Wise still on police bail

For those wondering what has happened with UKIPs 'plucky porker' Tom Wise following the police inquiry into alleged fraud, the answer is - nothing much. Wise's bail was due to run out on March 27th, but has now been extended to May 20th. The way things are going, it looks as though he will still on be on bail when the European election takes place on June 4th.

An ignominious end to his political career that mirrors UKIPs decline since 2004 - arriving in Brussels in a blaze of publicity and bluster, ended quietly in 2009 on police bail.

Bloom in bar room fracas? Surely not....

An anonymous conspirator sent UKIPwatch this story which is funny enough to deserve being posted in full.

Enjoy!

Godfrey Bloom got it horribly wrong in a Brussels bar recently, when he had to be physically restrained from attacking a young gentleman. The man who once threatened to "do" Labour MEP Richard Corbett in a Strasbourg bar, had, unfortunately for him, turned on an undercover journalist.

"He's BNP" shouted fellow drinker Nigel Farage gleefully as Bloom went on the attack. The Yorkshire MEP, described by one of those who did the restraining as having "the physical presence of a marshmallow" is now almost permanently drunk, according to regulars of O'Farrell's bar in Brussels. Farage and Godders have a combined age of over 100 - which is probably about the same as their combined IQ - and are surely old enough not to have to behave like a couple of pissed-up students.

Perhaps the credit crunch has hit the MEP who once drunkenly lambasted east European MEPs in Strasbourg for not fully understanding hedge funds. How ironic.

Brilliant stuff!

Bob Spink - UKIP MP, me? No I never even joined

U-kippers will be crying into their coffee following the news that Bob Spink will not be leading the UKIP charge at the next general election.

Spink, who (apparently) defected to UKIP from the Conservatives last March, told the House of Commons last week that “I belong to no party. I am an independent” and asserts in his local paper that he has never been a member of UKIP (although he does admit to supporting their stance on EU withdrawal). In his words, “I never formally joined UKIP and do not intend to do so”.

This came as news to UKIP spinner Tim Worstall who claimed that Spink was a party member, but conceded that “He has been issued a membership card, but he’s never actually paid for membership.” Unbelievable. UKIP have fewer than 15,000 members and a couple of parliamentarians. They must have known that Spink wasn’t actually a party member. UKIPwatch has said it before, but this kind of farce could only happen to UKIP.

No doubt the news will also come as a nasty shock to Nigel Farage, who welcomed Spink with open arms last year, and expressed that he was “delighted to welcome the hard working and deeply principled Bob Spink as our first Member of Parliament”. Oh dear, not quite so “principled” now is he Nigel?

As a side-note, UKIP don’t seem to have recognised the news – Spink still appears on their website as a UKIP MP. UKIPwatch will let you know when they finally get round to changing this.

Spink has also committed another volte face. Last year he said that he was looking forward to support from UKIP activists to help his doomed battle to keep his Castle Point seat. Having now recognised that this would kybosh any remaining chance of him even losing with dignity, Spink now says that he would not accept any activists’ help or financial support from UKIP. A wise move, Bob, but your career’s finished whatever you do.

Perhaps Tim Worstall or Gawain Towler could confirm that Lord Pearson and Lord Willoughby de Broke, UKIP peers in the House of Lords, are actual Party members and are not ‘considered’ to be members just because they think Britain should withdraw from the EU. Come to think of it, if UKIP are going to go around claiming people as party members because they are anti-EU why haven’t they claimed the Wintertons, Bill Cash and Richard Shepherd as members?

UKIP collapse continues with new breakaway party

Trouble in the UKIP heartlands as the Fenland branch of UKIP has been dissolved with its chair Len Baynes backing the break-away party launched by Tom Wise's assistant Peter Coles called United Kingdom First. Baynes claims that his branch had recently lost two-thirds of its membership of over 100 because of growing unrest about Nigel Farage's leadership.

Although UKF is probably going to struggle for cash, it still plans to put up candidates in two regions.

Once again, the green-ink brigade are in fine and furious form if anyone with a few minutes wants to read a handful of crazed men, united by the hatred of the EU, hurl abuse at each other.

The good ship UKIP continues to flounder on the rocks

Robin Page has provoked more slanging-matches between U-kippers with his resignation from the party. Page, known to millions from his time presenting "One man and his dog" on BBC 2, was (although only a few would have noticed) a leading light in UKIP.

In this piece in the Telegraph, he blames the corruption and 'gravy train' mentality of the 12 men elected as UKIP MEPs in 2004 and Nigel Farage's attempt to turn the party into his own personal play-thing and crushing any dissenters.

There is plenty of evidence to back this up. There were serious allegations of malpractice during the members' ballot that determined UKIPs regional lists for the Euro elections. Several party members were kicked off the list following the election (including most notoriously Gregg Beaman elected by party members to top the list in the North-West only to be forced to stand down to be replaced by Party Chairman Paul Nuttal). Even disgraced Tory MP, now UKIPs Returning Officer, Piers Merchant admitted the election was "flawed".

Even so, Page's article can't quite be taken at face value and there is more than a whiff of sour grapes - basically he's resigned because Farage wouldn't let him be a candidate. Needless to say, his public resignation has caused a predictable slanging match between the assorted cretins that post on the Democracy Forum website. Indeed, if anyone has a penchant for watching the English language being mercilessly butchered it's worth checking out the mangled ramblings of Bob Feal-Martinez (who is a big fan of this site)!

With three months to go before the Euro elections, UKIP need to pull a rabbit out of the hat if they are to avoid disintegration. The party has no money (receiving a meagre £72,000 in the final quarter of 2008), a membership list that continue to fall (now down to 14,000) and are facing a real challenge for the far-right vote from the (even more) vicious BNP. UKIPwatcher is crossing her fingers that the big money donors stay away and UKIP are finally wiped out in June.