UKIP Uncovered

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

Monday, February 26, 2007

UKIP looks set to go the same way as Britain and its Democracy

Judging from the media silence today, other than a straight repeat of its sister paper's attacks in the Telegraph this morning, none seem prepared to defend the survival of this small party nor give the slightest allowance for the difficulties they encounter.

The three main corrupted and anti-democratic parties in Britain have stacked the odds so heavily against newcomers that it appears the crushing of UKIP will be accomplished without a whimper of protest from any corner of the political establishment.

This blog has for years followed and documented the trials and tribulations of the UKIP - and you know what? Nothing much they have done compares to the regular scandalous goings on in the three major parties. No power of patronage for UKIP to disguise the bigger scandals or ensure compliance or silence!

I have tried to warn and cajole on these pages because I have believed in the UKIP cause. It is sad that I appear to have failed. If UKIP disappear through the stupid errors for which they are presently being called to account, then there is no justice left in England - and certainly no hope for democracy. This blog will then sadly lapse.

Shame then on the voters - perhaps in May they will finally have a constructive say by boycotting Labour, Conservative and LibDem candidates!!

posted by Martin |6:29 PM

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Sunday Times UKIP Exposures

The above paper has also been running articles on the UKIP by Daniel Foggo this week's is here.

This blog had linked the earlier exposure of Tom Wise by Mr Foggo, then writing for the Telegraph in October 2005, that posting is linked here.

Last week's Sunday Times article by Mr Foggo, which I had intended to link but forgot, is here.

Amazing how all these old matters fully covered on this blog are suddenly of greater interest, this posting of mine in July 2003 seems especially apt:

Thursday, July 31, 2003 One Year On

One year ago today I became a member of UKIP. Much has happened in the intervening twelve months. Because of UKIP I was able to become acquainted with some of the most sincere and genuinely committed individuals it has yet been my privilege to know.

On the other hand I have come across dealings, which even after a long career dealing with peoples of many nations and traveling far and wide, I could hardly have imagined taking place in the shadiest of Kasbahs or the farthest reach from so-called civilization. Subterfuge and deceit undertaken for gain is an everyday occurrence that can be planned for and countered, the same qualities when brought in to play for no possible benefit but almost certain loss for all involved, can only be caused by the grossest of stupidity or deepest of treachery.

What motivates the leadership of the UK Independence Party? Well with a year under my belt I confess to still being unsure.

And still today remain unsure, although the absence of motives of personal gain was an assumption that now seems clearly off target.

Absent UKIP where now for the real opponents of the non-democratic EU?

posted by Martin |1:06 PM

Latest Sunday Telegraph coverage

The column from today's paper titled "UKIP spent cash meant for MEPS" may be read from here.

posted by Martin |8:49 AM

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Electoral Commission gunning for the UKIP?

The Daily Telegraph today, linked here, reports that it is unlikely the party's desired name change will be approved. This comes the day after it was reported that the party faces ruin after an apparently onerous and unprecedented ruling by the supposedly independent Labour founded watchdog for impermissible donations of hundreds of thousands of pounds to be forfeit to the Treasury.

One report circulating the internet yesterday alleged that Mr Bown was actually only off the electoral register because of a change of address. If that were true then surely Nigel Farage should start trumpeting the fact from the rooftops.

Simon Heffer expresses his faith in the Commission in his column in the same paper, linked here:

Discretion in applying the law always seems to be exercised to help the most dangerous and criminal elements in our society - rarely to those who have done no harm. Ukip is being ordered to hand over £363,000 because the donor, Alan Bown, had forgotten to go on the electoral register at the time. This sensible rule is designed to prevent foreigners buying influence in our politics. Mr Bown is English, lives in England, pays taxes in England, and, when he remembers to get on the roll, votes here, too.

I am sure the Electoral Commission is not in the pocket of the main political parties and has no agenda where an upstart, populist party like Ukip is concerned. Why, then, doesn't it simply reprimand Ukip for what was clearly an oversight, rather than act as if there has just been another Great Train Robbery? Such a confiscation would look anti-democratic, as it would close Ukip down to punish Mr Bown for being inert, not for an act of crookery. Is that what the commission really wants?

A more detailed report on the affair is in The Independent this morning, linked here.

If forfeiture is enforced it could be the breakthrough factor UKIP so desperately need as any remaining national sense of fairness and justice will surely be outraged given the blind eye turned by the Commission to recent outrages perpetrated by the three main taxpayer subsidized parties.

posted by Martin |8:53 AM

Friday, February 23, 2007

Bown donations to be returned!

The BBC makes this story part of its main bulletins this morning . Details with a headline forecasting ruin for the party may be read in a Telegraph report linked here.

posted by Martin |7:45 AM

Monday, February 19, 2007

Daily Telegraph continues UKIP disclosures

The daily newspaper continues coverage of UKIP financial matters today, linked here, the following quote giving the flavour:

Yesterday, there were suggestions that part of the delay was due to concerns over the handling of £118,000 of donations. The Sunday Times reported that, although the cheques were declared to the Electoral Commission, they did not pass through the party's four main bank accounts.

But both Mr Farage and John Whittaker, the party chairman, insisted yesterday that the money had been properly processed.

Mr Farage said the money had gone into a fifth bank account set up to fight the 2005 general election campaign in "certain areas". "The money is not missing. It never was. That £118,000 had already been reported to the Electoral Commission and was all valid."

Mr Farage also insisted that a party call centre in Ashford, Kent, had been properly run.

posted by Martin |7:27 AM

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Telegraph finally spotlights Ashford

The report in the Sunday Telegraph, linked here, reports the following:

David Campbell-Bannerman, the party's deputy leader, has said that only 15 per cent of funds donated to Ukip through a call centre in Kent has been paid into the party's head office accounts.

Outrage over the Ashford call centre has been blamed for the resignations of at least six senior party officials over the past 18 months.

Five former members of the party's national executive committee, Ukip's governing body, have told this newspaper they believe about £500,000 is unaccounted for in the party's head office accounts.

posted by Martin |12:03 PM

Sunday, February 11, 2007

UKIP finance irregularities investigation

I have been following the workings of the UK Independence Party for more than five years. Initially as a disappointed conservative supporter frustrated over Iain Duncan-Smith's wavering on forthright opposition to the EU, then as a UKIP party member and prospective MEP candidate and finally having resigned in frustration at the party's methods of administration and management as a blogger hoping to expose the internal problems that I believed would eventually frustrate what should have been the best force for reform of Britain's endangered democracy.

In the course of several years detailed coverage of the party there are many pages in the archives of this blog on possible financial irregularities. I will try to summarize and link these below to give an easily referenced resource on the main problem areas. In a later post I will provide my own opinion on the problems raised and the best way forward for the UKIP.

Lacking the power of political patronage which present police investigations forcefully demonstrate has been a major factor in Britain's political system for many years, new parties will always be disadvantaged in raising finance. It is doubtful if the UKIP would have ever made political headway were it not for the system of EU subsidy of political parties with elected MEPs.

UKIP's success under the leadership of Michael Holmes in gaining three MEPs in the European elections of 1999 was the springboard for all later progress. One of these three was of course Nigel Farage MEP, present day leader of the party.

One of the earliest money related problems for the party was the sale of pirated video tapes which Mr Farage later attempted to explain as a matter of the party being deprived of the oxygen of publicity by the BBC rather than a straightforward cash raising exercise. My research is detailed from here.

Nigel Farage was at the centre of the next PR disaster namely the "blackmail" claim by the Conservative Party over an offer not to run certain candidates as was detailed in a report in the Daily Telegraph of 19th June 2001 linked here. This blog commented on this affair in August 2003, linked here.

The real problems over party financing only graduallybegan to emerge after a large overspend in the Welsh Regional elections and the attempted sacking of the Party Treasurer, as blogged here in September 2003. By the end of that week the first reference to the problems in the Party's SE region began to be revealed with this statement from the party's General Secretary, here, on the Treasurer's dismissal which opened with this startling statement:

Removal from office of the Party Treasurer I feel it is my duty to inform you of a serious situation that has arisen as a result of yesterdays NEC meeting, which I fear has placed the Party in an unconstitutional position for the first time since 1999 and has potentially put it in financial peril.

and later contained this reference:

"Also he (the Treasurer...ed) has been attempting to ensure that proper financial and database protection controls are implemented over the new operation in the South East region."

The Ashford Call Centre

The background on this operation must be close to the centre of the upcoming investigation of the UKIP by the Electoral Commission as revealed in the Sunday Telegraph this moring, here.

In September 2003 I concluded a posting under a report on the party's NEC discussion of this matter, linked here, as follows:

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.

Nothing until the report today seems to have occurred!

Reports on the problems surrounding Ashford may be read here, here, and here. The publishing of a party advert in the Daily Mail was the flashpoint for some on the party's NEC to seek clarification. Exchanges between an NEC member and the Party Chairman may be read here, here , here, and here.

I apologize if there has been some duplication of links but a problem encountered in preparing this post has been that my archive file link for the critical month of October 2003 (and others) seems to be inoperative.

posted by Martin |11:00 AM

Finances probe

The Sunday Telegraph, linked here, reports that the UKIP is to face a financing inquiry.

There is of course a mass of material available on this blog and I will later provide a post giving a summary of the issues with pertinent links.

posted by Martin |8:30 AM

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Nigel Farage on Straight Talk

The UKIP leader put on a polished and very convincing performance on Straight Talk on BBC News 24 this morning.

For those who missed it the programme will be repeated at 10:30 this evening.

posted by Martin |11:18 AM

BNP and English Democrat Shocker in Bede by-election

BNP ran Labour 658 votes a close second with 546 votes with the English Democrats on 75 and Save the NHS with 43 making the combined small party total sufficient to have changed the result.

Cameron's sham conservatives on 301 and UKIP with just 8 votes came away with the biggest bloody noses.

UKIP did somewhat better in Croydon, but given the government's problems is it not the Labour successes that are truly astonishing:

London Borough of Croydon - Bensham Manor: Lab 1,683, Con 617, Green 240, Lib Dem 126, Ukip 40, Monster Raving Loony party 15, People's Choice 9. (May 2006: Three seats Lab 1,846, 1,805, 1,670, Con 1,117, 861, 774, Green 581, Ukip 305). Lab hold. Swing 7.5% Con to Lab.

posted by Martin |10:01 AM

Thursday, February 08, 2007

UKIP Home

The daily more interesting and informative website may be reached from this link, the following are two recent posts to illustrate this conclusion:

FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE #3

DON'T PANIC! SAYS CAMEROONIE INFORMATION MINISTER

Cameroonie Information Minister David al-Cameron today leapt to the defence of his leader, Saddam Hilton to deny reports that Project Cameron has come off the rails, with Conservatives losing patience with a leader who himself was a left-wing Green Party supporter before seizing control of the Tory Party.

"There are no infidel polls showing election defeat for us!" yelled al-Cameron as international press outlets began reporting on an impending fourth victory for the British Labour Party.

Saddam Hilton today remains as elusive as ever, leaving his loyal information minister to continue the battle in front of camera.

Note to editors: The Tory Party was a once great political machine but has been slowly reduced to an empty shell since it joined the europhile invasion of Europe leading to wide-ranging sanctions which stripped Britain of its wealth and freedom to control its own affairs. Current leader Saddam Hilton is widely believed to be its last leader before it slips into electoral obscurity

posted by Martin |9:59 PM

Monday, February 05, 2007

UKIP to stress 'Independence'

As predicted months past on this blog, the UK Independence Party is to sell itself on "Independence". One report may be read in today's Daily Telegraph, linked here.

The potential to gather many thousands of previous Conservative Party voters must have been hugely enhanced by the disastrous and incoherent statement on the EU by David Cameron in yesterday's Sunday Telegraph, the comments to which are well worth a quick review from this link.

posted by Martin |7:37 AM

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Time for the Country to neuter the corrupt Commons

"It seems to me it’s got to that point where everyone in parliament, everyone in government, everyone in the press, everyone in the country is thinking: 'Hello! It’s over,'" Mr Cameron said.

The above is a quote from an article in this morning's Daily Telegraph, linked from here. For once I here agree with the words of the ineffectual leader of the faux Conservative Party.

However, the nation should make it clear that it is not just over for Tony Blair. It is time to bring the curtain down on the whole corrupt charade that the House of Commons has become.

How could this be achieved? I suggest the following:

Next May in the local elections anyone disgusted with the present state of our nation's political construct should make a point of voting for anyone other than a representative of the three main parties, some of whose bought representatives now sit in parliament's second legislative chamber - the House of Lords.

Starting such a campaign this month will allow sitting local councilors of integrity to seek election as independents or for one of the many minor or nationalist parties.

Loss of local government control should finally concentrate the minds of those who have sold out our democracy and corrupted our governing establishment - the leaders of the Labour Party, the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats.

Will just ridding the nation of Blair really solve anything?

posted by Martin |9:38 AM

Nigel Farage argues for EU withdrawal

The leader of UKIP made the case for EU withdrawal on Radio 4's Today programme this morning at 08:45 am. The debate with Lib/Dem Nick Clegg may be heard again on the BBC's Listen Again facility, linked from here.

posted by Martin |8:50 AM

Friday, February 02, 2007

TORY STALWART DEFECTS

Report from Sussex, linked here.

TORY maverick Tam Large this week walked out of the Conservative Party to join the UK Independence Party.

He claims leader David Cameron has turned his back on Conservative principles.

As a Lewes constituency deputy chairman, Tam was one of the architects of the party's general election campaign in Lewes in 2005 and is the current holder of the Lewes Conservative's silver campaigning cup for his work in that campaign.

A past Conservative candidate for county and district council, the resident of Streat, near Lewes, has been an activist since the 1970s, although he briefly joined the Referendum Party in 1997.

'I am leaving the Conservative Party because I am a conservative,' he said.

'David Cameron has turned his back on conservative principles and has embraced political correctness, high taxes, and more state control in his misguided new direction for the party.

'I have not changed, but the Conservative Party has moved away from the values which matter to me and to hosts of other voters.'

02 February 2007

posted by Martin |7:48 PM

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Interesting views from Yorkshire

The following is an extract from an article in the Yorkshire Post by a former Conservative councillor Jonathan Scott, linked from here:

In the past, the Conservatives would have addressed the concerns of these disenchanted, working-class voters, by talking frankly about immigration, crime and the European directives that have opened our borders to unrestricted migration.
But not the Cameron Conservatives. The Tory leader fears that if he appears "tough" on immigration, he will reinforce the very thing he is trying to expunge from the voters' minds – the image of the Conservative Party as the "nasty party".
The result is a deadly paralysis. Deadly, because it means that the British National Party, clean-shaven but not shaven-headed, is able to move freely into territory which would once have been closed to them by a Conservative Party connecting with its core vote and those floating voters who are concerned about the impact which uncontrolled immigration and migration can cause.
It also means that UKIP, which, under the leadership of Nigel Farage, is gaining credibility and clout, is able to exploit the clear link between migration and the EU, that should be natural territory for a Conservative Party leader.
What Mr Cameron lacks is both a vision and a strategy.

The writer then goes on to urge the Tories to adopt a strategy requiring a referendum to repatriate powers from the EU! Fat chance!!

posted by Martin |10:34 AM

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