BRITAIN'S FINAL FRONTIER?

Despite William the Conqueror having died in 1087, UKIP are once again fearing a Norman invasion in light of a secret cartographical machination that would grant Brussels "the right to change national boundaries".

Zoikes!

The Directive on Spatial Information, seeking to engender improved cross-border co-operation and policy harmonisation, means, for UKIP at least, that the South East of England will naturally be handed over to the French.

Quel horreur!

Not to mention the East of England being carved up between the Benelux and Germany.

Mein Gott!

Whilst UKIP have interpreted this to be an overt federalist attempt to establish a United States of Europe, the rest of us here on terra firma have noted the benefits of closer environmental and health co-operation that the Interreg Project, the inspiration behind the directive, is providing for EU citizens.

In any case lads, you can sleep easy as the Commission will always uphold your human right to remain insular, arf!

Farage The Omniscient

Not that their voters had much choice, but Euro MP Nigel Farage has obviously been elected UKIP Leader to replace Roger Knapman MEP.

And as predicted, the former Dulwich College chap remains ambitious, reiterating the party's standard promises to maintain social class divides by increasing immigration controls, establishing a low tax economy and offering selective education.

Naturally, absurdity was never going to be too far away, with Mr Farage also pledging to make UKIP the largest party in the country by 2009.

Now we don't want to shatter your D:Reams, but......

Farage may have eased to victory in the leadership race but there are seemingly plenty of people he has failed to convince.

The Scarborough and Whitby UKIP website provides us with the views of Anthony Butcher, a member of the UKIP NEC, who, before the votes took place observed the following...

"There are two possible winners in the 2006 UKIP leadership contest - Nigel Farage MEP and Richard Suchorzewski. Nigel Farage - who is an accomplished public performer - is part of the old guard, the defacto UKIP leader for the past decade and someone who gets things done but is dictatorial in management style thus making him a devisive figure. Nigel is the one 'more of the same' candidate. He brought Kilroy (who quit UKIP after getting elected to Brussels) into the party and was the instigator of the doomed Independence-Democracy group EU referendum petition campaign which attracted only two or three per cent of the target two million signatures and cost £180,000 of taxpayers' money (on the campaign). Nigel staked his reputation on the by-election in Bromley and Chislehurst in June 2006, and threw everything at it. The party spent more than £70,000 there, and the campaign had more leaflet deliverers and billboards than any other UKIP by-election battle ever. It was hyped as UKIP's best ever chance and claims were made of 22 per cent support locally were made to the media. Yet, despite the huge efforts of Nigel and so many others, the result was a big disappointment. UKIP received just eight per cent of the vote - worse than other UKIP by-election results (such as Hartlepool and South Staffordshire) that didn't have comparable funds, activists or internal resources. This poor result is now going to hang over Nigel's leadership bid. Nigel wants UKIP to remain an anti-EU party - if you want and anti-Eu party - vote for Nigel. Richard (whose primary goal is also to rescue the UK from the EU) wants UKIP to grow into a full pro-British party engaging on every domestic issue (as well as on the EU). If you want a pro-UK party - vote for Richard Suchorzewski."

So not a great result for the modernisers by the sounds of it.

Though, those strange 851 souls who wanted to see David Noakes made boss will be even more disappointed.

Farage walks it

The results are in and as we all expected Nigel Farage has won the race to become UKIP's new leader.

The results are as follows:

David Campbell Bannerman - 1,443

Nigel Farage - 3,329

David Noakes - 851

Richard Suchorzewski - 1,782

Spoiled votes - 169

Total number of votes - 7,574

Farage's part-time MEP plans challenged

Hot favourite for the leadership contest, Nigel Farage, has been challenged by Labour MEP Richard Corbett over his intentions should he become UKIP’s next leader.

"I have written to UKIP MEP Nigel Farage after he pledged to spend as little as six days a month in Brussels and Strasbourg if he wins the current UKIP leadership contest.

I await his response with interest!

Below is a copy of the letter I have sent to Mr Farage."

Dear Mr Farage,

As the UK Independence Party’s leadership contest draws to a close, I am writing to ask you to publicly clarify a manifesto pledge you have made to your membership.

On your website – www.votenigel.org – you state:

"As the elected Leader of UKIP I would cut my time over there [Brussels and Strasbourg] to 6 or 7 days a month, and the rest of my working time I would devote to UKIP affairs."

I would hope that you do not need to be reminded that it is the British taxpayer who pays for you to carry out your duties as an MEP. Your constituents expect you to be representing their needs in Parliament on a full-time basis, and they do not expect you to reduce your working hours in order to follow your own personal political agenda.

You often speak, unfairly I might add, of the EU as a “gravy train”, with those elected to serve the people being involved purely for their own financial gain. On this basis, and should you be elected Leader, may I assume that you will not be receiving your full salary, as a result of the reduced representative service that you will be offering your constituents? I would hope that we both agree, receiving your full salary would be an act of astonishing hypocrisy and contempt for the hardworking tax payers of the United Kingdom.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Corbett MEP

Promises, promises

With the UKIP leadership contest finally approaching its conclusion it is worthwhile taking another look at some of the policies of the four candidates.

UKIP's attempts to present themselves as a serious, mainstream party have been let down by a variety of policies which range from the outrageous to the down right bizarre.

The Scarborough and Whitby UKIP website has provided us with a series of key points form each candidate. If you can bring yourself to read the entire, in-depth evaluation of each candidate click here.

David Campbell-Bannerman is perhaps typical of UKIP's obsession with political correctness - something he would to do away with all together.

He is quoted as saying: "We should sweep away the entire race, equality, and diversity industry. We should close down the Commissions based on equal opportunities, race disability and educational disadvantage, and require all public bodies, broadcasters and councils to drop diversity practices."

He continues: "It is clear this doesn't work, and PC quotas, social engineering and other Marxist related dogma all have to go."

He also states his desire for the UK to scrap the Human Rights Act and leave the European Convention of Human Rights saying: "Both merely codify the rights Britons have enjoyed for hundreds of years in any case, but actually undermine those rights."

Campbell-Bannerman also advocates English, Welsh and Scottish MPs meeting in their own countries once a month, though he recommends the Scottish Parliament should "be relocated to a smaller and less ugly building".

It is David Noakes, though, who is most responsible for hindering UKIP's attempts to portray themselves as serious.

His now infamous You Tube broadcast made clear his intention to "broadcast the terrible truth about the EU police state" and in a similar vein he warns journalists that the "EU plan to strip them of their freedom."

One of Noakes's key ideas is his intention to return power to the Monarchy! He sets out five clauses in a charter which the government would have to follow or otherwise be dismissed by the Monarch.

The first is: "The British government may not sign treaties or carry out any other action that might result in giving away its power or sovreignty without the consent of 66 per cent of the entire British electorate in two seperate ballots held five years apart. The Monarch should be allowed to immediately dismiss any government that breaches this rule."


Should he win, he also plans to hire a lorry to drive around Westminster with "EU Police State" warnings on the side while he describes members of UKIP as the "UK's freedom fighters".


But he trumps the lot with a his truly appalling and amoral suggestion that "A prisoner starting a life sentence shall be offered the chance to save the nation the millions it will cost to keep him by electing for a lethal injection. In return £100,000 will be shared equally by his family and his victim (or family)."

There is no mention of whether Noel Edmonds will adjudicate this macabre version of Deal or No Deal.

http://www.pcc.org.uk/news/index.html?article=NDA5OQ

An interesting report on Roger Knapman's complaint to the Press Complaints Commission!