary base to destroy the Conservative Party and hope to
capitalise on the likely protest vote from the vast majority of local
conservatives who wish to see their new MP continuing Eric Forth's
mission for more grammar schools, EU withdrawal, lower taxes and
passionate opposition to any form of positive discrimination or
'positive action' as David Cameron is currently attempting to rebrand it.

It only takes a few minutes on centre-right forums like ukipforum.co.uk
to see that the members and supporters of these parties are more
concerned with destroying the Conservative Party than promoting
conservative values, but at a time when those core conservative values
that Eric fought for have been discarded by David Cameron, real
representation is needed. This can only be achieved by an independent
conservative candidate seeking to strengthen the Conservative Party from
the outside in.

"I am the only potential candidate who would ask the people of Bromley &
Chislehurst not to vote for me if a better independent conservative
candidate emerges. This election should be about preserving and building
on Eric's legacy, not egos. If a better independent conservative
candidate, outside the Tory Party or any of the other parties, emerges
who could fight for Eric's values and preserve conservative values
better than me, then I would urge people to vote for them.

Only an independent conservative can achieve this. This is one election
that is about conservative values, Eric's values, not the colour of the
rosette." Noble continued.

"If elected to represent the people of Bromley & Chislehurst as an
independent conservative, I believe that my passionate conservative
values, fighting for a smaller state, immediately lower taxes, more
grammar school, pro-business, anti A-list positive discrimination and
pro EU withdrawal will enable me to influence the Tory Party from the
outside in.

David Cameron has casually discarded core conservative policies like
support for grammar schools in his 'blue labour' drive and so it is
vital that conservatives fight independently to preserve those policies
that we believe in.

81% of Tory party members on the leading Conservative blog
conservativehome.com are opposed to state funding of political parties,
but not one of the parties standing in this by-election except for me
have pledged to not just oppose but to reject any form of state funding
entitlement. In fact David Cameron, ignoring this massive opposition to
state funding from conservatives, has actually proposed detailed plans
that could effectively national political parties and charge people to
vote. We cannot stand by and allow this to continue.

Rather than represent the huge opposition to these state funding
proposals, even parties like UKIP seem more interested in seeing how
much money they could plunder from the overstretched taxpayer than to
actually represent the views of the people and pledge to reject any
entitlement to state funding.

It would seem that taxpayers money is one thing that these parties never
want less of. In contrast, I believe that MP's are currently overpaid,
and will pledge to donate 25% of my net salary as MP to the TaxPayers'
Alliance, the excellent think-tank fighting for lower taxation and small
government."

As Noble detailed, he is also the only candidate seeking to bring the
people of Bromley and Chislehurst together online to discuss their
issues at BromleyChislehurst.com to create the most effective means of
debating and resolving their core concerns.

"This is a key by-election for conservatives and conservatism. I urge
all voters not to direct their votes to any of the small centre-right
parties that seek a base to destroy the conservative party but to vote
for an independent conservative candidate who may be out of tune with
Cameron's Conservative Party, but will seek to work with them and
hopefully rejoin their ranks in the future when their agenda moves back
closer to the traditional conservative values that Eric fought so
passionately for.

I believe that I have that passion and strength of character to do this,
but it is essential that we all work to fight for conservatism and not
use Cameron's move away from traditional conservative values to offer
any inroads for parties like UKIP than only seek to destroy
conservatism. We need a candidate independent from the conservative
party, and for Eric's sake, I urge the people of Bromley and Chislehurst
to vote on values not rosettes.

Bromley & Chislehust needs a strong, independent conservative voice to
ensure that Eric's values are preserved. Only an independent
conservative can achieve this, and I believe that I am that independent
conservative."

Unquote

posted by Martin | 8:22 AM