UKIP

Nationalist politicians in Scotland and Wales are threatening to stop English voters forcing Britain to leave the European Union after a referendum.

Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood said that each individual nation in the UK should have its own separate vote on whether Britain should stay in the EU if there were a referendum.

If one of the nations voted against – then Britain would have to stay in the EU, she said.

This would the case even if voters in England – which is far larger than Scotland of Wales by population – voted by a majority to leave.

Miss Woods’ intervention mean the Celtic members of the UK are demanding an effective veto on ‘Brexit’, the term describing Britain leaving the EU.

No problem at all with this idea. Except this idea does apply to everything. If you Celts want to elect idiots in red rosettes then that’s fine. But those votes don’t count as to who gets to rule England. You can vote for whatever level of taxation or public subsidy you like: but it doesn’t apply to England nor does England’s money get sent to you for you to spend.

In short, if you want to claim the rights of independence then off you go, be independent.

It was Rotherham’s Joyce Thacker, you may recall, who in 2013 decided that a long-standing pair of foster parents with an impeccable and unimpeachable record of care and probity could no longer be trusted to look after the city’s children solely on account of their UKIP membership. It was the same Joyce Thacker who was quite happy to see vulnerable children exploited, abused, violated and wounded by Pakistani sex gangs supported and encouraged by her and her colleagues’ stupidity, bigotry, venality and incompetence.

A Ukip-authorised Christian group has been condemned for distributing a newsletter that refers to gay people as depraved sodomites and argues that they could be converted from a state of vice.

On Tuesday night, the party distanced itself from the publication by the Christian Soldiers of Ukip but was facing calls to categorically cut all ties with the group, which holds events annually at the party’s conference and has previously published articles by the Ukip leader, Nigel Farage.

The comments emerged in an article about last year’s Manchester Pride event, which was described in the Christian Soldiers newsletter as an “annual parade of depravity”. It said: “Thousands of people proclaiming their pride in their depravity paraded through the streets watched by multiple thousands of supporters applauding the display of wickedness and seeking to drown out the voices of the few crying in the wilderness.

Look, people are allowed to express their views. It’s, umm, what’s that word…..democracy isn’t it?

As to the wider party when I worked for it I and everyone else worked bloody hard to get the first transgender lesbian MEP elected, at least one of the current crop is out and has been for decades and one press bod used to be the student union’s gay officer while at uni. That there are some people within the party who hold views the bien pensants do not approve of might well be true. But then said bien pensants don’t seem to approve of any views held by anyone at all in the party. As an organisation Ukip is no more homophobic (or any other form of -ic or -ist) than any other organisation in the UK. Except of course for the eurocrats, they can all go boil their heads. And the federasts.

Ukip MEP Amjad Bashir defects to the Conservatives

Pushed.

Last night, Mr Farage told Channel 4 News: “There is a very strong argument that says that what happened in Paris is a result – and we’ve seen it in London too – is a result I’m afraid of now having a fifth column living within these countries.

“We’ve got people living in these countries, holding our passports, who hate us.

“Luckily their numbers are very, very small but it does make one question the whole really gross attempt at encouraged division within society that we have had in the past few decades in the name of multiculturalism.”

Because, you know, the murder of 12 people just must not become a political subject.

Tessa Jowell, the Labour MP, tweeted that she found Mr Farage’s intervention “sickening”.

Pissing off Tessa is a useful indication that you’re doing something right.

You must agree with our policies even if we lose the election!

David Cameron and Nigel Farage are to be issued with a joint challenge to declare that they will rule out any attempt to repeal the ban on foxhunting if they form a pact in the event of a hung parliament.

As thousands of people take part in the last Boxing Day hunts before the general election, Labour has written to the prime minister and the Ukip leader to ask them to issue a pledge that they will not repeal the Hunting Act.

But, you know, one of the points of having an election is to see whether the populace think that policies should change.

Supporters of the UK Independence Party are overwhelmingly more likely than other voters to agree with Nigel Farage that the words Chinky and “poofter” are inoffensive and an ordinary way of speaking for some people.

Men, the over 60s and those living in the North of England are also less likely to be offended by words considered racist and homophobic than other sections of society.

At least English is. It’s French that has that collection of sourpuss greybeards who tell everyone the words they may use.

Voters see Ukip as more left wing than the Conservative Party in a shock poll finding that will fuel concerns among Ed Miliband’s allies that Nigel Farage is “parking his tanks on Labour’s lawn”.

A poll for The Independent on Sunday exposes what Labour strategists have been fearing for months – that voters do not regard Ukip as a party of the far right, but as one closer to the centre ground than the Tories. As such it could win Labour votes in the North.

One thing that Ukip isn’t is conservative, it’s a radical party. We are, after all, trying to overturn the established European order: this is not something that is conservative (please note the distinction between conservative and Conservative). And if you think that being right wing is being conservative, as many Brits do, then thi9s is all entirely consistent.

Enoch Powell would never have joined the UK Independence Party because it is threatening to deny voters a say over Britain’s place in Europe, his former archivist has claimed.

Enoch didn’t in fact join so the first part of that is fine. But the party that campaigns for the voters to have a say, the party which has managed to keep the idea of the voters having a say on the agenda (the major achievement of the party’s existence in fact) is therefore threatening to deny the voters a say?

Idiot twaddle there methinks.

Nigel Farage has said that Russell Brand is so “obsessed” with his image he had a personal stylist “straighten his chest hair”

Amazing the things you learn by following politics, isn’t it?

Justice For Gingers!

The story seems to be unraveling slightly, eh?

A star Ukip candidate who claims she was sexually harassed by the party’s General Secretary sent him a series of texts telling him that the loves and misses him.

Natasha Bolter, 35, has reportedly accused Roger Bird of making an indecent proposal on the day that he assessed her as a potential candidate. She denies any relationship or sexual contact took place.

However Mr Bird, who has been suspended from the party pending an investigation, claims that they had a “consensual” relationship and has released a series of texts as evidence.

And before anyone asks, no, I know nothing, never met any of them.

A Ukip spokesman could be contacted for comment.

As to the meat of the allegation I’ve no idea at all but perhaps Mr. Bird might find himself more at home in the Lib Dems?

Ukip announced today that it has hired a veteran BBC producer known for heckling ministers in the street as its new director of communications.

Paul Lambert, known as “gobby”,

Well, given that it’s a name, it’s “Gobby”.

But that’s most, most, fun. For Gobby is indeed rather famous in that small little world of political reporting.

Sorry, but this doesn’t fly:

The Green party has written to ITN demanding the TV companies rethink their decision to keep the Greens out of the planned election TV debates but include the UK Independence party (Ukip).

The Greens – who are currently polling at around 6-7%, often taking them above the Liberal Democrats – have met broadcasters to discuss their exclusion. They would like to avoid the courts, but feel under an obligation to step up legal pressure.

As I’ve said before I’ve been in this system and had the basic ground rules (they are only formal at the BBC but others work along the same lines) explained to me.

Who gets into the debates, who is included as a “major” in stories during election season, these are things that depend upon that party’s support at the last election of this type.

So, last euros Ukip was a major on the back of the 2009 result. But last GE Ukip was not on the back of the previous GE result.

Ukip support at the last GE was some 50% or so higher than you’re currently polling now. Thus Ukip is “sorta” a major now but almost certainly won’t be in the actual campaign itself.

You polling 6-8% now doesn’t affect this coming GE. It affects the one after. That’s just what the rules are.

And maybe the rules shouldn’t be that way: it’s fine if you think that. But we’d all have rather more respect if you’d been arguing in 2010 that Ukip should be getting more airtime off the back of that 8-12 % (depending upon who was counting) support. that you didn’t make you know seem guilty of special pleading.

OK, so there’s that Ukip boo boo where a tweet went out identifying Westminster Cathedral as a mosque.

Ooops!

But, you know, human beings, mistakes etc.

The Evening Standard reports the story.

Which, apparently, they originally illustrate with a picture of Westminster Abbey.

Ken16 hours ago
The first photo is of Westminster Abbey, not Cathedral…ES editors obviously don’t know the difference. The Cathedral hardly resembles a mosque but its Byzantine inspired architecture is quite Eastern…
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mrmx5er15 hours ago
Ken – How long before the picture is changed and our posts are deleted?
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mrmx5er13 hours ago
Picture has been changed now.

This reigion and buildings stuff sure is hard, isn’t it?

Mr Farage was revelling in his success in the Rochester and Strood by-election, and waved a £50 note to buy a plate of sandwiches for journalists and activists in a pub in rural Kent.

Blimey, is Nigel feeling well?

(Bit of an inside joke this)

Mark Reckless, Ukip – 16,867

Kelly Tolhurst, Conservative – 13,947

Hmm, fun eh?

Tories got closer than I thought they would.

Treasury aides to Osborne conceded that what will happen is that Britain will pay the £850m while not cashing the €1bn rebate cheque, suggesting that sleight-of-hand accounting was being used to mask the conclusion that the full amount demanded by Brussels would be paid.

Osborne is a toad, isn’t he?