Monday, October 09, 2006

Leadership Candidate Resigns from UKIP

Richard Suchorzewski, the man who came second in the UKIP leadership contest has resigned from the Party citing character assassination as his main reason. I reprint his letter below. Further comment from me is unncessary I think...

Dear Chairman, Please be so good as to accept, and post on UKIP.org, this my letter of resignation from The UK Independence Party. It was a privilege to be elected Chairman of UKIP Wales and work to represent the members in restructuring and introducing an organisational structure for growth. I would like to thank, for their invaluable assistance, John Bufton as Regional Organiser and my hard working and supportive committee and members in Wales. I am pleased to have been able to help turn UKIP Wales around and put in place foundations for growth and success in the National Assembly Elections next May.

I was honoured to be elected by the membership to represent them on the NEC, where they believed I had specialist skills and experience to best represent their interests, to the benefit of UKIP and its primary cause. When I stood for the leadership election I did so, on a ticket of Transparency, Integrity and Equality. These standards reflect my inner beliefs, as well as the moral, ethical and Christian principles upon which I have based my whole life. I knew there were significant problems with the Party, and also believed that the moral integrity of a number of people at the top left much to be desired. It was my belief that should I be elected leader these problems could be resolved and the Party then could move forward together, on a firmer footing in probity and strength.

Nothing however prepared me for the scurrilous behaviour, defamatory comments and downright dishonesty of some of Nigel Farage's & David Bannerman's staff, supporters and members of the Press Office staff, in which they clearly colluded. I was accused of having associations with the BNP – even when these scoundrels knew that my grandfather was murdered by the Nazis in a concentration camp and my Great Grandfather was discovered hanged by them from a lamp post near his home by my 14 year old Father. Further I am angry that UKIP's leadership were happy to collude in this base and obscene slur, particularly in the light of the fact that I have been 'courting' a young woman from St Lucia for the last 2 years, she herself has been victimised by racial abuse.

I was accused of being a homosexual, despite no evidence of this, and my having been happily married for 14 years, a marriage which sadly ended in an amicable divorce and now subsequently I am courting the above mentioned lady. I was accused of having 'run up' a company debt of £4millions in one of my businesses when these accusers knew that I had purchased the company with secured debts, that it had already accrued, amounting to £4millions of losses. My business is in the field of mergers and acquisitions, specialising in the purchase, development and sale of problematic companies.

My critics in this area are either commercial illiterates or unarguably dishonest either of which reflects ill on the competence of the new leadership. My local newspaper was contacted by an UKIP official and advised to look into some of these accusations – in order to attempt to taint my unblemished reputation. Even friends within my own local Conservative Party have informed me that they were asked for 'any dirt' they had on me including my political, personal and business affairs. This list shamefully goes on.

Despite all of this I was willing to forgive and forget. I called for Party unity behind the new leader Nigel Farage, regardless of how he had gained his new position. I hoped this would in some way result in a change of attitude. Clearly it did NOT. Farage colluded with, and thus endorsed the scurrilous behaviour. He was not prepared for his staff to apologise for the BNP allegations as he felt that the issue 'would go away' – and he tried to justify the concern on the basis that a fellow NEC member David Abbott volunteered his support of my leadership candidacy. (David Abbott is the very man whom Farage and his secretary Douglas Denny introduced and actively supported to the NEC and only turned against when he supported my candidacy.) Farage also claimed concern in that a Mr Andrew Edwards supported my leadership bid on an internet blog that he runs.

I am to be tainted by this, even though I have never posted on his site, spoken to, nor communicated with the said person, who I am advised is NOT a member of UKIP. Farage has also claimed that a long term associate of his, Greg Lance-Watkins is a supporter and associate of the BNP, of which I have seen no evidence – yet this seems to besmirch my reputation, as G.L-W . openly supported my candidacy, having stated, based on extensive personal dealings with Nigel Farage that "he was a good performer for UKIP but lacked either the probity or competence to lead UKIP." This logic that UKIP's new leader has adopted if seriously applied, must call into question his own credentials, bearing in mind both his long term association with G.L-W. and that the BNP actually refused to stand against Farage, and supported, his candidacy at the Bromley by-election. Does this make Nigel a BNP supporter?

Rather than be magnanimous in victory and help the Party unite, Nigel and his clique overturned a perfectly legitimate democratic vote at the NEC which had elected Geoffrey Kingscott (a most honourable man) as Party Secretary, denying the Party of another person with integrity at the top, and placing his supporter the discredited Douglas Denny in the post. A witch hunt has now commenced, seemingly with the aim to disingenuously massage MEP lists, with the disciplinary hearing of Peter Baker for daring to make public his committee's majority voted opposition to Roger Knapman's morally questionable exploitation and involvement in a Polish Workers import business run by his son. Similarly Dennis Brookes a loyal and devoted supporter and Regional Organiser of UKIP would seem to have been victimised, for having the temerity not to object to his committee's support of my candidacy, and this apparently has contributed to losing him his job.

I have no doubt from Nigel's discussion with me, subsequent to the election, that others too will suffer similar fates. On policy issues, Nigel has made statements already, that make it clear to me, we are to become a shadow alternative Tory Party. A pressure group created to persuade the Tories to dump Cameron and change its policy on the EU. I am sorry; I did not leave the real Tory party to join a poor imitation. I believed UKIP was sincere in its endeavour to extricate Britain from the European Union, returning sovereignty to a British Parliament and playing a full independent part in that new Parliament. On financial and transparency issues, I believe a cloud still overhangs the Ashford call centre and various aspects of UKIP accounts. Also the financial dealings and involvement in fraud, (as exposed by the media), of Tom Wise, one of UKIP's MEP's, have not adequately been resolved. Likewise there has been a lack of transparency of others. I have contended that funding mechanisms are too heavily reliant on the EU, as this makes us subservient to the very body from which we wish to disassociate and which we openly accuse of corruption particularly in the area of accounting!.

I stood for leader knowing full well that it was a challenge I was unlikely to win. Farage had control of a number of advantages that if abused would guarantee him success. Knowing this, I was more than surprised that he allowed his cronies, supporters and certain staff to openly and reprehensibly lie and rubbish a loyal UKIP member, with elected duties, who devoted the last 2 years of his life, full time, unpaid, to help UKIP progress. Even now in 'victory', Farage appears determined not to change his ways, and because of this I cannot support this Party under his leadership any longer. Reluctantly I am left with no honourable action open to me other than leave, as I am not prepared to give my good name, reputation and integrity in support of Farage and many in his clique. I therefore stand alongside other Party devotees and former NEC members, Anthony Butcher, Gill Chant and others (not to mention the many activists who have already resigned). My heart and my grateful thanks go out to all of those who supported me and the values in which we believed, and those who have committed so much of their lives in their patriotic pursuit of regaining democracy, British Independence and Sovereignty.

It does not give me any satisfaction to realise that the old saying "Fish Rots from the Head Down" may have more than a cursory resemblance to UKIP. Please be so good as to convey to the membership my very best wishes and thanks for allowing me to serve them! At the moment I feel honour bound to continue the struggle for liberation from the EU and better Governance outside of UKIP, but would be happy to reconsider my position should there be notable changes within UKIP in the future under very different leadership.

Yours Sincerely, Richard Suchorzewski
UKIP Wales Chairman (resigned 5th Oct 2006) NEC Member (resigned 5th Oct 2006).

UPDATE: Devil's Kitchen has fisked the letter.

64 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've been a Tory all my life but they've succumbed to spin and to the following of the principle 'ends justify means'.

I'm at the point where I'd vote for any party with a demonstrable ethos of integrity.

I had intended to transfer my allegiance to UKIP.

Where now?

Anybody got any ideas?

Anonymous said...

The heat rises from the text. The black arts have always been UKIP's modus operandi, and Nigel Farage is obviously no exception.

UKIP's support is leaching away, it appears from the number attending their conference. Bromley showed an unwillingness to support them, even against a europhile.

That's because UKIP are obviously working against their own aims by helping Lib Dem and Labour MP's to get into Westminster, blocking out eurosceptic Tories - at the last election around 20.

If Farage would reprogramme the party's strategy completely and set a limited number of seats as targets - maximum 10, then they could focus their attacks onto the few remaining Tory europhile seats.

If the Constituencies replaced their MP's with eurosceptic PPC's and UKIP agreed to withdraw in those circumastnces, UKIP might become a pressure group that contributed towards the withdrawal of Britain from the EU.

Tapestry (problems with beta.blogger).

P.S. Suchorzewski should apply to go onto the A List, and see what resulted. He might lead back a few Ukippers and fight the same battle within the Party rather than from outside.

Anonymous said...

The largest party - the Non-Voters - just gets bigger and bigger !

Anonymous said...

Strangely enough, I can't find any reference to this on the UKIP web site ...

I agree with Tapestry. If Suchorzewski applied to go on the A-list, he might well find himself fast-tracked. (Unless CCHQ reserve that treatment only for former socialists!)

Anonymous said...

You've got to laugh, it reminds me of student politics.

So much bitter fighting over so little, because there is so little to fight over.

Right is right said...

Is it just me or is that letter the worst example of grammar and punctuation anyone has ever seen?

It starts off reasonably professional and then descends into utter farce! The rants and self indulgent hissy fits he displays are quite staggering.

And he almost won the leadership!

Anonymous said...

UKIP appear to have just the same financial problems as all other parties, to the extent that they all trade with the devil. The back biting is deplorable, but I suspect no worse than in any other field of human enterprise when the top job falls vacant. Can I recommend the Young Report on Party Financing, and hope that some probity can come back into at least the financial dealings of parties.

Anonymous said...

Wow. I don't think his letter was an unprofessional rant. I think he said it how it is. In fact, it was quite polite by my standards.

I'd like to see him apply for the A list. He came across as sincere and genuine.

I watched John Major on Sky News yesterday. What a shame he isn't Prime Minister. Not sure about Cameron leading us anywhere. I think DD would have been the better choice as I just hear hot air from Cameron. I think the best way to go is to vote Tory with DD getting the top job.

Anonymous said...

Whew! That's helped Cammy away from the precipice...for the time being at least!

Reflecting on the extreme Right Wing FPÖ and BZÖ 15% share of the General Election here in Austria last week and the current resurgance of the extreme right wingers in Belgium this weekend, I was beginning to see a trend where the UK Tories would seriously need to watch their back. Nobody wants these jokers in a position of control which is why we need an opposition with some strong immigration policy which will placate the electorate, because that is the main angst in Europe today.

As New Labour's employment policies are unravelling we will come to a point sooner, rather than later, when the number of immigrants in jobs exceed the number of UK citizens employed, due in main to the low wage factor. When this point is reached, the anger and frustration will surely encourage a far-right renewal. I just hope that before this happens Davy boy un-twists his knickers and develops a strong policy to block further immigration. We do not need further wholesale immigration as we cannot cope, socially, or otherwise, with the numbers we have here already.

Unfortunately, I don't think Dave has the guts to do anything... it's just not Liberal enough!

Croydonian said...

Tumbleweed central, aka UKIPHome, has not a mumbling word to say about Suchorzewski, but continues its vendetta against our host.

neil craig said...

When you stand for election & thus ask others to follow you should you win you cannot honourably immediately turn on the victor & decide not to follow him. Since he says he knew going in that Farage had control of the levers he can't even say he didn't know what game he was playing.

Like the Judean People's Liberation Front & the Scottish Socialist Party there is no group so small as not to have 2 people who want to be fuhrer.

Anonymous said...

Guthrum @ 1045 said
"Can I recommend the Young Report on Party Financing, and hope that some probity can come back into at least the financial dealings of parties."

"Probity" in a sentence dealing with political parties? Dreamer!

Anonymous said...

"Is it just me or is that letter the worst example of grammar and punctuation anyone has ever seen?"

You've clearly never come across Jack Stone then, 'right is right'.

The Hitch said...

That has to be a spoof?
I was wetting myself reading it, he has been accued of being a homosexual Nazi?
Tell me its a spoof.
What is the matter with these people.

Anonymous said...

I feel the same way about Cameron as anon.

DD should have got the top job. He doesn't fall into the same trappings as DC has with his over extended pauses which just come across as another Bliar! I don't want empty gestures and hot air either.

I think given your profile Iain as it is now, I do believe DD would have gotten the Top Job. Can't we arrange another leadership contest? This blog in my opinion has really helped with raisin the Tory profile.

I'd like to have someone in the leadership post with a bit more bull in their muscle and not the marketing spin that Cameron now exudes.

Don't get me wrong, I got caught up in it all myself at the time and sided with Cameron’s spin. It now look back and see DD as someone with staying power and the true belief to get things done and not just profile raising like Cameron is.

What's wrong with giving us some definitives on policy? Okay so the other lot crib the ideas. So what? It doesn't matter. As long as it benefits the country. People will always recognise where the ideas came from given the Tories and a better chance of getting in at the next election.

I think they are in grave danger of setting a light to all that hot air.

Anonymous said...

It's all good stuff. I mean UKIP are great when slating TB but for anything else - I don't think so.

Farage should get into comedy writing. Mind you, he already is with UKIPS policy and manifesto.

Anonymous said...

Tapestry and I Spy /Strangers: Does that mean Kilroy should be on the A List too? :)

Anonymous said...

Peter Hitchens,

It is NOT a spoof. Deadly serious and I did send you a copy!

Farage believes (as does Mr Kendrick) that ukip will have power soon!

Anonymous said...

There is a link on the BBC News website to an article in the Wales on Sunday newspaper:-

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/columnists/tm_headline=anarchy-in-the-ukip%2D%26method=full%26objectid=17892854%26siteid=50082-name_page.html

Anonymous said...

Kilroy started another Party. Suchorzewski is not a Kilroy. He might make a good Conservative. He seems to understand party loyalty. Many others have made the UKIP journey and returned to the Tory fold.

Of course if there was PR, UKIP would be bigger - and the BNP and the Greens too. That's why the major parties are unlikely to introduce it.

There is no alternative but to fight within the Conservative Party. The eurosceptic wing would be stronger without UKIP. Suchorzewski could be a force for good. Tapestry

Jeff said...

Remember the old saying,

A new broom sweeps clean.

Looks Nigel Farage took a machette to do his cleaning.

Incidents like this only highlight how inept UKIP realy is.
They are the barrack room lawyers of ther political parties.

Anonymous said...

One tries ! but I prefer visionary ! The alternative is they are all going to stitch us up and ask the Taxpayer to pay for their games.

The Hitch said...

I was accused of being a homosexual, despite no evidence of this, and my having been happily married for 14 years, a marriage which sadly ended in an amicable divorce would he have been less sad if it was amicable?
comedy gold that is , so happily married for 14 years that she divorced him "amicably".
Cant say as I blame her he sounds like a prize twat and probably the only person under the age of 80 who calls shagging "courting".
Thank you for bringing that gem to our attention Iain.

Anonymous said...

I thought it all read very well and I assume Iain agrees . This tiresome nit picking about style that occasionally breaks out is like a sort of textual sludge slowing the discussion and adding nothing .Except when I do it.
I am not a UKIP supporter but I have been to one or two meetings to hear what they had to say. On each occasion entirely respectable and well considered arguments were made for withdrawing from the EU. Given the easy slur of xenophobia that will of course be thrown at such a party it is dispiriting that they are inventing fictitious BNP
connections of their own. The people I met could hardly be of a more contrasting
out-look. Like any Conservative, I would, prefer that such debate was held within the party but it must be held somewhere.

Anonymous said...

"Tapestry and I Spy /Strangers: Does that mean Kilroy should be on the A List too? :)

12:08 PM "

Would anyone clarify the meaning of this . Are these people on the A list ?

Anonymous said...

Offhand, I can't remember the last election in parties or between parties that wasn't chock-a-block with foul calumnnies, scurrilous accusations and near-libellous character assassination masquerading as 'unattributable briefings'. This lad ought to grow up, he's obviously too sensitive for a life in politics.

Mind you, he has mastered the 'more in sorrow than in anger' bit that enabled him to put the boot in a couple of times, so he may make a come-back after some intensive coaching.

Basically, it boils down to "I didn't get elected and it's your fault. So I'm going home. Never wanted to be in your gang anyway. So there."

Nice to know that UKIP is joining the political mainstream.

Anonymous said...

It was way, way too long for a resignation letter, which should be short, courteous and dignified. He could have expanded later with an article in the press if he wishes to damage UKIP.

I am another one who would not have left the party had DD won the leadership. He is a leader. Cameron, like Blair, is a marionette. The Tories must change the rules and allow the membership to vote on the leader. Letting the self-regarding doo-lallies in Westminster Village decide who is to head up a great party is lunacy.

Gracchi said...

Well UKip imploding doesn't strike me as that surprising- after all remember Alan Sked's view of them

Anonymous said...

verity said: "The Tories must change the rules and allow the membership to vote on the leader."

They did vote for the leader - they chose Cameron by huge margin. Remember?

Rigger Mortice said...

'Deadly serious and I did send you a copy!'

anon 12-18 are you for real?


but you made me laugh

http://5thnovember.blogspot.com/2006_09_01_5thnovember_archive.html go to september 22 and then kindly tell us which peter hitchens you sent the copy too.

Anonymous said...

newmania - if you're genuinely puzzled:

Tapestry suggested (and I supported) the idea of the UKIP-reject Suchorzewski rejoining the Party and applying for a place on the A-list. What the (anonymous) 12.08 poster was asking us - rather tongue in cheek - was whether the same principle ought to apply to the Big Orange (aka Robert Kilroy-Silk). I see Tapestry has responded.

For the avoidance of doubt, I'm certainly not on the A-list. I can't speak for Tapestry, but somehow I doubt it. (Too much of a free spirit!)

Anonymous said...

Verity and Iain dale

"I am another one who would not have left the party had DD won the leadership"

I should imagine this is a common condition and I know the feeling .If only that speech hadn`t gone so badly wrong . Mr . Dale would be uniquely qualified to tell us the background to that and I would be exceedingly interested to know more from his point of view.

Any chance?

Anonymous said...

Verity
the media choose Conservative leaders, not the MP's. They also assassinate them if they turn openly eurosceptic.
tapestry

Anonymous said...

rigger mortice.

for an even bigger laugh you go along to a meeting being addressed by the joker Farage (a legend in his own mind) then you will realise what I say is the truth....yet he has as much chance as achieving power as I have!

The Daily Pundit said...

I've heard ex-political editor of the Press Association, Chris Moncrieff, say on a number of occasions that David Davis had the best speech but David Cameron had the best delivery.

Croydonian said...

Time to wheel out, and adapt, an old warhorse:

"UKIP politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small."

Anonymous said...

UKIP.The World's first Political Wake.

Anonymous said...

Daily Pundit-Moncrieff is of course right-as Dangerous Dave spins along on his Blair2 project more will move over to UKIP or join the ever increasing "no vote" brigade.

Anonymous said...

"Suppose there were PR elections for Westminster. Based on the share of the last Euro vote, there would be 107 UKIP mps in the commons."

And based on the last general election, there would be 14. In a proportional parliament, they would be utterly lost in the general mele and not matter a jot.

The ULIP is an irrelevance and the sooner the Tory party realises this and moves on, the better.

In fact, in the minds of almsot all the electorate (except for the 2% who voted UKIP last year UKIP and the even tinier fraction in the Tory backwoods) the whole business of Europe is just a massive turn-off; going on about it is an excellent way to get people to either vote for someone else of not vote at all. I'd guess for every UKIP vote you might collect by boring on about the EU, you turn away 2, 3 or 4 who think you're still living in the dark ages.

Mind you, if I'm wrong, it could be the way to really gather in the votes is to start a BBTCL Party. It would make as much sense.

(BBTCL : Bring Back The Corn Laws)

Anonymous said...

please take this self rejecting ex Tory candidate onto your A list but read this first in his own words.
" It was in 1997 that I withdrew as a Tory candidate for Swansea East. There were 2 reasons for this, but only one was made public, in order not to damage the Party. The official reason was that I was offered a commercial assignment in Croydon which meant I could not dedicate the time necessary to fight a full time campaign. The second and prime reason was that the Tory Party had become embroiled in sleaze and the behaviour of a number of party members, both nationally and locally had much to be desired. I therefore withdrew placing my sense of morality and virtue above that of ‘personal career advancement’."

Careless or what

Anonymous said...

It's funny how I seem to recall Amanda Platell crying on-screen during filming of her 'behind-the-scenes' role as William Hague's spin doctor. She was so furious and dismayed at the character assasination that Plotillo and his large band of followers under-took against William Hague during the general election.

I also recall reading how, during the Tory leadership contest, Cameron's team were releasing details which suggested that Liam Fox was a homosexual.

Funny how the Tories can be so damned hypocritical. UKIP are simply doing as the Tories and Labour have done and will do.

Cameron and the Tory-lite party are hardly the paragons of virtue they pretend. Nor is, I'm sure, Mr Dale exactly 'Mr Whiter-than-White'.

Anonymous said...

The membership do choose the leader. In my view it should be the MP's. Do not underestimate Cameron. His long game will deliver victory. He has steel and purpose and this will emerge in the next two years. He will deal with Brown.Personally I prefer DD.

Andrew Ian Dodge said...

Well there are a few ex-CCHQ types involved with UKIP. Seems they have taken their experience there with them.

Anonymous said...

Gracious!

Who would have imagined that such a small pram contained quite so many toys?

Scipio said...

Iain, wait until they form the Independent UKIP, or 'the Real UKIP'!!!

I for one am not surprised about this - Garage is a shark!

I am afraid the UKIP can never claim to be a principled party when they deliberately stood (and prevenmted the election of) Tories who support the UKIP position.

This is a power trip for Garage, who does actually have massive sympathies for the BNP (or so I am very reliably infomred)

Anonymous said...

Just to elaborate on UKIP's nutty members, here are some two comments posted following their spoof on the Cameron weblog - you couldn't make it up - beware of trolls:

I have listed the following posts for you to view from UKIP home. Please spend some time and check them out. If this site was endorsed by UKIP would you really think we would allow the following to be published - these post open us up for complete ridicule?

Posts from UKIPhome:-

ANTHONY BUTCHER NOW OPENLY ALLOWING FORUM MEMBERS TO CALL FOR MURDER

ANTI-UKIP BUTCHER STILL USING UKIPFORUM.CO.UK

SWIVELLED-EYED LOONS NOW CALLING ME AN MI5 AGENT

TODAY’S MAILBOX HIGHLIGHT

RICHARD SUCHORZEWSKI: TIME TO CALL OFF THE DOGS

FEEDING THE TROLLS

ANOTHER SUCHORZEWSKI BAD LOSER

MATT DAVIES LIES A LITTLE MORE

MORE FROM SIMON MUIR THE CONSPIRACY LOON

and

D South is a troll, and regular stalker of mine who usually goes by the name of Basildon Boy - I think he might be BNP.

UKIP itself is perfectly supportive of UKIPHome and happily links to ukiphome:
http://www.ukip.org/ukip_news/gen12.php?t=1&id=2520

And I have interviewed the chairman for the site, and spoken to the leader about it - leading to me being invited along to the leadership count a few weeks ago.

Unfortunately, there is a core group seeking to disrupt UKIP’s growth and the troll here is one of them.

Anonymous said...

Iain, in some respects this is also a mirror image of the conservative party.
There is plenty backbiting.infighting and general insurgency as evidenced in the tory blogs.
A lesson for us tories is clearly to be learned from this overlong resignation letter.
I can still recall the bitter damage which ensued in the Falmouth @ Camborne seat two years ago and which I am told still deeply festers to-day and which is likely to make any seat in Cornwall unwinnable at the next election.
It had all the components of this resignation letter enacted at a major hearing and which ultimately destroyed Conservatism and enthusiasm in the area.
We must remember too that UKIP allegedly played a role in cornish politics and is bound to be a big influence in the future--causing the bad blood which flows today.

The Editor said...

Reads like a sppof from Private Eye, especially the... a young woman from St Lucia... bit.

'Ugandan relations with a young woman from St Lucia'

Marvelous.

Anonymous said...

I saw a person who looked like Chad Noble at the Tory conference. This person had unmanly floppy hair like Hugh Grant on acid. Farage was there too. Has he bought out Brylcreem? Oily and repellent, he tried, pathetically, to be included in the Bruges Group fringe meeting but they all gave that troll and Labour vote winner a wide berth. Very sad watching Farage try to come close to a powerful party. It's bad he's reduced to taking a sad fanboy lunatic like Chad Noble as a lieutenant. I cam hear the sound of the barrel being scraped right now.

Anonymous said...

This follows other resignations from UKIP's NEC, in case anyone missed it:
http://www.democracyforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=14311
-----
Unlike the UKIP 'establishment', a substantial number of the members of UKIP realise that there is something very wrong with the party. I , with some others on the NEC, tried to do something about it. We failed.

One popular anti- EU slogan is 'Better Off Out'. I feel this applies to my continuing membership of the NEC, as I have no confidence in the future of UKIP with Nigel Farage as leader. He likes the slogan 'UKIP- The Real Opposition'. However, my experience of the NEC tells me that surreal is a better description of the upper tier of UKIP.

I can no longer support this inept and bizarre organisation which has so singularly failed its dedicated grassroots. And may, if it carries on as before, damage the anti-EU movement.

Gill Chant
-----
http://www.democracyforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=14375
----
Please accept this letter as a formal resignation of my position on the UKIP NEC and of my party membership.

I believe that any new party leader should be given 6-12 months of absolute support to run things his way and stamp his vision on a party, but I do not feel that I am in a position to offer Nigel that support.

As an NEC member it is my responsibility to ensure that truth, democracy, legitimacy and professionalism are adhered to by the party leadership, on behalf of the members who elected me. Unfortunately, I do not feel that my standards are in any way compatible with the new leadership’s and will only result in more friction. Since I cannot see a way to support the new leader and also retain the integrity of my position, I have chosen to resign. I am not willing to put up with four more years of unnecessary arguments, personal abuse, lies and having common sense ideas ignored.

As for my membership of the party, despite the fact that I am such a strong supporter of everything that UKIP stands for, I have come to the conclusion that UKIP is now a hindrance to the anti-EU movement and will never progress beyond being a Tory pressure group. Nigel’s initial statements as leader have merely confirmed this. It is a legitimate tactic, but not one that I feel will ever work and it is not one that I want to be involved with.

This is not a decision that I have taken lightly, having expended a huge amount of time and money on UKIP. I have been considering my position in the party for some time (having seen more than enough to put me off while serving on the NEC) and stayed on in the hope that we could elect someone with a passion for change and professionalism in the party.

I have made a number of friends in UKIP, and met many very dedicated people. I wish them all well for the future. I believe that I have tried hard to implement the agenda that I was elected to the NEC for, but I have met continual resistance and made no real difference in the end.

Anthony Butcher
----

If anyone doubts what Suchorzewski writes, here is an example of the liars who run the party caught red handed:

http://www.democracyforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=14766

Anthony Butcher wrote:
I was recently contacted by a member of the Surrey Countey Committee who was very concerned about accusations being made about me by John Moran, Nigel’s right hand man. At a meeting on the 23rd September, John apparently stated categorically that I had mailed out copies of the News of the World article about Nigel’s alleged one night stand to UKIP members in the South East. The “evidence” for this was that the article was printed from this forum.

I sent the following response to the email I received to John Moran:

Quote:
Thank you for sending this to me. Obviously I am concerned that John appears to be making a very strange accusation, and more concerned that he is presenting it to a county committee meeting. I would be keen to know how many other people have been exposed to this nonsense.

John is absolutely right that it will have been printed off by someone using the forum, but it could have been anyone, including John, and any other unregistered visitor. It is just a web page like any other. The anomaly was caused during a server move, and is visible to everyone using the website. You can see that the original NotW article was reproduced without comment, as are most UKIP news articles:

http://www.democracyforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=86538

The article clearly reads: 'Farage shares a house with wife Kirsten less than three miles from the pub. But Liga said the £59,000-a-year politician moved fast to get her INTO phpbb_bed'. That is visible to everyone reading the webpage, not just me, and would always print off with the phrase included no matter who clicked the 'print' button on their browser.

John is being either malicious or wilfully incompetent if he is claiming that only I could print this off and I would ask you to please pass this message on to everyone exposed to his silliness.

It also appears that John's claim isn't restricted to meetings, and is out on the Internet too. A former Ashford employee posted this onto the forum:
--------------------
Quote:

http://www.democracyforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=13885&start=30
A most interesting letter I received today.
Well - the content was not at all interesting but the letter itself was.

A campaign letter would you believe - unsigned with no return address.
Leadership election campaign letter that is.

The content was basically rubbishing a candidate.

A bit of detective work and the source was discovered - would you believe an N.E.C member? Or at least, it came from an N.E.C. member's computer which amount to the same thing.

Dirty trickies indeedy - also illegal use of membership database.

Heads are going to roll ... at least three.

And you know who you are - you deserve all you have coming to you.

I for one will be pleased to see the back of you.

You've been p*****g me off for quite a while now.
I don't take kindly being lied to - especially by a member of the N.E.C. and other members of UKIP who have an official capacity within the party.
I have been patient and my patience has been rewarded.

I do so love it when a plan comes together, don't you?
-------------------

Clearly this is a reference to John's slanderous accusation.

Is John honourable enough to make a public apology and issue a correction?

Yours sincerely,

Anthony Butcher


I didn’t even receive a response from Moran, and have since learned that he has refused to either retract the lie or correct it. I see no alternative but to defend my name by posting details of this here. I tried to sort it out quietly, but Moran hasn’t had the sense or decency to apologise.

Given that the man is a proven and willing liar, Farage himself is also damaged by this kind of sordid association. This is just one of the reasons that Gill, myself and now Richard Suchorzewski have all resigned.

What astonishes me here is the sheer stupidity of it. Not only is it easy to prove that John has completely fabricated the story, but he is still attacking me after I have left the party. I went VERY quietly with just a brief explanation to those who had voted for me. I did consider writing a detailed exposé of all the corruption, lies, deceit and incompetence that I witnessed while on the NEC, but wanted to leave some hope for those members who have chosen to stay on in the party. I am reconsidering that position now, given that Farage’s assistant is lying about me publicly, presumably with Farage’s blessing.
----

The Military Wing Of The BBC said...

2br02b said...
"it would make more sense to have a party called "bring back the corn laws"

it may have escaped your notice but that is exactly what the EU has ALREADY done and that (and many other reasons) is why some people flirt with UKIP.

its easy to sound sophisticated if you ignore the facts

stalin's gran said...

Hope your TV stuff is better than this boring cr+p mate!

The Military Wing Of The BBC said...

newmania said...
"If only that speech hadn`t gone so badly wrong . Mr . Dale would be uniquely qualified to tell us the background to that and I would be exceedingly interested to know more from his point of view."

I always got the impression that the media "decided" the speech had gone wrong and that view then snowballed.

But hey, the media, doesn't run this country, does it?

Anonymous said...

If all the effort going into UKIP infighting, would instead go into activism within the Conservative Party, the eurosceptic cause would be far advanced on its current position.

The most effective strategy for eurosceptic activists now would be to campaign at Constituency level within the Conservative Party for deselection in the Europhile seats, and to pressure for eurosceptic candidate selection, especially at Open Primaries.

This would now achieve more for the eurosceptic cause than joining in the growing disintegration at UKIP.

UKIP's had its moments in the past. Its two strategic achievements were first the initiation of the Referendum on the EU Constitution, which was then copied by Michael Howard, then Blair and then Chirac, which was famously lost.

The second one was the role of influence UKIP played in 2001 in assisting IDS into the leadership against Clarke and Portillo. After the 2001 General Election, it seemed possible that UKIP could become a force in British politics, which could threaten many Conservative seats. This levered MP's towards a eurosceptic leader.

Without IDS, there would not now be David Cameron, as IDS reset the Party's direction, permanently rejecting the Euro, and initiating Local Democracy and the Social Justice agenda, policies that David Cameron has taken up and is running with.

Since the Kilroy flurry, the fact that UKIP is a run by an anti-democratic cabal more interested in in-fighting than serious politics has finished them as an effective force. All they achieved in the 2005 General Election was ensure about 20 euroseptic Conservative MP's were not elected to Westminster. Counterproductive or what?

They are now a Nigel Farage speaking venue, working with the bizarre idea that they can replace the Conservative Party. Many have dreamed that dream in the past. Pre-IDS it might have happened when Hague talked of 'keeping the £ for one Parliament' but that era is now over. With the eurosceptics fighting back hard within the Conservative Party, UKIP has little further useful role. With a hung Parliament scenario seen as increasingly likely, they could do real damage.

If the UKIPPERS would use their activism and enthusiasm to fight within the Conservative Party, the eurosceptic wing would be stronger, and the Europhiles could be further worn down.

Hague is still trying to outmanoevre the euroscepticism of the majority of Conservatives, but with Cameron as leader, the power of the Europhiles in league with the media is far less than it was. Partly as a result of the work done by UKIP, Conservatives are now aware of the EU game, which they mostly were not in 2001. Times have moved on. The battle is now ensuring the eurosceptic wing of the Party moves into the ascendant.

The spur of competition from the so-called Right will be the BNP now. It's time for Conservatives to close ranks and fight for power.

Tapestry

Anonymous said...

"it would make more sense to have a party called "bring back the corn laws"

True. Does it still have "NO Peel" hammered in nails above the door in Christ Church, Oxford ?

Anonymous said...

Richard Suchorzewski

Diccon Ap Zucker, surely? A man for whom brevity appaers to have never been a problem.

Anonymous said...

Has anyone ever seen Nigel Farage and Tommy Sheridan in the same room?

Anonymous said...

The fortunes of UKIP are a matter of total indifference, but I'll express a view of this discussion.

Without patronising, it's a pleasure to read a) Ian's posts and b) the comments from his various contributors. The quality of debate, thought and standard of writing is far and away better than one might read elsewhere - notably in most newspapers...

So, a very good reason for non-regulation of the Internet in general, and blogs in particular.

Anonymous said...

UKIP - 29,000 members to just 16,500 in a year - at this rate their next national conference will be held in a telephone box!

It is a shame UKIP are ripping themselves apart in this manner - they had so much promise - and are now fighting each other instead of fighting against the EU.

Anonymous said...

Is VERITAS still around?

The last I heard they had a double glazing salesman in charge. That about sums them up. First a televsion evangelist then a bloody double glazing salesman (or woman)

The BNP appear more electable than ever now.

Jeremy Jacobs said...

It would seem that the fellow was nothing but a mere carpet bagger.

It you follow the trail back far enough you will see that he had attempted to stand for the Tories in the general election of 2005 having failed to be accepted as a candidate he joined UKIP. His resignation letter to the Tories is not so dissimilar of that to UKIP.

Agree a little with the above post. It's a pity that there appears to be some internal wranglings within UKIP's heirachy.

We need UKIP to point out to the electorate of this country how evil and undemocratic the EU is.

Devil's Kitchen said...

My UKIP mole has replied, fisking Richard's letter, at The Kitchen.

DK

Anonymous said...

You could not make it up could you....

http://www.democracyforum.co.uk/about14909-0-asc-0.html

Bermondsey, dateline 10.10.06 1600h

Today should have been the day that Peter Baker, chairman of the East Midlands committee, and Conference treasurer and organiser was either disciplined or exonerated in front of the official discipline committee of UKIP. Instead, in a farce of Pythonesque stature, the meeting was adjourned, amidst suppressed guffaws from the defence team and incredulity from those unfortunates who had travelled hundreds of miles as witnesses.

The committee hearing (read 'show trial') was to have taken place in the offices of Gerard Batten, UKIP-MEP. Attending were the protagonists:
Peter Baker (accused)
Derek Clark (accusor)
Discipline Committee panel members:
Douglas Denny, ex-Party Secretary (chairman)
xxxxxx (member)
xxxxxx (member)
(Note: there should have been at least four
members, however the fourth was a no-show)
In addition:
Petrina Holdsworth, McKenzie Friend, advising Mr. Baker
Marietta King (defence witness)
Greg Lance-Watkins (defence witness)
Marilyn Swain, Secretary East Mids. Committee (defence witness)
David Black, East Mids. Committee (defence witness)

The defence party assembled outside the office building (in Morocco Rd., a side-street off Bermondsey St.), but Mr. Lance-Watkins was refused entrance to the building by Mr. Denny, who appeared outside in an agitated state. Despite the evident rudeness (and apparently quite gleeful), Mr. Denny explained that Mr. Batten had refused Mr Lance-Watkins ("Watkins!") admission to the premises (the exact grounds for this were unclear), and, since the offices belonged to him, the committee could do nothing about this.

Ms. Holdsworth stated that Mr. Lance-Watkins was there to give evidence to the committee. Mr. Denny responded that the committee had not agreed to this, however Ms. Holdsworth replied that it was not the place of the committee to tell the defence who to call as witnesses, and that any attempt to interfere in this contravened the very rules under which the committee sat.

Mr. Denny then retreated into the building, to return with the offer that the committee could interview Mr. Lance-Watkins, if it decided to, in the street, or in a nearby pub (at Mr. Lance-Watkins' choice). This offer was refused, Mr. Lance-Watkins pointing out that he did not frequent pubs in Bermondsey nor give evidence on pavements.

Mr. Denny intimated that Mr. Batten had told him the only place he would meet Mr. Lance-Watkins would be a toilet. Again Mr. Lance-Watkins politely refused this offer (Mr. Batten's connection with toilets is presumably normal, however his connection with the disciplinary proceedings has yet to be established).

The witnesses unanimously then refused to participate further in the day's proceedings. Mr. Denny then stated that the proceedings would continue despite all, and that he would record Mr. Baker as having failed to attend.

Ms. Holdsworth and Mr. Baker offered to discuss some of the 'procedural violations' with the committee, (but not the substance of the case itself). Mr. Baker and Ms. Holdsworth did then enter the building, and a discussion took place inside for approximately one hour.

The witnesses sat outside (on a convenient wall, using newspapers for insulation), and eventually repaired to a local sandwich bar in disgust. Mr. Baker and Ms. Holdsworth later rejoined the party, to state that the case had been "adjourned, by mutual agreement" (a condition of which was confidentiality as to the reasons), thereby effectively setting the process back to the beginning, as both the discipline committee and the party secretary* have effectively been replaced.

At this point the assembled company dispersed back to the individuals' homes, some having travelled round trips in excess of 300 miles to attend. No discussion of expenses nor offers of reimbursement were made, in flagrant disregard for convention in such matters.

My comment: It is abundantly clear that with such morons running UKIP, it is but a matter of time before the party collapses.

*pending ratification by the NEC.

Anonymous said...

http://www.democracyforum.co.uk/about14909-0-asc-20.html

I have just followed the link above. It would be hilarious if it was not so sad. The email exchanges between members is a real eye opener. UKIP the fourth party in British politics - don't make me laugh!