Thursday, February 08, 2007

A Question for UKIP

A few weeks ago I WROTE about Ashley Mote MEP joining the pseudo-fascist grouping of Euro MPs, having originally been elected under the UKIP banner. UKIP members denied any association with him. Indeed, UKIPHOME had a rant against me (a not unusual occurrence) and stated the following...
Mote has not been connected to UKIP as an elected official or party member
for over two years.

Well, factually that may be correct, but what are we to make of Ashley Mote's letter to a Hampshire newspaper this week in which he states...
I am enjoying good working relations with many UKIP branches across the
region and have every intention of continuing to work with them whenever the
opportunity arises...

So which is it? Are there working relations between UKIP and Ashley Mote or not?

26 comments:

Aaron Murin-Heath said...

Yes Iain,

It is very frustrating when people do not answer questions.

The Leadership Blogger said...

Stuff and nonsense really.Until the boy king hardens his line on Europe, and starts to move away from the left of centre, UKIP - Or IP - is going to garner loads of previously Tory voters. UKIP-IP are moving (as I predicted) from being seen as a "single issue" party toards a full set of policies, many of which echo the conservative policies Dave has dropped.

Anonymous said...

Tyger,

It's equally frustrating when thread after thread gets hijacked by the same two people bristling with outrage or something or other- although at least you write in the first person which is something of a blessing.

As a casual observer I've frankly got no idea of the rights and wrongs of your hobby horse; you could be right for all I know. But your behaviour isn't exactly inspiring me to find out the shocking truth for myself...

Storms and teacups come to mind. Albeit rather irritating ones.

Anonymous said...

Beachhutman, I agree with you on the lines that David Cameron is going to need to bring out in the very least some broad policies in the near future. We continue to see polls that show that the British people no longer see real difference in the three main parties.

I do believe there is a difference between the Tories, Labour and the Lib-Dems, and find the idea of a Lib-Con coalition abhorrent, and David Cameron needs to start showing those differences very soon or else his whole 'reform agenda' will turn out to be a busted flush.

However, there is a good reason why Cameron has dropped the policies you refer to, and that is that they don't win elections. Playing the purely right-wing ticket does not work. The Conservative Party needs to stick to its core values, but also needs to ensure it in the centre-ground of British politics.

Anonymous said...

Sorry Iain,

You can snipe at UKIP as much as you like, but I'm afraid they represent the views of more and more people.

Dave Cameron doesn't.

I don't owe my vote to the Conservatives, I'll vote for whoever represents my concerns/opinions most closely.

If UKIP take votes away from Dave then tough! That's his fault.

What's the use of voting for the Blair MkII party? We'll just get more of the same.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Devil's Kitchen said...

Erm... Iain, Roger Helmer has been, reluctantly, admitted back into the Tory party, but does not sit in the EPP with the rest of the Conservative MEPs.

Tell me, me ol' fruit, is he a Tory or not...? And does he enjoy relations with Tory associations?

I think we should be told. Or even better, why don't you invite me onto 18DS and we'll have a Tory vs. UKIP one-on-one discussion.

I'll praise 18DS's adverts condemning high taxes and the state funding of parties, and then I'll ask you how you can support both these adverts and Cameron's Conservatives.

Next...!

DK

Letterman said...

There seems to be a lot of chopping and changing with UKIP MEPs do they really think they're going to get re-elected if they keep messing about like this? Most people have no idea who their MEP is, surely if they abandon their party there's no way they're going to get back in?

RE: beachhutman

I really don't think the majority of NORMAL people (not tedious politicos) give a second thought to the EU in their everyday lives. UKIP seemed to get a massively disproportionate amount of the vote at the last Euro elections. I can't see them doing better next time, particularly as they've since lost some quite high profile backers and don't have pockets as deep as they used to.

Anonymous said...

Your attacks become weaker and weaker Iain!

Far from ranting, we're relaxed, calm and more than happy with the solid, low tax, libertarian-minded, small gov agenda we both espouse and believe in.

Take a look here:
http://www.ukiphome.com/comments.asp?sid=1611

..then chill out and worry about your own party's agenda.. ;-)

Anonymous said...

A by-election result last night. Here we see the massive electoral threat UKIP represents to the major parties (the "LibLabCon"s as they like to call them):

Bede By Election (Nuneaton and Bedworth)

Labour 658
BNP 546
CON 301
LIB DIMS 119
ENG DEM 75
Save our NHS 43
UKIP 8


H/T Brummie Bounder on PB.com who asks "Only 8 - is this the lowest vote ever?"

Anonymous said...

UKIP showed last night what a danger they are to the Tories :)

Labour 658
BNP 546
CON 301
LIB DIMS 119
ENG DEM 75
Save NHS 43
UKIP 8 (EIGHT VOTES!!!!!!! YOU NEED TO GET 10 PEOPLE TO SIGN YOUR NOMINATION FORM!!)

Aaron Murin-Heath said...

Storms and teacups come to mind. Albeit rather irritating ones. ~ ed

Yes Ed,

It is very frustrating when people attempt to create storms in teacups, even around the most trivial non-news.

Anonymous said...

Iain,

Put it this way, I am a former Tory, almost 20 years a member, former General Election candidate, former Scottish Assembly candidate, former Conservative Student and Graduate national committee member and so on I have a great many Conservative friends and acquaintances. Now a happy member of the UK Independence Party and work for them.

Funnily enough I remain on very good terms with Tories across the country, I drink with them, stay at their houses and vice versa. This is called normal in the great gamut of human relations. Lord, only this week I was asked to provide input into Tory policy formulation on an area where I have particular expertise. Is this wrong, of course not and if you think so I would suggest that you are being both unreasonable and petty.

In the case of Mr Mote, somebody I have spoken to on a few occasions I am well aware that he has been intimately involved in the Eurosceptic movement since at least 1992.

And he remains talking to people he has worked over the years, come off Iain, what you have happen to him, salt mines?

In the last year I have worked on various projects that have included Mr Mote, various Conservative MEPs, UKIP MEPs, SNP, Green and Ulster Unionists, simultaneously.

Do tell me, what should I have done?


So in direct answer to your question, good personal relations, I am certain of it. Good working relations, I doubt it, but it would take the wisdom of Solomon to be able to define the boundary between the two.

Mike Wood said...

DK,

Roger Helmer was never expelled from the Conservative Party - he only had the whip withdrawn in the European Parliament.

He was a- and is - a member of the Conservative Party and continues to do a lot of work for COnservative associations around the East Midlands.

Anonymous said...

tyger,

indeed- and yet somehow Iain manages to be considerably less irritating when he does it...

Anonymous said...

Mike - Exactly right. Roger was still called a Conservative, because, as you note, he was still a Tory Party member.

So, therefore, it was entirely accurate (using the same logic) to describe the two Peers who defected to UKIP as Conservatives as the description as you highlight refers to membership of the party, not an elected position etc.

Ashley however was not a member of UKIP when he joined the new Euro grouping, so your logic could not apply (although Iain went ahead and did so anyway)

Iain doesn't let logic or consistency get in the way of a good ukip-bashing...

Anonymous said...

Chad, how about a comment from you on ukip's fantastic 8 vote by-election score?

You are really shaking the foundations of the LibLabConsenus, aren't you! Only two less votes than signed your nomination papers. Progress, eh? :)

Anonymous said...

Hi,

Sure, no problem.

That was a very useful result to highlight how the economically left-wing BNP are biting into the Labour vote.

Take an equivalent by-election in a Tory stronghold, then I'm sure you'll see the BNP polling the 8 votes.

We're centre-right. No wonder lefties don't want to vote for us, but choose the planned-economy, socialism of the BNP.

Results like this are excellent for highlighting how the BNP are diametrically opposite to UKIP and really sit within the space old Labour used to on the poltical spectrum.

Aaron Murin-Heath said...

indeed- and yet somehow Iain manages to be considerably less irritating when he does it... ~ ed

You hear that Iain?

Ed is saying you must try harder.

Anonymous said...

Oh right - they didn't vote for you because they are lefties. How come the English Democrats polled ten times your votes, or the Tories several hundred?

Eight?

You got 60 votes in Horsham, you spent a hundred grand in Bromley with Farage as candidate and absolutely failed. You are being swept into oblivion whenever real election results, or polls are revealed. ICM surveyed a thousand adults and found 3 - not three percent, just 3 - who would vote ukip.

Admit it, the game's up for your pro-Labour lot (since you, Chad Noble, were the one who advocated working to "help Labour and the LibDems this one time" in the GE). - ukip factcheck

Trixy said...

'Chad, how about a comment from you on ukip's fantastic 8 vote by-election score?

You are really shaking the foundations of the LibLabConsenus, aren't you! Only two less votes than signed your nomination papers. Progress, eh? :) '

I commented to the local paper about it. I said it was "rubbish."

With regards to your latter 'point' - well, unfortuntely for people like you who clearly like to be run by a unelected, unaccoutable foreign failed politicans and who is intent on keeping people in the developing world in poverty, UKIP are.

CC Hind Quarters in particular are worried, so my contacts tell me.

With regards to Mr Mote, he's not a member of the party. How he keeps in touch with in his own time is not party business.

pick, pick, pick at the little bits. Why not spend time coming up with workable policies instead?

Anonymous said...

Sean Fear's article on politicalbetting.com is a must read for Chad & co:

"In last night’s by-elections, UKIP won the sort of votes which normally go to joke candidates. In Croydon LBC, Bensham Manor, they took 40 votes, 1.5% of the total, which was down from 305 in 2006. In Nuneaton BC, Bede, they won 8. They can at least take consolation from the fact that they beat the candidate for the Official Monster Raving Looney Party in Croydon. But their 8 votes in Nuneaton is truly dreadful. Even the English Democrats won 75 votes in that by-election.


Coming on top of their recent 40 votes in Horsham, these results do call into question whether there is any point in the party fighting local by-elections."

Anonymous said...

8 votes is double what the UKIP candidate in Edinburgh got in 2005.

This is believed to be the worst local election result of any political party ever.

Result from Edinburgh Murrayfield Ward 10th November 2005

Conservative 1327
Liberal Democrats 859
Independent 226
Labour 114
Green 58
Scottish National Party 52
Liberal 12
United Kingdom Independence Party 4

However it was not all doom and gloom for UKIP as they drew neck and neck with the spoiled ballot papers.

Anonymous said...

The real question to be answered is why were the Tories beaten into third place in Nuneaton?
Labour 658
BNP 546
CON 301

Jeremy Jacobs said...

Exactly.

Anonymous said...

The BNP would never poll as low as 8 votes even in tory strongholds we are coming in 2nd place we are the opposition in many local areas now and ukip are a joke