Ukip faces embarrassment after it emerged yesterday that the party has declined to kick out three senior figures connected to the National Front.
David Soutter, Ukip’s head of candidates, was reportedly tape-recorded telling supporters in Grimsby in January that an MEP and a senior party official were former “card-carrying members” of the NF. He also indicated that Victoria Ayling, a local parliamentary candidate, was a former NF member. She has denied the claims.
“In so far as Victoria and her membership of the NF . . . there was an ex-member of the NF who was actively promoting that she had been a card-carrying member,” he said, but added that Ukip’s national executive committee had accepted her explanation of the claims.
Mr Soutter said members of far-right groups were banned from Ukip, but made clear that exceptions were made for former supporters: “That rule was only brought in 18 months ago. Prior to that, you could be a member of the NF. There is one MEP and one senior officer in the party who had previously been card-carrying members of the NF. One of them was 30-odd years ago, one of them was seven years ago.”
Meanwhile Raheem Kassam, Nigel Farage’s chief of staff, has been reported to the police for alleged fraud.
Robin Shepherd, owner of The Commentator website, has accused Mr Kassam of fraudulently obtaining advertising revenue from the site. Before the complaint was lodged, the Ukip staffer had reported Mr Shepherd to the police for harassment. No arrests have been made.
The revelations emerged as a new book by Derk Jan Eppink, a Dutch politician, claimed that Ukip’s leader “shouted abuse like a Saturday night drunk” when he first appeared in the European parliament.
Mr Farage was treated as “a historical relic or a bit-part player in a British sitcom”, the author said.
In the book, Ukip is accused of using the EU as a “cash cow”, despite its claims to despise the organisation and its desire to break away.
Mr Farage yesterday made a broadcast appearance in which he sought to put further distance between his party and Janice Atkinson, the MEP who has had the party whip removed following a sting earlier this week. Her chief of staff was caught on tape allegedly trying to falsify an invoice for a Ukip event.
Speaking on the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show, he said: “Controlling human nature is not the easiest thing to do. I accept that sometimes things go wrong but when they do go wrong I deal with them.”
Later on in the day, Mr Farage was allegedly hounded out of a Kent pub by anti-Ukip protesters.
The Ukip leader was having lunch with his wife Kirsten and two children at the Queen’s Head in Downe, Kent, when activists arrived, according to local reports.
Dan Glass, the protest organiser, denied that activists went inside the bar and claimed that they had not seen the Ukip leader’s family. Mr Glass conceded, however, that activists had jumped on the bonnet of Mr Farage’s car as he drove away.
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