Ukip Wales In Trouble Again Over Racism & Now Alexandra Phillips & Llyr Powell Quit as candidates just one month prior to the election on 05-May-2016
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16 UKIP candidates ‘reconsidering’ over Gareth Bennett row
By David Deans
Image copyrightMedia WalesImage caption Gareth Bennett sparked a row when he blamed immigrants for problems with rubbish in Cardiff
UKIP chairman Steve Crowther has been told 16 of the party’s Welsh election candidates are reconsidering whether the organisation represents them following a race row.
They have formally complained over comments by UKIP South Wales Central assembly candidate Gareth Bennett.
Meanwhile UKIP Wales head of media Alexandra Phillips is stepping down as a candidate citing personal reasons.
Mr Bennett’s fate as a candidate is expected to be decided on Monday.
The complaint about him, made in a letter to Mr Crowther seen by BBC Wales, reads: “We believe the party should take swift and immediate disciplinary action against Mr Bennett.
“We as candidates and many members who support us are deeply considering whether UKIP really represents us.”
The letter, signed by 16 candidates for the assembly and the police and crime commissioner elections, said Mr Bennett had “undermined the party and our own ability to campaign through his offensive… comments about immigrants to Wales”.
It said Mr Bennett’s comments “are contrary to UKIP’s fair and ethical stance on immigration”, and he had “degraded our ability to campaign and connect with voters by saying it is pointless to knock on doors”.
“Mr Bennett is not fit to be a lead candidate in a grassroots party where engaging the public is crucial to our success,” the letter added.
The South Wales Central candidate linked rubbish problems in Cardiff’s City Road area to immigration in a Wales Online interview in March.
He said: “I think with some of the ethnicities that have moved in, possibly the Eastern Europeans, they just don’t have any awareness of the hygiene problem that is being caused at times.”
He stood by his comments in an interview with the BBC’s Daily Politics programme, and said he had served a draft legal letter to his party saying UKIP could face action for lost earnings of £300,000 if he were to be deselected.
‘Final assessment’
Nigel Farage, party leader, said last week he was “less than impressed” with Mr Bennett.
UKIP’s vetting committee met on Sunday and is due to report to the NEC meeting.
Meanwhile, Ms Phillips, who was to be UKIP’s number two candidate on the South Wales Central regional list behind Mr Bennett, told BBC Wales she would continue in her media role for the campaign, but would no longer be seeking election herself.
“I’ve given it a lot of thought and have decided party politics is not for me,” she told BBC Wales.
“It’s a personal decision – I don’t want to take on a partisan role.”
In the long run we may well find that Alexanra Phillips has withdrawn from the election to preserve herself. Clearly the public have every right to know details on electoral candidates, whereas mere employees are of rather less significance and Ms. Phillips may well have felt she would be damaged and she may even have thoughty of the damage she would do to Ukip, as a leading candidate, as details of her indiscretions were published as a candidate even for the relatively insignificant position as a candidate, even member, of the National Ass. for Wales an over funded position in an EU Regional Assembly.
For starters perhaps we should consider the effect of CLICK HERE all be it the EU’s Regional Councils are defined as insignificant as shown CLICK HERE or HERE
That Ukip NEC finds Gareth Benett’s crass comments acceptable and have supported him as a leading candidate in Wales speaks volumes of Ukip’s shift towards the BNP position as racists happy to blame all problems on foreigners, you may recall Nigel Farage himself tried to blame immigrants for turning up hours late for a public commitment in Wales!
It will be interesting to see howmany members of Ukip Wales’ 16 candidates who wrote in protest at Gareth Bennett’s behaviour will follow the lead of Alexandra Phillips & Llyr Powell and stand down as candidates – Llyr Powell made it very clear that he was standing down in disgust unwilling to work with Gareth Bennett.
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Regards,
Greg_L-W.
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Posted by: Greg Lance-Watkins
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Euan Blockley a Ukip Candidate in Scotland Quits Over Claims Of Corruption At The Top!
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Hi,
although Scotland is in a state of flux with both Labour & Tories out of favour it is clear that the SNP have made complete fools of themselves.
Imagine just how dire a position Scotland would be in if the Scots had been foolish enough to take the advice of The SNP and vote for Indipendence – the debt already accrued, as a result of the collapse in oil prices, would have condemned Scotland to pennuary for generations to come.
This is just the situation Ukip Scotland should be in a position to exploit to make significant gains in the rapidly approaching elections – however due to crass incompetence, an indisputable level of utter incompetence from its leadership team and endless sqabbling due to poor leadership skills and lack of direction – just at the time when they should have stood every chance of getting 10, 20 or even 30 seats on Scotland’s EU Regional Council of Hollyrood it is likely they won’t get a single place!
UKIP in Scotland rejects claim of vote ‘stitch-up’
30 March 2016
Image captionEuan Blockley claimed the party leadership “stitched up” the process
UKIP in Scotland has defended its procedures for selecting Scottish parliamentary candidates as being “democratically accountable”.
It followed criticism from Euan Blockley, who had expected to top one of the UKIP regional lists for Holyrood in May.
Mr Blockley has alleged that the process was “stitched up” by the party leadership to favour their friends.
He told BBC Scotland that he has left the party as a result.
At 18 years old, Mr Blockley would have been one of the youngest candidates standing in the election.
He said: “I’ve ripped up my party’s membership card. The party has ‘stitched up’ the party lists – and it goes all the way to David Coburn – the NEC etc – giving list places to their cronies.
“It was meant to be a democratic process, when the lists would be chosen by the party members – that’s what we were promised.”
Although he believes he would have been placed second on a regional list, Mr Blockley said he was horrified by the way UKIP in Scotland carried out the process.
He added: “It’s a country club – all the placements are being handed out to friends – at the expense of good candidates.”
UKIP has insisted the selection of candidates was carried out properly.
Scottish leader David Coburn said: “The final pool of candidates and their position on any list is agreed by a ballot of the party’s National Executive Committee.
“The NEC is elected by the party membership and is therefore democratically accountable to the party membership.”
Ukip Presses The Self Destruct Button Over BreXit Greeds & Splits exposed by the ambition for designation in the gift of The Electoral Commision!
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Ukip group deputy leader on Essex County Council quits party after getting ‘squeezed’ between rival EU campaigns
Andy Erskine has quit as a Ukip councillor after being caught between the bickering Vote Leave and Leave EU/Grassroots Out campaigns.
2 hrs ago / James Dwan, Chief Reporter / @JamesDwan
A HARWICH town councillor and deputy leader of the UKIP group at County Hall has quit the Eurosceptic party following rows between rival campaigns to leave the EU.
Andy Erskine, of Gordon Road, Dovercourt, said he had been caught between the bickering Vote Leave and Leave EU/Grassroots Out campaigns.
He has now decided to quit UKIP altogether and will sit as an independent at Harwich Town Council, where he represents the West Central ward, and will join the non-aligned independent group at Essex County Council, where he represents Tendring Rural East.
The Leave EU campaign, launched by wealthy UKIP backer Arron Banks, is the preferred choice of Ukip leader Nigel Farage, but Clacton MP Douglas Carswell is supporting the cross-party Vote Leave campaign.
“The main reason I’m leaving is because the official UKIP line is to follow the Grassroots Out campaign,” said Mr Erskine.
“I follow Douglas and have done for some time, at least 12 years, and he supports the Vote Leave campaign.
“It is really causing so many issues between council members at district level and further up – and I’m getting squeezed.
“I can’t be seen to take sides, but as an independent I will be supporting both until the moment one of the other is chosen to be the official ‘out’ campaign’.
“The problem has been that I can’t be seen to be on one side or the other without causing friction or getting grief from Tendring UKIP members.”
Nigel Le Gresley, leader of UKIP at Essex County Council, said he was sorry to lose Mr Erskine from the group.
He added: “Andy has been a superb member of both Ukip and the group, and he has added very much to the body of work we have been doing to get a referendum and put the message out that our community is so much better out of the EU.”
Ukip, Nigel Farage & Power Struggles WILL LOSE The Referendum For BreXit – Just as the 1975 Referendum was lost by the British peoples’ best interests due to a lack of coherent plan, FUD, the lies of the EU & Government & squabbling!
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Hi,
Ukip are squabbling like ferrets in a sack – just for a change!
This time it is a power struggle where Nigel Farage would seem willing to do absolutely anything to get his hands on the cash available if ‘Grassroots-Out’ aka ‘Leave-EU’ can get the designation in the EU Referendum.
Susanne Evans together with a few cronies, just doesn’t seem to believe Nigel Farage can be trusted and have joined his opposition contesting for designation and the pot of gold.
All this greed, self importance, show boating and squabbling is clearly at the cost of these United Kingdoms and the best interests of Britain and our peoples – in fact EUrope at large and global peace, as it stands this is just a repeat of the 1975 Referendum – almost as if these squabbling ferretts are using the book on the 1975 Referendum as an instruction manual!
All the same mistakes are being made that lost Britain the Referendum in 1975 with most of the same lies and desperate claims designed to spread FUD that won the day for the EU in 1975 – Read the book for yourself it is available in electronic version free CLICK HERE
Suzanne Evans’ application in the High Court to have her suspension from UKIP lifted has failed. She’ll have to pay £5,000 costs. Patrick O’Flynn has started a petition to get her reinstated. Read all the gory details of the court case only on Guido here…
UPDATE: Suzanne speaks:
“I am stunned and distressed by this latest turn of events. I will look to take up whatever right of appeal is open to me. I remain determined to keep my personal focus on working to the full extent of my ability to help secure a ‘Leave’ vote in the EU Referendum on 23rd June, and contribute to electoral successes for UKIP on 5th May.”
UPDATE II: UKIP hit back:
“A disciplinary panel constituted by the UKIP National Executive Committee today (23 March 2016) heard a complaint against Suzanne Evans that she had publicly criticised a fellow candidate in breach of the party rules and in terms which contravene the Party Constitution. The panel resolved to suspend her membership of the party for six months. The decision may be subject to appeal. Ms Evans sought an injunction in the High Court today to prevent the hearing, but this was unsuccessful. As a consequence of this, she will not now be nominated as a UKIP candidate in the London Assembly elections to be held on May 5th.”
Guido understands there a plans afoot in UKIP to suspend Suzanne Evans from the party. The party scheduled a disciplinary meeting this morning to discuss whether to take action against Evans over a series of claims involving alleged breaches of party rules. Court documents show that Evans is filing an application to the High Court at midday today to attempt to postpone any disciplinary action until after the GLA nominations are closed on March 31. In the explosive court documents, Suzanne writes that Nigel Farage is trying to force her out:
Evans makes a series of allegations against Arron Banks and Farage’s former aide Raheem Kassam:
She concludes:
The most explosive developments in the UKIP civil war yet…
UPDATE: UKIP confirm Suzanne Evans has been suspended for six months.
Farage’s revenge on Vote Leave-backing Suzanne Evans continues – last week hesacked her as deputy chair, today he’s sacked her as welfare spokesman. Last night Nigel told a Ladbrokes panel that Douglas Carswell is “irrelevant“, the second time in a week he has slagged off his only MP. How about focusing on the real enemy?
UPDATE: Suzanne tells Guido:
“I must be the most purged woman in British Politics! You have to laugh it’s so ridiculous.”
UPDATE II: Peter Reeve, UKIP’s local government spokesman and also a Vote Leave supporter, has also been sacked by Farage. He’s been replaced by porn scandal David Sprason, who signed up UKIP councillors to Grassroots Out.
Suzanne Evans is no longer UKIP’s deputy chairman. Farage says in a statement:
“I have made some changes to our structure today. Both of our Deputy Chairs are candidates in the upcoming elections and this will limit any role they can play in the national referendum campaign. So I thank Suzanne Evans and Neil Hamilton for their time as Deputy Chairs and announce they will be replaced by Diane James and William Dartmouth.”
Expect to hear from those involved that this is nothing to do with UKIP’s internal politics. Though allies of Farage say this is a putsch against Suzanne, long seen as a threat by the leader’s camp and a supporter of Vote Leave, not Nigel’s preferred Grassroots Out…
UPDATE: A Breitbartstory written by Farage’s former aide Raheem Kassam reveals the thinking at Grassroots Out – stripping Evans of the deputy chair role hurts Vote Leave’s bid for the designation:
“Ms. Evans no longer holding a position with the party is also problematic for the ‘Vote Leave’ campaign who have been trumpeting her support as their UKIP “cross party” backing. Now they are limited to one Member of Parliament, one Member of the European Parliament, and one member of the National Executive Committee.”
UPDATE II: Evans speaks:
“I’m naturally disappointed. I felt I was doing a good job and helping to broaden the party’s appeal both in relation to the EU referendum and the upcoming electoral challenges of May 5th and beyond.
I’d like to say a huge ‘thank you’ for all the many messages of support I’ve had from UKIP members already today, but I certainly have no intention of being drawn into any disharmony. I of course accept that it is entirely within any party leader’s authority to choose and to change their own top team.”
“I have thrown my hat into the ring to apply to be UKIP candidate for Mayor of London and or an London assembly member. Let’s be realistic, I don’t think London is going to have a UKIP mayor any time soon. But I think it’s time for London to have a different view, a different approach. I think there are a growing amount of people in London who want to see things from a UKIP perspective.”
Also in the running for the UKIP nomination is Culture spokesman Peter Whittle, asrevealed by Guido last week.
Guido also hears that Richard Hendron, organiser of UKIP’s Gay Pride contingent, is also throwing his hat into the ring. Suzanne says she reckons she is Nige’s candidate…Suzanne Evans tells Iain Dale:
“There has been no purge,” sacked Suzanne Evans told Victoria Derbyshire this morning, insisting it is “a coincidence” that she, Patrick O’Flynn and Gobby have all since lost their jobs. Apparently we shouldn’t believe the “hostile media agenda” and “the […]
More from the seedier side of Ukip: Lisa Duffy, Ukip’s Farage String Puller & How Peter Reeve Got His Job Back
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THE UKIP STRING-PULLER – THE MYSTERIOUS LISA DUFFY
.. and how Peter Reeve got his job back
One of the downsides of being quite ‘high profile’ in the fight against Ukip is that we get targeted by Ukip and their allies, constantly. But one of the benefits is that we seem to be becoming the go-to people for when Ukip folks want to air their dirty linen in a rather public manner.
Because of the Byzantine-like manner in which Ukip is run (cliques, favourites, cronies, jobs for acolytes, etc) there is constant strife and confusion within the Party. People’s job titles do not reflect their roles or duties. Juniors and Assistants seem sometimes to have more authority than their bosses. EU-paid staffers do British Political work, while UK staffers / volunteers help in Europe. It’s a confusing mess.
And when individuals are selected for senior positions simply because they are the most subservient to Nigel, regardless of any skills or experience, this generates huge resentment among those who actually do their jobs very well but hold occasionally different policy ideas to Farage.
Which results in those passed-over staffers aiming to bring those ‘lackeys’ down to earth. By talking to us. We won’t complain about that.
Which brings us to Lisa Duffy and how she used her position to get her boyfriend his job back.
Duffy has long since kept very much under the radar. She’s earned her promotions by her loyalty to Nigel in every way. Her job title is “Party Director”, quite a step-up from working in TK Maxx. No-one apart from Farage has asked for her to be promoted or has been consulted about it.
Yet she is worryingly high-placed so someone so devoid of skills, experience, qualifications, or work ethic. (Her five main qualities were described by a Ukip insider as being ‘incompetence, dishonesty, arrogance, apathy and stupidity.’) As for work ethic, she had a less than 30% attendance record as a Councillor (2014), which is very #Ukip, and we believe this has actually fallen even further recently.
She is simply in place through her devotion to Nigel. And she is loyal.
So loyal, in fact, that she’ll not tolerate any dissent, even when justified. Thus she was instrumental in the removal of David Abbott, Martin Haslam and Eric Edmondfrom the Party – decent men who wanted UKIP to be open and democratic, who wanted Ukip to deal with internal corruption.
Her current role is organising election campaigning. Well, we all know how successful that’s been. At the General Election on 2015, Ukip’s expectation of ’40 seats’ (she suggested ‘between 10 and 15 MPs’) was reduced to the actuality of, er, 1.
And since then in local elections and by-election, Ukip’s vote share has more than halved.
Clearly she’s doing as good a job as she did when she lead Young Independence, the Ukip Youth Wing, from 2008 onwards. During that time the YI stagnated until she was removed – to be promoted.
Reeve has many roles (and many sources of income, of course) – County Councillor in Cambridgeshire, District Councillor in Huntingdonshire, Town Councillor in Ramsey; lots of opportunities for expenses, there.
Add to that his roles as Deputy Chairman of the Local Government Association and UKIP Local Government spokesman, and his work as assistant to a Ukip MEP, he’s a busy person, you’d think. But not really, as his contemporaries on each Council, and within Ukip, are of the opinion that he does’nt do any of his six jobs very well.
But when he was demoted from his role as UKIP Local Government spokesman,Duffy was said to be livid. And on March 9th he was mysteriously, without comment, quietly, reinstated.
We can give you the reason: We are reliably informed that Duffy complained to Farage on March 11th, who then instructed the Ukip NEC to reinstate him immediately. Such is her reward for her loyalty and merciless crushing of dissent.
As an aside, we’ve mentioned before the illegality of Ukip UK personnel being paid from EFDD funds for Political activities solely in the United Kingdom. Reeve and Duffy are both paid from EU funds yet their work is 100% in the UK.
Reeve and Duffy, once described as the Ukip ‘Power Couple’.
We think this state of affairs won’t last long; both Duffy and Reeve have made too many enemies, and simply been too greedy, for their own good. Only the influence of Farage keeps them in place, and his grip over the Ukip NEC appears to be a little less than it was. As their internal rivals grow, their time is limited.
As for Duffy’s long-held nickname – ‘Scruffy Duffy‘ – we cannot comment. It appears to be a reference to her lower-than-usual standard of personal hygiene. As one Ukip source commented;
Duffy and Reeve also want to keep their borderline-illegal but very lucrative activities in the family, but both seem to have lost any grip on reality by now: Duffy has stated that she wants her daughter, Jazmine, to be Ukip Party leader one day.
Well, in Ukip, anything is possible.
Especially if you bow low enough to the right man.
Nigel Farage’s Ukip Cult, Leave EU, Vote Leave & Grassroots Out Are Polls Apart & beyond the cranno rectally retentive bubble in which he functions the world at large appreciate Nigel Farage can not win but can loose this Referendum for Britain
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Posted by:
Greg Lance – Watkins
Greg_L-W
eMail: Greg_L-W@BTconnect.com
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Hi,
Ukip’s Suzanne Evans: ‘It’s Best Not To Mention Nigel Farage’ During Anti-EU Campaigning
Oft-sacked Ukipper Suzanne Evans today praised a book which claims “it’s best not to mention” Nigel Farage when out campaigning to leave the European Union.
Ms Evans told a fringe event at the party’s Spring conference in Llandudno, North Wales, that the Ukip leader was as mistrusted over the EU issue as former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Referencing a book called “How Not To Talk About Europe” produced by think-tank British Future, the former party Deputy Chairman – who was sacked from the role earlier this week – stressed she was merely sharing “fact-based research” with those present.
Ms Evans offered to send audience members an electronic copy of the book, as well as selling copies at the event organised by Vote Leave – a rival group to the Farage-backed Grassroots Out organisation.
Both are vying for designation as the official Leave group ahead of the June 23 EU referendum.
Sitting on a platform with Ukip’s sole MP Douglas Carswell, she said: “[The book’s] poll found that the two least trusted voices on Europe are Tony Blair, which isn’t surprising, and also Nigel Farage.
“You might not like it, and I don’t like it either, but that is what the book says. They suggest you don’t put Ukip branding on campaign materials.”
Ms Evans added: “They say really even if you love Nigel Farage and you love Ukip, it’s best not mention it unless somebody else mentions it instead.”
Ms Evans went on to quote conclusions from the book which suggested campaigning solely on immigration in the EU referendum would not deliver victory for the Leave side.
The prominence that the issue of immigration should have in the Leave campaign is one of the main differences between Vote Leave – backed by Mr Carswell and Ms Evans – and Grassroots Out – supported by Mr Farage.
Ms Evans said there was a “purple ceiling” of around 15 to 20 per cent of the public who could be convinced to leave the EU purely over immigration concerns.
She said: “Outside of our particular bubble, what are the arguments that sway people? These are the people that we need to get hold of, it’s no good just preaching to the converted, how do we get on board those people who are yet to be convinced?
She added: “This book suggests that those people who are concerned about immigration have already mind their mind up, they are going to vote to leave.”
Ms Evans also cited claims in the book that the presence of the Ukip logo on campaign tools could turn people off from the Eurosceptic cause.
She said: “Ukip campaigners were handing out these bags as it was a great idea, but even people that wanted to leave the EU wouldn’t take the bags as they had Ukip on it.
“Now you might think that’s daft, but would you take a bag that had a Tory logo on it?”
Ms Evans was anointed by Mr Farage to succeed him as Ukip leader when he stood down following his failure to win a seat at last year’s General Election.
However, Mr Farage withdrew his resignation three days later, before Ms Evans could be officially installed as his successor.
She was subsequently stripped of her policy development role, and overlooked as Ukip’s candidate for Mayor of London ahead of the election in May.
Revisiting Neil Hamilton’s Clear Unsuitability For any Office & Nigel Farage’s self serving and insecure Duplicity!
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Hi,
after 20 years watching and paying attention to Ukip and having written something well over 3,000 blogs bringing people the facts and the truth, about Ukip behind the scenes, sometimes it is just too tedious to pull together yet another article about such a predictable bunch of self serving scoundrels and ne’r do wells as they squabble like ferretts in a sack.
We noted that Susanne Evans was unceremoniously dumped as deputy leader, it would seem this time that although it was undemocratic it did have two gains for Nigel Farage rather than his normal single fear of his ego being damaged by someone competent enough to challenge him!
This time it seems she was also dumped as it would reduce the possible claim that Vote Leave had cross party support – so now all Farage has to do is manage to find a way for one of his cronies to stab Douglas Carswell in the back and Farage would seem to think it will improve the chances of his two pronged efforts with Leave.EU and ‘Grassroots Out’ will have a better chance of getting theri hands on the Government money for the Referendum!
Meanwhile it would seem his efforts to unseat Neil Hamilton are proving something of a failure – I cautioned against Ukip having anything to do with the oleagenous and duplicitous self serving Hamilton’s before Farage brought him on board.
There is nothing new I can be bothered to write about the sordid publicity seeking pair so I shall cheat and use an article from elsewhere, to reitterate the many points I have flagged up in the past:
UKIP’s Welsh Meltdown
While much of the party’s energy is focused on the upcoming referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU, Nigel “Thirsty” Farage and his fellow saloon bar propper-uppers at UKIP also have local Government elections to fight, and the latter includes elections to the Welsh Assembly Government. Here, the Kippers face controversy over one potential candidate, former Tory MP Mostyn Neil Hamilton.
Hamilton claims to be “a proud Welshman”, and he did indeed grow up in the area around Carmarthen, before taking his first degree at Aberystwyth. But his Parliamentary career was as MP for Tatton, the constituency centred on the Cheshire town of Knutsford. He and wife Christine lived for many years at Nether Alderley, also in Cheshire, before moving to Wiltshire. His recent connection to Wales is therefore tenuous.
So the appearance of an anonymous leaflet passing severely adverse comment on Hamilton should not surprise anyone. Nor should any reference to his downfall at the 1997 General Election at the hands of independent candidate Martin Bell, in the wake of Hamilton’s collapsed libel action against theGuardian, over the claim of former Harrods boss Mohamed “you can call me Al” Fayed that Hamilton took “cash for questions”.
No-one should be surprised if UKIP members in Wales are reminded of the Guardian’s main headline the day after Hamilton’s legal capitulation: “A liar and a cheat”. Nor would it be any surprise to see his failed libel action against Fayed revisited, with the late George Carman QC describing Hamilton as “On the make, and on the take”. The cash for those questions was, according to Fayed, paid in used notes and in brown envelopes.
Hamilton has told of “This libellous leaflet recycled a Guardian newspaper cutting from 1996, falsely claiming I took large sums of money as an MP to ask parliamentary questions … The Inland Revenue dismissed these allegations as lies after their top forensic accountants (the Special Compliance Office) completed an exhaustive two-year investigation of all Christine’s and my financial affairs during ten tax years, 1987-97”.
But then, if money was paid in used notes and in brown envelopes, there would be nothing for the tax authorities to find. Indeed, Gordon Downey’s inquiry into the “cash for questions” affair found that the evidence Hamilton took cash from Fayed for asking questions “compelling”. One should also note that the Guardian article published after Hamilton’s libel action collapsed is still available online – and unaltered.
Neil Hamilton also misled Michael Heseltine over payments from lobbyist Ian Greer. He lobbied for the US tobacco industry. He joined the cause of the Apartheid régime in South Africa. He routinely failed to register payments and hospitality, including stays at the Hôtel Ritz in Paris. He stood accused of taking a £10,000 payment from Mobil Oil to table an amendment to the 1989 Finance Bill, while a member of a Commons select committee.
Neil Hamilton can protest all he likes at the actions of those in UKIP who are unhappy about his potential candidacy. But his record and reputation is there for all to see, as is his over-zealous recourse to libel actions, which left him with a £3 million bill and facing bankruptcy. He is a thoroughly unsavoury character and anyone in UKIP who seeks to bring this to a wider audience is to be commended.
He also had to drop out of the running for prospective candidate for the South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency in December 2014 according to The Guardian due to a letter from the party’s finance and resources committee challenging some of his expenses claims.
From the same article “Senior figures in Ukip had previously worked hard to successfully prevent the former Conservative MP becoming a candidate in Boston and Skegness, and managed to prevent him from becoming an MEP.”
Have ambition to become MP will travel anywhere in the UK?
One wonders who is driving force here, NH or his wife Christine?
Three short sentences in the Guardian article sum up the arrogance and hubris of Mostyn Neil Hamilton perfectly:
“Another MP, Tim Smith, resigned his post as a Northern Ireland minister after he was accused in the same article of taking undeclared cash. He immediately admitted the Guardian story was true. Mr Hamilton, MP for Tatton, had instead tried to tough it out before resigning under pressure from Mr Major.”
To view the original of this article and the comments CLICK HERE
Here is the full front page Guardian article from 01-Oct-1996
A liar and a cheat
David Hencke, David Leigh and David Pallister
Tuesday 1 October 1996 11.43 BST Last modified on Tuesday 5 January 2016 23.08 GMT
Neil Hamilton, the disgraced former minister, yesterday walked away in humiliation from a £10 million libel suit against the Guardian over the “cash for questions” scandal hours before the case was due to start today.
The former trade minister abandoned the case and agreed to pay some of the Guardian’s costs after a bitter two-year battle. He had recruited 421 Conservative MPs and peers, including Lady Thatcher, Lord Archer and cabinet members to change a 300-year-old law, which had prevented him, as an MP, bringing his action.
Ian Greer, the parliamentary lobbyist, also dropped his claim, part of the same libel suit, just minutes before a legal deadline to do so. He, too, agreed to pay some of the paper’s costs.
The Guardian stated on October 20, 1994, that Mr Hamilton had received thousands of pounds for asking parliamentary questions for Mohamed Al Fayed’s Harrods group. Mr Greer, who had been retained by Mr Al Fayed, was identified as the middleman.
Another MP, Tim Smith, resigned his post as a Northern Ireland minister after he was accused in the same article of taking undeclared cash. He immediately admitted the Guardian story was true. Mr Hamilton, MP for Tatton, had instead tried to tough it out before resigning under pressure from Mr Major.
The settlement, on the eve of what was labelled the libel trial of the century, came after a dramatic weekend of legal developments. Those began when the government disclosed crucial documents to the Guardian. The papers led to Mr Greer and Mr Hamilton falling out, and a conflict of interest developing. Mr Greer’s accounts were also in the newspaper’s possession. The stories you need to read, in one handy email Read more
The Guardian also served on the men’s lawyers three statements from employees of Mr Al Fayed. They said Mr Hamilton and Mr Greer regularly called for envelopes stuffed with £50 notes in return for parliamentary lobbying.
Alan Rusbridger, editor of the Guardian, said: “The decision by Neil Hamilton and Ian Greer must be one of the most astonishing legal cave-ins in the history of the law of libel.”
He called for the trial papers to be examined by John Major, Sir Gordon Downey, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, and the Inland Revenue.
Although hampered by the law on what evidence it can publish, the Guardian today reveals the extent of Mr Hamilton’s covert links with Mr Greer. It also details the network of MPs linked to Mr Greer, including Mr Smith, Sir Michael Grylls, chairman of the backbench trade and industry committee, Sir Peter Hordern, MP for Horsham, and Sir Andrew Bowden, MP for Brighton Kemptown. Advertisement
It was because the Guardian had subpoenaed Mr Major and Michael Heseltine to give evidence in the case that the government handed over key documents to the newspaper’s lawyers, Geoffrey Robertson, QC, and Geraldine Proudler. It would have been the first time this century a serving prime minister had appeared in the libel courts.
The trial would have re-opened the vexed question of parliamentary sleaze during the Tory party conference, and only a year after the government had made strenuous efforts to bury the issue. It implemented the Nolan Committee report and appointed a new Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards to handle complaints about MPs.
Of the embarrassing climb-down by both men, Mr Rusbridger said: “Both Hamilton and Greer knew that the evidence the Guardian had obtained would have blown their action out of the water and revealed a pattern of parliamentary sleaze more far reaching than anyone had ever imagined.
“The Guardian has never doubted the truth of its original story. We would have produced damning evidence of Mr Hamilton and Mr Greer’s lack of integrity if the case had proceeded. No doubt that is why they dropped the action.
“The Greer accounts and the government documents tell an outrageous story of corruption which the public should know but which we are prevented, for legal reasons, from publishing.”
Mr Hamilton said he was ‘devastated’ at having to withdraw. He claimed he was innocent, but because of the conflict of interest with Mr Greer, each had to instruct new solicitors and counsel. Advertisement
“The consequence of this is that the trial would have had to have been postponed to enable new sets of lawyers to go through the huge volume of papers and prepare the case afresh at enormously increased cost.”
His costs were already £150,000, and he did not have the cash to continue.
Mr Greer said: “I would want to continue on a matter of principle, but I have had to take a sensible commercial decision and I am happy a compromise has been reached.”
A spokesman for Mr Al Fayed said: “He was looking forward to telling the court of his experience of dealing with a number of Conservative MPs who describe themselves as “honourable members”. He will be sending his papers on the matter to Sir Gordon Downey.”
Downing Street last night insisted that the end of the libel action was purely a “matter between Mr Hamilton and the Guardian”.
Damning evidence
Sometimes he (Mr Greer) would ask me bluntly whether Mr Al Fayed had his money ready. Mr Hamilton was as persistent as Mr Greer, if not more so, in asking for his envelope.
Mohamed Al Fayed’s ex-personal assistant
I remember on several occasions that prior to a meeting with Mr Hamilton, Mr Al Fayed would make a remark… that he was coming to collect his money and would prepare an envelope for him with a bundle of £2,500 (in) notes in my presence.
Mr Al Fayed’s secretary
On at least two occasions when I was sitting at the front desk, an envelope was brought down to me from Mr Al Fayed’s office and I was informed that Mr Hamilton would be stopping by to collect the envelope.
Mr Al Fayed’s security man
Also there is the Guardian article of 22-Dec-1999:
A greedy, corrupt liar
Hamilton faces ruin after jury unanimously finds he took cash for questions
Hamilton, Al Fayed libel trial
Matt Wells, Jamie Wilson and David Pallister
Wednesday 22 December 1999 12.07 GMT Last modified on Monday 18 January 2016 14.27 GMT
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Shares 13 Save for later Neil Hamilton’s five-year fight to clear his name ended in ignominious defeat and financial ruin last night when a high court jury unanimously declared the former Conservative MP corrupt.
The result ended any hopes he may have harboured of resuming his political career, condemning him as a greedy man who had been “on the make and on the take” during his time in parliament.
The verdict, delivered in the highly-charged atmosphere of a crowded court 13 at the high court in London, was a dramatic finale to the bruising five-week libel trial brought by the former minister against the owner of Harrods, Mohamed Al Fayed. It brought to an end his protracted battle to clear his name of the cash-for-questions controversy first reported by the Guardian in 1994.
After almost nine hours of deliberation, the jury returned to court yesterday to deliver its verdict. Asked whether members had found “on the balance of probabilities” that Mr Fayed had established corruption by Mr Hamilton “on highly convincing evidence”, their forewoman replied: “Yes.”
Sitting in the front of the court, Mr Hamilton and his distraught wife, Christine, looked on with disbelief. She held her face in her hands and he repeatedly shook his head. As the jury filed out, the couple stared intensely at them and then retreated through the corridors of the court to consult with their lawyers.
As the Hamiltons continued to protest their innocence of corruption, outside the court Mr Fayed – who had been accused of being “the biggest crook in town” and a Jekyll and Hyde character – arrived jubilant. Bowing on the steps of the court, he wished everyone a merry Christmas. Of Mr Hamilton, he said: “He knows he is corrupt. People like that should never be in power.” The stories you need to read, in one handy email Read more
Mr Hamilton sued Mr Fayed over claims he made in a Dispatches documentary broadcast on Channel 4 in 1997 that the former MP had demanded and received thousands of pounds in cash, Harrods gift vouchers and hospitality at the Ritz hotel in Paris, in return for parliamentary services. Mr Fayed pleaded justification – that the allegations were true.
The clinching piece of evidence in the case – introduced on subpoena only days before the trial began – concerned Mr Hamilton’s claim that he had a legitimate consultancy with Mobil Oil in 1989.
It later emerged that he had done little more for the company than to table an amendment to that year’s finance bill, for which he later demanded payment. Under ancient parliamentary rules taking cash solely for parliamentary action is corrupt. Advertisement
Minutes before the jury said it was ready to deliver the verdict, its members were still divided: in a note to the judge, they asked whether they could disregard the adjective “highly” in the question put to them about convincing evidence. The judge refused their request.
Emerging from the court Mr Hamilton faced journalists with a grim smile.
With his wife beside him, he said: “I would never have embarked on this action had I been guilty of the charges against me. I do not regret bringing the case, of course, because I could not have gone through life without straining every sinew to do everything that was possible to bring the truth out. Sadly the jury were not convinced,” he said.
“The waters were muddied at the very beginning of the trial when, onto Mr Fayed’s allegations were clamped entirely unrelated ones connected to a consultancy I had with Mobil Oil. It may well be from the questions the jury asked the judge during the trial, that that is what has secured this verdict.”
Asked about the future, he simply said: “It is the beginning of a new road, I’m not sure where it leads but I will find out.”
For the first time his formidable wife, who has fiercely protected him since the allegations first broke, had no ready riposte. Asked how she had felt throughout the epic trial, she said: “I can’t tell you that now, but I will.”
Any hopes that Mr Hamilton may have harboured about a return to the political scene have now been utterly dashed. Conservative party chairman Michael Ancram was among the first to comment. “I have noted the verdict of the jury and I hope that this is the end of a sad and unpleasant episode which has been damaging to our party,” he said. Advertisement
“I trust that the personalities involved will now retire from the scene. They certainly can expect little understanding from this party if they do not.”
Alan Rusbridger, the editor of the Guardian, called for Mr Hamilton to make an apology to the newspaper over accusations he made against Guardian journalists.
“Neil Hamilton has now been found guilty by both Parliament and the courts,” he said. “Today’s verdict vindicates the Guardian’s reporting of this case. The jury has found that Neil Hamilton is corrupt.
“The Guardian’s reporting exposed the mire of MPs on the take in the mid to late eighties and led to the setting up of the Nolan Commission into standards in public life. Our original reporting has never been shaken despite the slurs of Mr Hamilton, his friends and his legal team. The Guardian never doubted the integrity of its journalists, who deserve an apology from Neil Hamilton.”
You will also note the degree of indebtedness of the Hamiltons who went spectacularly bankrupt dishonouring their debts to many to the tune of over £3M. CLICK HERE
Yet little or nothing is said of this despite the fact that a full on assault was made on Nikki Sinclaire over her discharged bankruptcy amounting to a few £1,000s over a propertyy deal which was eventually resolved and with the full knowledge of the party at the time!
I guess it all depend if Nigel Farage sees you as a threat to his snout in the troughs on the EU gravy train! Most clearly he saw Nikki Sinclaire as a threat as she clamoured for Ukip transparency and published her detailed accounts as an MEP whilst actively persuing efforts to expose EU corruption and obtain the signatures for her petition that eventually forced David Cameron to hold a debate in Parliament and then grant the promise of an IN OUT EU promise – activities Ukip has consistently failed to do in 23 years!
Desperate efforts and apparent conspiracies seem to have taken place to set up and damage Nikki Sinclaire and her anti EU activities, yet Nigel Farage welcomed Neil Hamilton with open arms – I guess the affinity may have something to do with ‘Birds of a feather …..’ whilst the attacks on Sinclaire may well be based on a genuine fear of exposure and the truth!
.
Regards,
Greg_L-W.
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Posted by: Greg Lance-Watkins
tel: 44 (0)1594 – 528 337
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Leave your name & a UK land line number & I will return your call.
We’ve stated many times that even when presented with concrete evidence, UKIP fail to deal with racism and discrimination when it is unmasked within their membership.
The facts in the following case are indisputable, as UKIP officials are caught on record engaging in a ‘cover-up’ when presented with not only Anti-Semitic and Racist Social Media postings, but also a Branch Chairman’s attempts to ‘whitewash’ the entire affair and have OFFICIAL PARTY RECORDS of meetings amended to remove all reference of it ever taking place.
If this wasn’t bad enough; UKIP have officially told the whistle-blowers they are BANNED from discussing these events and threatened them with internal party disciplinary procedure and EXPULSION from UKIP, should they dare to do so.
SLATUKIP has exclusively interviewed several of the UKIP whistleblowers and patrons, they believe that after months of inaction from the party, they have no option; this information must come to light in the public interest.
We can also reveal that significant UKIP donors in the South West Region have also been shown this information, and as a result of the party’s failure to address their legitimate concerns and cover up, they have withdrawn close to £100,000 per year worth of financial and material support from the party. Money that Ukip right now can ill afford to lose.
The following account has been collated from those sources, including the donors and patrons, who wish to remain anonymous. Only a portion of the evidence has been posted due to the size of the feature.
Interestingly, timing wise, Nigel Farage, who is personally aware of this situation, is due to speak at an “EFDD” meeting on Monday night.
… In Cornwall.
During the General Election UKIP Cornwall’s Press and Communications Manager found tweets from a Twitter account called “@UKIPST”, purporting to be the official representative of St Ives UKIP. The account was publishing some content that was clearly of an Anti-Semitic and Racist nature.
Collation of “@UKIPST” tweets. The page identifies itself as an OFFICIAL UKIP account and starts to tweet about “supposed” Nazi war crimes and Jews having “medical deficiencies”.
Following proper internal party procedure, St Ives Branch Chairman, Stuart Guppy, was notified and told the account had to be taken offline. He said UKIP St Ives “didn’t run social media” (despite his candidate running a Facebook account) and claimed it was being “published by an ex-member“. Mr Guppy sent emails reporting to show he and the ex-member corresponding, agreeing to shut it down. After the election UKIP Cornwall held a ‘wash-up’ meeting.
The Press & Communications Manager brought up the issue with the social media and as advice cautioned that: “We don’t want another situation where social media is outside of branch control like St Ives.” The Branch Chairman of St Ives, Stuart Guppy, was present and didn’t respond.
After the minutes of the meeting went out to members, Guppy sent out a vitriolic email from his official UKIP email account, accusing several members of making false claims against his branch and demanding the references to it be stuck out of the official records of the meeting. He also made strong demands that Press & Communications Manager either show evidence of the tweets, or withdraw the remarks.
Email 1
St Ives Chairman, Stuart Guppy, attempts to have the minutes of an officially recorded UKIP meeting altered to cover up his branch social media accounts indiscretions.
Evidence was presented and Guppy was told to apologise; he refused. The County Committee, against the wishes of the Chairman, but supported by UKIP’s Cornwall Council group leader, Stephanie McWilliams, had “all reference to these events struck from the county minutes” of the prior meeting and aggressively told members that “the matter was closed and not to discuss it again“.
Email 2
It later transpired that Mr Guppy, who was awarded a Gold medal for 20 years party service, had previous form – having been investigated by the party over ten years ago and censured by UKIP South West for doctoring official party minutes and documentation. At this time, Guppy, a retired Metropolitan Police desk clerk, was St Ives Branch Secretary under then Chairman, the late Tess Nash.
Emails were exchanged between members, and in August 2015 the County Chairman and others received abusive emails from Guppy’s Branch Secretary, Nina Payne, which led to the finding of an email from November 2014 where she said Guppy had asked her to set up a twitter account for the branch, in turn it transpired that “@UKIPST” was in fact, still active
Despite repeated denials, it transpired that the St Ives Membership Secretary previously acknowledged that Guppy did in fact ask her to set up ‘@UKIPST’.
Shortly after Guppy was informed, Payne quickly changed the screen-name and the account picture, members however managed to get some screenshots of the tweets (documented above) including some which contain extreme anti-semitism. Later, investigators were sent screenshots with the tweets as published in the UKIP branding from within the St Ives branch, by concerned members who told us their concerns had been “fobbed off” by Guppy and the other branch officers.
We are told that Steve Crowther seemed very displeased to be asked to deal with it, at one point complaining that the issue had “disrupted his afternoon out”. He refused to take the concerns seriously and eventually members were forced to contact UKIP staff members in Brussels, who in turn briefed an MEP who then stepped in to get it taken down. St Ives UKIP was challenged with the assertion that in fact, they had all been aware it was their branch secretary and that they had covered it up; they still denied it.
Despite being a UKIP Branch Chairman, Stuart Guppy (2nd from Left) maintains a relationship with Conservative Fisheries Minister and former UKIP candidate, George Eustice MP (3rd from right). Pictured here (strangely) in Tory election literature from the 2015 General Election endorsing Tory efforts to secure Hayle hospital’s future. Also pictured are fellow UKIP members Councillor Harry Blakeley (1st left), and Ray Wyse (3rd from left).
Under the direction of the then Cornwall County Chairman an in-depth investigation into racism in the Cornish branches was undertaken, and on completion, comprehensive findings were presented to the Regional and National Chairman. The whistleblowers claim they were given a “whitewash” in response and were told to not mention it ever again; although Steve Crowther agreed that the views presented were “incompatible” with those of UKIP.
Despite this, a Cornwall County meeting was called in September, where the evidence was going to be put to the St Ives Chairman, Regional Organiser and County Committee so that the issue could be brought to a conclusion.
However, despite refusing to attend, St Ives Chairman Guppy had a change of heart just hours before the meeting, and along one of his branch officers, Sandy Martin, who had been named in the twitter feed by Nina Payne, thus proving she had a vested interest, “disrupted” the meeting with the support of former Cornwall Councillor Harry Blakeley (also named in the investigation).
Did St Ives Branch Officer, Sandy Martin, collude to disrupt an official meeting because she had been aware of the tweets all along?
All three left, along with and Council Group leader, McWilliams, when the venue threatened to call the Police after Ms Martin, who acknowledged she was uninvited, refused to leave after several requests from the management. Thus a final attempt at addressing the situation internally collapsed.
The new Regional Organiser, Guy Parfitt, who also draws a generous salary from EFDD funds thanks to his dual role as South West Regional Constituency Manager, “just sat there and refused to deal with it”, despite the breaches of party rules relating to meeting attendees.
The refusal to back the County Chairman led to several senior members, including the Chairman himself to resign there and then in protest. Shockingly, Guppy later issued a threatening letter on official UKIP headed paper calling for the now ex-Chairman to apologise to him.
Since then any reference to these incidents has been ignored and UKIP won’t discuss it. National Chairman Steve Crowther has visited Cornwall, declining to meet with concerned members and patrons, but happy it seems to appear on stage at an event hosted by Guppy and posed in a press photo with him– thereby endorsing him.
Despite evidence being presented, UKIP National Chairman, Steve Crowther (left) still endorsed Stuart Guppy (centre) by appearing at one of his events. Also pictured are Bob Smith, failed UKIP candidate for Camborne (second from left) and Tory MP for St Ives, Derek Thomas.
Despite evidence being presented, UKIP National Chairman, Steve Crowther (left) still endorsed Stuart Guppy (centre) by appearing at one of his events. Also pictured are Bob Smith, failed UKIP candidate for Camborne (second from left) and Tory MP for St Ives, Derek Thomas.
UKIP have threatened to take action against members, should this story leaks, and claim they have asked their NEC to investigate it. Despite this several South West UKIP patrons feel that this is a matter of public interest and our voters deserve a strong, electable UK Independence Party; rather than the current cronyism and corruption that is ongoing at present.
Despite the overwhelming evidence against him, Mr Guppy has since been promoted by the party to the position of ‘County Vice Chairman’; a motion which was tabled by UKIP’s Cornwall Council Group Leader, Stephanie McWilliams. Nina Payne (Sutherland) has continued her racism and anti-semitic propaganda in a personal capacity but is believed to no longer be involved in the branch.
St Ives Membership Secretary, Nina Payne, continues her crusade against the Jews in a personal capacity.
Significant donors have been made aware of this and, in one case, even after writing to Nigel Farage three times no action has been taken against the toxic elements.
Therefore they have withdrawn much needed financial and practical support worth an estimated £100,000 from the party.
There Goes Another – Just How Many Ukip Councillors Are Left To Quit? I think we will have to give up quoting them as it is hardly ‘news’ so many have quit Ukip!
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Posted by:
Greg Lance – Watkins
Greg_L-W
eMail: Greg_L-W@BTconnect.com
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Hi,
BREAKING NEWS: Felpham’s county councillor resigns from UKIP group
Graham Jones speaking at an election hustings last year
16:47Tuesday 16 February 2016
Felpham’s county councillor has resigned from the UKIP group and become an independent.
Graham Jones, who also finished second behind Bognor Regis and Littlehampton’s Conservative MP Nick Gibb in last May’s general election, was first elected to West Sussex County Council in May 2013 when UKIP swept to become the second largest party behind the Conservatives.
He is the fourth councillor to resign from a major party since the last election, following ex-Tories Jim Rae and Andy Petch, and former Lib Dem David Sheldon. The resignation came to light due to the fact that WSCC has to review the entitlement of political groups to seats on committees in line with the proportionality rules
Greg Lance - Watkins (Greg_L-W)
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Ukip-vs-EUkip 