More UKIP spinning on Mote

Not too surprisingly, the England Expects blog has set forth its own spin on Ashley Mote's recent imprisonment. This is unsurprising since England Expects is run by Gawain Towler, UKIPs urbane press officer in the European Parliament. In this case Gawain is spinning so hard that Monty Panesar is worrying about his place in the England team

: "the British courts have been trying to try the man for years, but the EU institutions allowed him to play the system."

However, Gawain is batting on a very sticky wicket here (as usual). On receiving the request to waiver Mr. Mote's immunity it took the European Parliament four months to waiver it. From that point on it was the British Courts' responsibility to imprison him; they did not. This eventually resulted in Mr. Mote's appeal against the waiver in 2007 - which the European Parliament denied in two months. But had the British Courts imprisoned him the first time around it would have never got to that stage.

So, he "played" the EU system for 6 months in total; whereas he played the British Courts for over three years.

Unfortunately for UKIP, Ashley Mote will not lose his seat and will keep his salary despite going to the slammer for nine months, allowing other parties to continue shaming UKIP for selecting him as one of their leading candidates. This is, much as UKIP would like to pretend otherwise, because of British law. MEP employment conditions are governed by whichever EU state they are elected in.

However, as Private Eye pointed out, if Mote were French then he would no longer be an MEP. French fascist Jean Marie Le-Pen got a three month suspended sentence for assault back in 1998 and had to give up his seat. Hmmnn maybe UKIP and the UK could learn something these foreigners…..

UKIP takes on her Maj

So, it appears that UKIP are having yet another run in with the law, with this amusing article in the Sunday Express (I never thought I would say that!!). UKIP has been banned from selling traditional British passport covers featuring the royal coat of arms - by the Queen!

These souvenir passport covers are adorned with the words "British passport" and are available in black, blue and pink, costing a princely £5. But now the Lord Chamberlain, one of the chief officers of the royal household, has written to party leader Nigel Farage, ordering an end to the sales on the grounds that the royal coat of arms is protected under law and cannot be reproduced without permission.

Farage, who attracts controversy and court appearances like flies to shit said the ban was "a heavy-handed attempt to make us accept Euro-style passports" and vowed to fight the move.

A spokeswoman for Buckingham Palace said the Lord Chamberlain's office had contacted a number of suppliers and manufacturers of the old-style passport covers.
She said: "This has become quite a serious issue because the coat of arms is protected by law. We have written to a number of companies who sell and supply these passport covers.

"The coat of arms now appears only on the inside of a passport and on other official documents. The coat of arms is protected by law from misuse.

"Passport covers are souvenirs and therefore the royal coat of arms is not allowed to be used on them. It is the job of the Lord Chamberlain's office to police this and to point out the error of their ways to people who misuse it."

Mr Farage replied: "Nothing is below their attention when it comes to promoting the EU, it seems.

"It's another step along the ever-shortening road to an integrated Europe. That's right, Nigel - the Royal Household are just a bunch of EU funded federalists, aren't they?

"The last chance for a proper British passport without the ghastly EU on it has now gone." Whatever you say Nigel - last time I checked my new passport it told me I was still a British citizen!

However, Judith Hartley Brewer unfortunately blotted her copy book by recycling the Euro-lie that we are to lose the Queen's head from our passports - a complete fabrication which even arch-eurosceptic Richard North on the EU referendum site has admitted.

Vote UKIP get jailed fascist

So, after three and half years of evasion and delay, former UKIP MEP Ashley Mote has finally been jailed for 9 months after being convicted of 21 counts of fraud at Portsmouth Crown Court.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage was quick to respond, stating that he was “disgusted and horrified” by the “leniency” of the sentence. Of course, Mote’s sentence is the worst possible result for UKIP, who were desperately hoping he would get more than one year which would have forced him to resign, with the vacant seat falling to the next UKIP candidate on the list at the 2004 European election.

Incidentally, this verdict should come as a relief to the people of South-East England. Out of the 12 elected UKIP MEPs, Mote has been convicted of benefit fraud while East of England UKIP MEP Tom Wise is also facing allegations of misuse of public money. Besides, given that most UKIP MEPs, with several honourable exceptions, are famed for their idleness, Ashley Mote in prison will probably do more work than a UKIP replacement would.

As it is, in 2008 Mote will return to sit with Jean Marie Le Pen in the neo-fascist Identity, Sovereignty and Tradition group in the European Parliament. The message seems to be 'vote UKIP get jailed fascist'.

No insurance for flood victims says Bloom

Gregarious buffoon Godfrey Bloom is a gossip columnist’s dream – the politician with an unerring knack to come out with ill-informed, offensive tosh every time he opens his mouth. One has to sympathise with Godders’ staff since they are presumably the only people on the planet who take him seriously.

His latest pearl of wisdom focuses on the impact of the flooding which has destroyed thousands of homes in Yorkshire and Humberside over the past few months. Five out of six of the region’s MEPs have campaigned to secure financial aid from the EU. Apart from Godfrey it appears, who has instead decided to campaign for the hapless homeowners to be prevented from getting home insurance in the future. According to UKIP’s voice of reason: “I don’t have a home on a flood plain and don’t see why I should subsidise some idiot who does”.

Well said Godfrey! They were just asking for trouble weren’t they?!