Nigal Farage: We can't vet all council candidates to keep out BNP

Nigel Farage: We can't vet all council candidates to keep out BNP


Nigel Farage, the leader of the Ukip, has admitted that “one or two” of his
party’s candidates in the local elections could be members of the BNP or have
criminal records.








Nigel Farage is conducting a
“common sense tour” of the
country





By Peter Dominiczak, Political
Correspondent

3:35PM BST 25 Apr 2013





Mr Farage conceded that candidates that he would “rather not have had”
standing in the elections may have “slipped through the net”.


He made the comments after it emerged that a candidate had been thrown out of
the party after it emerged that she was once a member of the BNP.


Susan Bowen, from Boscastle in Cornwall, had been due to stand in next
month’s county council elections.


Mr Farage told the BBC’s World at One programme that there may be a small
number of county council candidates who UKIP would not be happy with, but that
the party is not able to vet all 1,700 of their candidates in time for the
election.


Mr Farage said: “When it comes to the general election and the European
elections, we have put in place a very rigorous testing procedure - testing
people’s knowledge, their ability with media - you know, full credit checks,
police checks and all the rest of it.



Related Articles

• 
  Bulgarians challenge 'feeble' Farage
  
  21 Apr 2013
  
• 
  Nick Clegg goes to war with Tories over the
  'snoopers' charter'
  25 Apr 2013
  
• 
  Boris: Finally a Johnson gets into Number 10
  
  25 Apr 2013
  

“I’ll be honest with you, we don’t have the party apparatus in a very short
space of time to fully vet 1,700 people. We have made people sign declaration
forms, expressing the fact that they’ve never been part of political parties
that we consider to be wholly undesirable. By that I mean the BNP. And, you
know, we ask people if there is a problem with a criminal record or whatever
else it may be, please tell us.”

He added: “I have no doubt that amongst those 1,700 one or two people will
have slipped through the net that we’d rather not have had.”

It comes after election experts predicted that Ukip is set to make the “most
serious fourth party incursion in English politics” since the Second World War.


Professor Colin Rallings, from Plymouth University, told The Times that next
Thursday’s county council elections represent a “staging post” for Ukip’s
chances in the European elections next year.

He said that the Tories can expect to lose at least 310 councillors from
their 1,478 seats, while the Lib Dems, who are defending 477, could lose 130.


Labour is likely to gain at least 350 seats, he said. Ukip is expected to win
around 40 seats, mostly in the south of the country.

Stop using 'feeble' rhetoric on lifting of immigration restrictions,
Bulgarian ambassador tells Nigel Farage


Nigel Farage has come under fire from the Bulgarian ambassador to Britain
for using “very feeble” arguments to criticise the lifting on migrant
restrictions to the UK.








Ukip leader Nigel
Farage






By Christopher Hope, Senior Political
Correspondent

1:26PM BST 21 Apr 2013


280 Comments




Konstantin Dimitrov, the country’s UK ambassador, criticised “certain
political quarters and the media” for “scape-goating a tiny nation”.


He said that critics had failed “to distinguish access to labour market from
misuse of the benefits system” where Bulgarians do not appear in the top 20
nationalities who claim from the system in the UK.


Asked on Sky News’s Murnaghan programme if he had “put these points to
the UK Independence Party and to their leader Nigel Farage”, he replied: “He is
usually very feeble in presenting solid arguments to put it mildly and prefers
to indulge in propaganda which deviates markedly from the essence of the
debate.”


Restrictions on people wanting to come to the UK are lifted from the end of
the year, prompting some to fear a major influx of migrants to this country.



Mr Farage has been a consistent critic of the two countries. Earlier this
year he told MEPs that the two countries “do not belong in the European Union”.




Related Articles

• 
  Sketch: MPs prepare for Romania-mania
  
  22 Apr 2013
  

He said: “Romania and Bulgaria, these two countries are racked with
corruption and organized crime. They should never have been allowed the join the
EU since early stage.

“I want to make it absolutely clear, that we, the UKIP, do not believe that
is right and fair to have totally open borders from next year, for an unlimited
number of people from those countries to come to Britain to work but also if
they want, to claim benefits.”

A Ukip spokesman told The Daily Telegraph: "The Bulgarian Ambassador
is of course just doing his job. He points out that at present Bulgarians do not
figure in the top 20 welfare recipient nationalities.

"Well of course, and we want to keep it that way by blocking the end of the
transitional arrangements that make it harder for them to access the full
panoply of UK benefits.

"Maybe he should look at the state of his own country, and ask why so many of
his own have already left for Italy and Spain, and are looking to the UK post
January 2014, rather than attacking reasonable concerns of British citizens."


Last month the first official Government study of the impact of migration
from the two accession European Union countries found that the number of
Romanians and Bulgarians who will come to live in this country next year is “not
possible to predict”.

Earlier this year Migration Watch, a thinktank which has a good record of
forecasting migration, published figures suggesting that 50,000 a year Romanians
and Bulgarians will come here, although others suggest this estimate is too
high.

Racism, Romanians and chemical castration: what Ukip candidates really
believe


Racism is “just ethnic banter”, paedophiles should be killed by vigilantes
and Londoners should wear face masks to protect themselves from eastern
Europeans, some of the UK Independence Party’s local election candidates have
suggested.








Nigel Farage admitted the party
had not checked the backgrounds of all its 1,700 candidates Photo: Julian Simmonds for the
Telegraph






By Rowena Mason, Political
Correspondent

9:28PM BST 26 Apr 2013





Ukip is facing questions over its vetting after campaigners criticised the
“far-Right connections” and “cuckoo conspiracy theories” of some of its
potential councillors. The party has been surging in polls ahead of local
elections on May 2, with the latest survey suggesting it could win 100 seats.



Nigel Farage, its leader, admitted the party had not checked the backgrounds
of all its 1,700 candidates.


One candidate, Richard Wilkins, standing in the Isle of Wight, wrote on
Twitter that Mick Philpott, who killed six of his children in a house fire,
should have faced “chemical castration” to stop him claiming benefits for more
than two children. He suggested Philpott should be “hung or burned at the stake”
and objected to police charges against “three blokes [who] kill a pedo”, adding
“if they can’t do it we will”. Mr Wilkins said he stood by his comments on
“chemical castration and hanging” and wanted them printed “up in lights”.



Chris Scotton, who is standing in Leicester, has a Facebook page that
endorses the far-Right English Defence League.


He has “liked” Facebook groups with names such as “No more mosques in
Britain”, “Women deserve as much respect as men … LOL joke” and “Racism? No mate
it’s just ethnic banter”.



Related Articles

• 
  Vote for Farage? Are you completely
  bonkers?
  26 Apr 2013
  
• 
  Ukip criticised over 'cloud cuckoo' views of
  candidates
  26 Apr 2013
  
• 
  Nigel Farage: Some Ukip candidates could be BNP
  members
  25 Apr 2013
  
• 
  Ukip has thrown British politics into the most
  marvellous chaos
  24 Apr 2013
  

David Waller, a candidate in Malling, Kent, referred to risk of tuberculosis
after barriers to Bulgarian and Romanian immigrants are lifted next year. “I
would suggest not going to London after January 2014 unless you absolutely have
to and if you do, adopt the Japanese practice of wearing a face mask,” he wrote
on his blog.

Mr Waller later told The Daily Telegraph he had not meant the remark to be
serious and he is in no way xenophobic.

Ukip has been forced to withdraw some of its candidates amid rows over their
views. It suspended Anna-Maria Crampton, a candidate in East Sussex, over
alleged comments blaming Jewish people for the Holocaust, and Sue Bowen in
Cornwall after it emerged she was a former member of the British National Party.


Peter Wilding, a founder of the pro-Europe British Influence campaign, said
Mr Farage should not “get away with a smile while saying we haven’t done due
diligence” and criticised the “cuckoo conspiracy theories” of some candidates.


A Ukip spokesman said tonight that Conservatives were trying to “traduce
people supporting Ukip”.

“Ukip is made up of ordinary people many of whom are young and have made the
odd excessive comment on new media,” he said. “I am perfectly prepared to answer
every criticism that [Conservative] central office has laid at our door after
they have told me how many Romanians and Bulgarians they expect to come to
London in the next five years.”

UKIP Slams Tory Election 'Smear Campaign'


The party says it is a victim of a co-ordinated smear
campaign by the Conservatives to undermine its local election prospects.


4:59am UK,
Sunday 28 April 2013

UKIP has accused the Tories of a 'morally reprehensible' smear campaign




UKIP has accused the Tories of running a "morally reprehensible"
smear campaign by trawling through would-be councillors' Twitter and Facebook
posts.

The row comes as one of the party's council candidates faces criticism for
allegedly posting a series of anti-gay comments on Facebook.

Gloucestershire County Council hopeful John Sullivan is accused of writing
that regular physical exercise in schools can prevent homosexuality and
congratulating Russia for banning gay pride.

At least two Sunday newspapers are running negative UKIP stories.
John Sullivan
The Observer claims leaked emails reveal that one of the party's MEPs is
concerned about excessive "political correctness" among new recruits.

Meanwhile the Sunday Mirror reports that UKIP leader Nigel Farage is under
"ferocious pressure" to kick out the racists in his party.

But a party spokesman hit back, saying: "UKIP has been subject to a
co-ordinated smear campaign.

"We have evidence that Conservative Campaign Head Quarters has been
scrutinising each and every one of our 1,732 candidates, monitoring every social
media output over the last few years.

"Were we inclined to return the favour, we would find even more examples to
use against them.

"We deem that using our candidates as cannon fodder to undermine a political
campaign, anti politick, morally reprehensible and downright dirty.

"We are an open minded party who believes that ordinary hard working men and
women who want to serve their communities should not be subject to a political
lynch mob."

The party said it was looking into the allegations against Mr Sullivan and
would be making contact with him.

It added that it did not condone "homophobic, xenophobic, extreme nor
unpalatable views" and would deal with each individual case on merit.

A Conservative source told Sky News: "This is a desperate attempt to deflect
attention away from the serious questions UKIP must answer about some of their
candidates.

"UKIP should be held to account about the candidates they want to hold public
office."

Ken Clarke Brands UKIP Politicians 'Clowns'


The MP steps up Tory attacks on UKIP after questions are
raised about the credentials of the party's local election candidates.


1:53pm UK,
Sunday 28 April 2013



Video: Tory Cabinet Minister Attacks
UKIP
Enlarge

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  

Conservative Cabinet minister Ken Clarke has dismissed UKIP's
politicians as "clowns" and some of its supporters as racist in a scathing
attack on the party.

He said UKIP had no positive policies and was merely a protest party
"against" foreigners and immigrants.

Speaking ahead of local elections on Thursday, he told Sky News' Murnaghan
programme that he was sure that "most of the UKIP people are perfectly nice when
they are having a drink", but added that he "wouldn't send most of them to the
county council".

Mr Clarke said: "They of course have not been able to vet their candidates.
Fringe right parties do tend to collect a number of waifs and strays ...

"The trouble with UKIP really is it is just a protest party - it is against
the political parties, it is against the political classes, it's against
foreigners, it's against immigrants. It doesn't have any very positive policies
- they don't know what they are for."

He went on: "The temptation to ordinary voters of UKIP is these are very
difficult times. The political class are regarded as having got us into a
mess.

"The last government left chaos behind them. The present Government's having
a long, hard road to follow to get us back to normality.

"It's very tempting to vote for a collection of clowns or indignant, angry
people who promise that somehow they will allow you to take your revenge on the
people who caused it. You should actually vote for people who you think are
going to be sensible county councillors."
UKIP says it is the victim of a smear
campaign
Asked whether he agreed with David Cameron's 2006 assessment that the party
was packed with "fruitcakes and closet racists", Mr Clarke replied: "I have met
people who satisfy both those descriptions in UKIP.

"Indeed, some of the people who have assured me they are going to vote UKIP I
would put in that category. I rather suspect they have never voted for me."

His
comments came after UKIP accused the Conservatives of running a "morally
reprehensible" smear campaign against its would-be councillors by trawling
through their Twitter and Facebook posts.

The party - which is investigating a handful of its record 1,700 candidates
over links to groups such as the BNP and alleged racist and homophobic comments
- said it did not condone "unpalatable views".

But a spokesman insisted dredging up old activities on social media amounted
to a "political lynch mob".

However, Mr Clarke, a minister without portfolio, insisted it should be
subject to the same scrutiny as other political parties.

The Tory MP for Rushcliffe said: "Some of them are saying quite different
things now they are in politics to their actual views and what they used to say.
I think people like that should be exposed myself. My views have always been the
same."

Labour also waded into the row amid speculation that it too could also lose
votes to UKIP.

Shadow local government secretary Hilary Benn told Sky News: "Judging by
what's in the papers this morning I think that some of their candidates are
pretty unappealing and some that they have had to take off their list because of
what's been revealed. In public life, in politics, you are subjected to
scrutiny."

UKIP's deputy leader Paul Nuttall dismissed the attacks on the party as a
"dirty tricks campaign".

He denied suggestions the party was in chaos and said its membership was
growing by "around 100-a-day".

He told Sky News: "This is a party which is going places ... and we are going
to change British politics forever if we are going to continue on this upwards
trajectory."

Mr Nuttall added: "A certain amount of our vote will be protest ... but there
are people out there now who are solid UKIP voters. who like what we say."

Meanwhile, it emerged that Northumbria Police are investigating an allegation
of postal fraud by UKIP in the Cowpen area of Blyth.
=================================================
The other parties are obviously worried and the Conservatives are playing dirty , I hope the public sees through this. It is looking increasing likely that 2015 will again result in a coalition Government unless the Conservatives produce a miracle.

Ukip don't like it up 'em


By Dan HodgesPoliticsLast updated: April 29th, 2013
1535 CommentsComment on this article


WAAAAAAAAAAH
Ukip. What a bunch of effete, precious, namby-pamby, “mummy, mummy the big boys are being nasty to me” shower they are.
For the last few months, week after week, day after day, Nigel Farage and his crew have been wandering around, calling the odds. Immigrants; gays; women; anyone who has so much as dared to utter a word of CSE French. All have been the subject of Ukip’s unique brand of bar-room philosophy. Or plain speaking, if you prefer.
Take Ukip candidate David Waller. He’s a "plain speaker" all right. “I would suggest not going to London after January 2014 unless you absolutely have to and if you do, adopt the Japanese practice of wearing a face mask,” he wrote on his blog. We’re all going to contract TB, apparently.
Then there’s Chris Scotton, the party’s candidate in Leicester. You can have a good laugh with Chris, he’s a real card. “Women deserve as much respect as men … LOL joke” and “Racism? No mate it’s just ethnic banter” are among the groups he likes to follow on Facebook.
John Sullivan, who’s standing for Ukip in Gloucestershire, appears to be less of a joker. He’s a stickler for law and order though. Back in August he tweeted “Well done the Russians”, after gay pride marches in Moscow were banned.
I thought this was precisely the sort of stuff Ukip prided itself on. Honest-to-goodness Brits telling it the way it is, unencumbered by pretentious, metropolitan political correctness.
But apparently not. No sooner had these – public – pronouncements appeared in the media than Nigel Farage and his supporters were blubbing like schoolgirls and running off to find teacher. “Ukip has been subject to a coordinated smear campaign,” bleated a spokesman. "We have evidence that Conservative Campaign Head Quarters has been scrutinising each and every one of our 1,732 candidates, monitoring every social media output over the last few years. We deem that using our candidates as cannon fodder to undermine a political campaign, anti politick [sic], morally reprehensible and downright dirty.”
Examining the publicly published views of a party’s official candidates, and holding them to be an example of what that party actually represents? Can you imagine anything so low? It’s modern-day McCarthyism, I tell you.
To be fair, it’s not just Ukip that seem outraged by this disgraceful “Accurate Representation Of Their Views” strategy being adopted by Ukip’s political opponents. Yesterday my colleague Nile Gardiner condemned as “deeply unpleasant” Ken Clarke’s description of Ukip as “clowns with no positive policies”, and decried David Cameron’s “demeaning (and wholly unfair) description of Ukip voters in 2006 as 'fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists'."
Come on Nile. I thought you "Kippers" were supposed to be all proud British backbone and stiff upper lip. Letting that nasty Ken Clarke get to you. Wuss.
What the last couple of days has shown isn’t that Ukip are made up of fruits, loons and racists. We knew that already. What they’ve revealed is Ukip just don’t like it up ‘em.
They’re not a political party, or even a single-issue pressure group. They’re a gang of junior school playground bullies.
Nigel Farage’s political strategy has solely revolved around picking on people. If you were a little bit vulnerable, or a little bit different, Farage and Ukip would single you out. It got them a bit of attention, and a name, and the sort of popularity that those who are themselves a bit weak or scared are keen to temporarily bestow.
What we saw this weekend was the big boys pushing back. And Ukip – like all bullies – haven’t been able to take it.
This morning there’s been lot’s of speculation about what Ukip’s mini-implosion means politically. Some people are falling back on the “all publicity is good publicity” line. Others say it’s damaged them.
The reality is the negative headlines over the past 24 hours are neither good nor bad for Ukip. They are simply representative of the political trajectory followed by all modern protest parties. They feed on discontent, make a breakthrough, the breakthrough brings a level of scrutiny they cannot handle, they burn briefly and gloriously, and then they fade away.
Ukip will do well on Thursday. They will do even better in the European elections next year. And then they will crash and burn at the 2015 general election.
The British people have this weekend seen Ukip for what they are. Not so much extremists or nutters – though obviously their ranks contain both – but crybabies.
Rather than being the new Churchill, Nigel Farage has been exposed as nothing but a big girl's blouse. And in 2015 the voters will remember.
Read more by Dan Hodges on Telegraph Blogs
Follow Telegraph Blogs on Twitter

Tags: Nigel Farage, UKIP

3 May 2013 Last updated at 16:16

Share this page

• Email
  
• 
  
  
  3.7K
  
• Share
  
• Facebook
  
• Twitter
  

Local election reports and
reaction

Continue
reading the main story

Vote 2013

• Latest news and
  reaction Live
  
• Full results for England & Wales
  
• Robinson: UKIP 'clowns' have last laugh
  
• The story of UKIP's rise
  

UKIP leader Nigel Farage has hailed
gains in council elections across England as "remarkable" for the party.

UKIP has won 110 seats so far and is averaging 25% of the vote in the wards
where it is standing.

The Conservatives have lost control of nine councils, but retained 17, while
Labour has gained two councils and boosted its councillors by over 200.

David Cameron said he would "work really hard to win back" supporters who had
decided to vote for UKIP.

Contests are taking place in 27 English county councils
and seven unitary authorities, as well as in Anglesey. About 2,300 council
seats are up for grabs in England, in a major mid-term test for the coalition
government.
Four party politics
The BBC's projected national share of the vote has Labour in the lead with
29% of the vote and the Conservatives in second place with 25%. UKIP are in
third place with 23% of votes and the Lib Dems are fourth with 14%.

BBC political editor Nick Robinson said the vote shares confirmed four party
politics were at play in these elections, but it was still unclear if this would
carry through to a general election.

After almost 1,500 key wards
declared
Responding to the success of UKIP, Prime Minister David Cameron said: "We
need to show respect for people who have taken the choice to support this party
and we are going to work really hard to win them back."

In other developments:

• Labour celebrates victory in the
  parliamentary by-election in South Shields, where UKIP finished second and
  the Lib Dems were relegated to seventh.
  
• Labour candidate Norma Redfearn defeats the Conservative incumbent Linda
  Arkley in the North
  Tyneside mayoral contest.
  
• UKIP wins its first ever seats on Hampshire County Council - including two in disgraced
  former MP Chris Huhne's town of Eastleigh.
  
• UKIP wins 16 seats on
  Lincolnshire council, ensuring the Conservatives lose overall control,
  including three members
  of the same family.
  
• UKIP and the Green Party of England and Wales win their first ever
  council seats in Essex.
  
• The Greens lose their only seat in Hampshire, but beat the
  Conservative leader of Warwickshire council to take a seat there.
  
• In Cornwall a county
  councillor who quit after saying disabled children should be "put down" is
  re-elected.
  
• The BNP loses its only
  county council seat in the country.
  

The Tories are defending thousands of seats last fought in 2009 - when they
were in opposition and when Labour had its worst night in local election
history.

Of the 28 councils to declare so far, the Tories retained control of
traditional council strongholds like Wiltshire, Shropshire, West Sussex,
Buckinghamshire, Essex, Dorset, Hampshire and Hertfordshire, as well as Somerset
and Devon.

Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

It is the day UKIP emerged as a real political force in the
land”

End Quote

Nick
Robinson Political editor

---

• Read more from
  Nick
  

But they lost their majorities on nine of their
councils, which moved to no overall control, as both Labour and UKIP made
gains.

Nearly 10,000 candidates were battling for seats in English county councils
and unitary authorities - "top-tier" authorities in charge of schools, roads,
refuse collection and fire and rescue among other services.

Labour has made progress in the Midlands, taking control of Derbyshire and
Nottinghamshire county councils, both of which it lost in 2009.

It has also made double digit gains in Staffordshire, Cumbria, Warwickshire,
Suffolk and Hertfordshire.
UKIP surge
The most eye-catching performance has been from UKIP, which is riding high in
the opinion polls and fielded 1,700 candidates, three times the number that
stood in 2009, when the party won just seven council seats.

So far, the party has become the official opposition in Lincolnshire, where
it won 16 councillors, and Norfolk, where it won 15 councillors.




Nigel Farage, UKIP: "We've been abused by everyone, and now
they're shocked and stunned"

It has taken seats in councils like Essex and Hampshire, where it previously
had no councillors, but failed to pick up any seats in a number of councils
including Hertfordshire, Warwickshire, North Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cumbria and
Derbyshire.

The party, which campaigns for the UK to leave the European Union, has been
polling 13 points higher, on average, than in wards where it stood in 2009.

UKIP's Nigel Farage told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme that "the people who
vote for us are rejecting the establishment and quite right too".

"Three parties, three fronts benches who look the same and sound the same and
made up of people who basically have never had a job in the real world," he
said.
'Major lesson'
"But are they voting UKIP just to stick two fingers up and to scream very
loudly or are they voting UKIP because we're offering positive policy
alternatives?"

"I don't think these votes are going away quickly," he added.

He said the results put UKIP in a "very strong position" in the run-up to the
next general election, but acknowledged that "when it comes to a general
election we do have a problem, which is the first past the post election
system".

He later confirmed on BBC Radio Kent that he would stand as a candidate at
the next general election. In 2010 he unsuccessfully contested Speaker John
Bercow's seat of Buckingham.

David Cameron said the gains made by UKIP were a "major lesson" for the three
main Westminster parties.

"For the Conservatives I understand why some people who have supported us
before didn't support us again, they want us to do even more to work for
hard-working people to sort out the issues they care about," he said.

"More to help with the cost of living, more to turn the economy round, more
to get immigration down, to sort out the welfare system. They will be our focus,
they are our focus, but we have got to do more."
'Bonkeroony'
Labour leader Ed Miliband said he was pleased with his party's results but
acknowledged the party still had more work to do.

He told the BBC: "I also recognise - having gone round the country during
this campaign - the vote for UKIP, the two thirds of people who didn't vote,
that there are still lots of people saying can anyone turn this country round? I
believe Labour can and we're carrying on that work to convince people that we
can."

Lib Dem deputy leader Simon Hughes said UKIP had made progress in some areas,
but said it was "patchy".

And Lib Dem business secretary Vince Cable said the UKIP rise had to be taken
seriously, likening their surge to that seen in recent Italian elections -
saying they showed the appeal of the "humorous right" over "nasty fascists".

Education Secretary Michael Gove, asked what he thought about a councillor's
call for a new Conservative leader, said the idea was "barmy" and
"bonkeroony".

The result of the Doncaster mayoral contest will be known later on Friday.
Incumbent Peter Davies looks like he has made it through to the second round in
a head-to-head with the Labour candidate - he is fighting for re-election as an
independent after quitting the English Democrats.

Local council elections were also held in Anglesey, which is currently
classified as no overall control but is dominated by independents.

No elections took place in London, Scotland, Northern Ireland or anywhere in
Wales other than Anglesey.



VOTE 2013
PartyEnglish CouncilsCouncillorsTotalChange +/- TotalChange +/- CONLABLDUKIPGRNOTHNOC

17	-10	970	-261
2	2	400	232
0	0	291	-100
0	0	117	109
0	0	18	1
0	0	119	19
13	8	N/A	N/A

After 32 of 34 councils declared
All results for England & Wales