REVEALED: UKIP could be closer to bankruptcy than previously thought
Rumours are swirling that UKIP may be facing bankruptcy over outstanding legal fees, owing £175,000 in a libel case brought against the party by three Labour MPs.
But Scrapbook can reveal – after having gained access to the party’s credit rating report – that the party may be have even greater trouble settling the bill than previously thought…
UKIP have a credit rating of just 26 out of 100, deeming them ‘high risk’, and entitling them to borrow the princely sum of… £0.
Yes that’s right, UKIP’s finances are deemed so precarious by credit assessors that they can’t borrow a single penny.
And their low credit rating has limited their credit worthiness to zero since August 2016 – previously having a credit limit of over £50,000.
UKIP saw their credit rating slide from an impressive 99/100 in March 2014 to the depths of 4/100 in June last year – and it’s only improved very slightly since then.
What’s is it about the state of UKIP’s finances that gives them such a lousy credit rating?
On the most recent assessment by due diligence website DueDil, the party’s net assets stand at -£174,000; their liabilities outweighing their assets.
The biggest hit to the party’s coffers appears to have come from fighting the 2015 election, which saw UKIP’s net assets slide from over £350,000 to a low of -£540,000.
How UKIP will be able to pay the £175,000 legal bill whilst having negative net assets and without being able to borrow any money is yet to be seen…
UKIP also have a County Court Judgement (CCJ) from January 2017 worth £2,991, which according to the financial records they’ve not paid.
We contacted UKIP about who the creditor was in this CCJ but our call was forwarded to Gawain Towler – UKIP’s former head of press who supposedly quit UKIP in February – who told us:
“I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.”
Although he did say he’d “look into it”.
It’s all hardly a ringing endorsement for a party that uses a pound symbol for their logo…
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UKIP could be wound up as a political party within a fortnight after a judge ordered it to pay a crippling £175,000 bill in legal costs for libelling three Labour MPs.
The pro-Brexit party is now facing bankruptcy in the wake of the ruling by Mr Justice Warby on Monday that it had to pay the bill within two weeks.
UKIP MEP Jane Collins falsely accused Labour’s three Rotherham MPs of covering up the town’s sex abuse scandal before the last election.
Sir Kevin Barron, John Healey and Sarah Champion sued for libel over Collins’ speech to a UKIP conference, which came a month after a report found about 1,400 children in the area had been abused between 1997 and 2013.
Collins has already been ordered to personally pay damages of £54,000 to each of the MPs.
The party is already reeling from a succession of failed leaders since Nigel Farage, saw its vote collapse in the 2017 election and is struggling to attract any donors to keep afloat.
It is currently run by interim leader Gerard Batten after former leader Henry Bolton was ousted by members following his links to a girlfriend who sent racist texts about Prince Harry’s fiancee Meghan Markle.
PA Archive/PA Images UKIP MEP Jane Collins
Although UKIP was not deemed responsible for Collins’ remarks, the High Court ruled last month that the party taken an “deliberate” decision not to settle the case before the 2017 general election.
And on Monday, Mr Justice Warby awarded costs – separately from the damages bill – of £175,000 to the three Labour MPs.
At an event in the party’s former heartland of Essex on Monday, current interim leader Batten conceded that UKIP may be “finished” unless it can find the cash.
“If we cannot raise it then the future of the party itself is in question,” he said.
Mary Newton, chairman of the Clacton branch of the party, told her local paper: “Mr Batten said we need to raise £100,000 in two weeks or that could be it. Mr Batten was just being honest and open with us about the situation.”
In a joint statement, Barron, Healey and Champion said: “UKIP’s actions behind the scenes forced the costs of this case to soar and compounded the damage from Jane Collins’ unfounded and hurtful allegations.
“This deliberate strategy hugely increased the legal costs and it is right that UKIP are today held liable for a large share of these costs.
“UKIP used the unfounded allegations by Jane Collins for political advantage.
“At the highest level UKIP knew Jane Collins’ case was ‘hopeless’ but blocked any settlement in our favour before the 2015 General Election because they believed it would win them votes.”
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Following his appointment to acting leadership of the motley convocation of saloon bar propper-uppers at UKIP, new Oberscheissenführer Adolf von Batten has inspected the party’s coffers, and found that, after all the Dark Money and diverted EU expenses had been cut off, the cupboard was bare. And with a six-figure legal bill following the involvement in MEP Jane Collins’ libel loss, desperate measures were in order.
I em not a racialist but, und zis is a big but …
So von Batten, an unrepentant Islamophobe who regards Islam as a “death cult” – a remark that got him suspended from Twitter – has decided to reach out to like minded people and effectively turn the Kippers into a sort of BNP Mark 2.
We can figure that out from Kipper Central’s announcement: “Thousands of veterans are set to join the tide of those who have already signed up to the party under Gerard Batten’s leadership following a unanimous vote at Monday’s meeting to officially support the Veterans Against Terrorism Group … The motion, which was proposed by Gerard Batten at a UKIP NEC meeting where the Veterans Against Terrorism leaders were present was passed unanimously”. Veterans Against Terrorism is another far-right group.
That was clear from the accompanying photo which shows the logo of the Football Lads’ Alliance, “lads” being code for current and former hooligans. That the FLA was also on board was let slip by a VAT spokesman telling “Brexit is being betrayed, UKIP must once again rise to the challenge and fight for the real people, the forgotten people of this great nation. We the working class people, veterans, football lads and all other patriots must mobilize en mass and join UKIP, together we are stronger!” Tomorrow belongs to them.
Arron Banks’ propaganda site Westmonster has also told “Interim UKIP Leader Gerard Batten has announced a recruitment drive aimed at securing new members, including from street protest group the Football Lads Alliance – who are hosting Anne Marie-Waters at their next event. The leadership of the FLA have endorsed UKIP, according to Batten”.
She might be welcomed back …
And while enthusing “The Football Lads Alliance have held some huge counter-extremism demos”, even the UKIP faithful concede “Though with anti-Islam Anne Marie Waters speaking at the FLA’s next event, there is likely to be some controversy over the move”.
… and two of this group might be joining her …
But with the FLA, UKIP should know the score. As Hope not Hate has pointed out, “Another splinter from the FLA is the Anti-Terror Alliance (ATA) … HOPE not hate exposed one of the leaders of ATA to be the convicted terrorist Frank Portinari, the British Commander of the banned terrorist organisation Ulster Defence Association (UDA)”.
… after all, look who’s already there
The direction of UKIP under the less than benign leadership of Adolf von Batten is clear: to fill the coffers, the Kippers will get into bed with any and every far-right group out there. It can only be a matter of time before Britain First and the White Pendragons are welcomed. After all, Bill “Viagra Golliwog” Etheridge, one of Batten’s pals, has already endorsed the latter group, which tried to stage a lynching of London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
UKIP is so desperate, it is now prepared to ditch the veneer of mainstream respectability and become an explicitly racist party. Like it effectively has been for years.
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this rather reminds me of the elderly tramp who used to parade up and down at Chepstow Races begging with a sign reading ‘The End Of The World Is At Hand’!
BANKRUPT KIPPERS
Ukip chiefs admit they are just days from bankruptcy as they beg branches to raise £100,000 by end of the month
The Sun can reveal interim leader Gerard Batten has written to all local groups across the country to ask them divert any funds they have to the central party ‘purely for operational needs’
By Harry Cole, Westminster Correspondent
6th March 2018, 10:30 pm
Updated: 7th March 2018, 2:55 am
UKIP chiefs have admitted they are just days from bankruptcy as they beg branches to raise £100,000 by the end of the month or got bust, The Sun can reveal.
Interim leader Gerard Batten has written to all local groups across the country to ask them divert any funds they have in their coffers to the central party “purely for operational needs”.
Ukip chiefs admit they are just days from bankruptcy as they beg branches to raise £100,000 by the end of the month
He warns: “If we cannot raise it then the future of the Party itself is in question.”
It comes as the party is also facing a six-figure costs claim in a legal battle with three Labour MPs.
The begging note says they “realise that this money belongs to the branches but the future of our party really is in the hands of the members at this time”.
The plea takes place as ousted leader Henry Bolton announced he has formed his own new political party called OneNation.
The disgraced ex-boss was booted out last month at a meeting of Ukip members after The Sun revealed he had left his wife for a topless model Jo Marney, who was later shown to have sent racist messages.
The plea takes place as ousted leader Henry Bolton announced he has formed his own new political party called OneNation
Perhaps Gerard Batten Ukip’s leader this week might care to contribute the £100,000 himself out of the obscene amount this useless article has made out of his self interest at the cost of the tax payers – or even obtain the funding from his Islamaphobic so called christian group in return for his efforts and endless purveying of hate on their behalf.
Alternately how about the ex Ukip MEPs paying back some of the money they screwed the tax payer for in return for their consistent irrelevance and damage to the domestic body politic.
The existing Ukip MEPs have no more job now than that which Ukip MEPs have done in the past so how about they fund the party rather than continue sponging off of the tax payers!
Regards,
Greg_L-W.
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Posted by: Greg Lance-Watkins
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As some of you may know, I have announced that I will not be seeking re-election as chair of the West of Scotland branch at our AGM on March 10. I won’t resign and leave the post vacant but, after that meeting, my connection with the party will be over.
After many years of effort, working hard behind the scenes and carrying the flag as a candidate in one no-hope election after another, I am utterly disillusioned.
So many people have worked so hard for the party but I have grown increasingly dIsappointed over the past 6 months.
I’ve met some great people. I’ve met some truly awful people. I’ve seen committed people who have worked in the party for years, facing up to ridicule and antagonism for what they believe, badly let down by our leaders. We are standing on the brink of bankruptcy because of the libellous comments of an MEP who should have known better and because of the misguided decision of the leadership to fund her court case.
We have become a national laughing stock because of the ridiculous antics of our leader Henry Bolton who went on TV with his mistress to humiliate himself again only this morning.
In Scotland the party leader we struggled so hard to get elected has vanished from the scene. He’s gone AWOL for a year, choosing to make speeches to strange groups of far-right Frenchmen in French rather than speak English to Ukippers in Troon.
The top team who won that election victory has shattered. There’s just one man left standing and the others have all gone. Some were sacked, some just left, others defected to the Tories and one just avoided jail.
The office in Edinburgh has shut down. We have no visible presence and we are missing the bus as we fail to draw the thousands of Scots who voted for Brexit to our cause.
The Tories are well ahead, taking over from Labour as the voice of Opposition to the SNP.
Whilst we are fighting amongst ourselves they are organising, selecting candidates and preparing for government. If you are like me, you must know of many friends and colleagues who have gone over to the Conservatives. The Tories are enjoying a boom as we bleed to death.
Only a few weeks ago, Arron Banks read the last rites over UKIP, warning that the party has done its duty and served its purpose. He says now is the time for thousands of UKIP members to infiltrate the Conservatives en masse and seize control of the party to secure the Brexit we voted for, he’s almost right. Working alongside those eurosceptic Tories that want to see what we the British people voted for delivered on Brexit will be my focus for the foreseeable future.
Go Well
Published by Caroline
One thought on “The Final Curtain”
I’m sorry to hear that Caroline and I fully understand the sentiment. UKIP has done its members and candidates no favours in Wales either, the final insult for many being the appointment of the ludicrous spectre of Neil Hamilton as Wales leader. The top down control of the party has led to a situation where it is almost completely divorced from its members. The actions of the party and some of those in it has caused many a disturbing time for this household, but then we’re very close to two Assembly members who have been atrociously mistreated by the party and some of those in it. For all that though, I and some in my branches (we’re maintaining the only regional branch in the entirety of the UK partly because it works for us and partly as an act of defiance against the top down hierarchy) have re-rallied and have convened a grassroots conference in Newport. One reason for that is that we won’t be bullied into submission. We fight on, hopefully not just amongst ourselves. All best wishes to you.
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it is rare that I read much that Hope Not Hate has to say that gives me little Hope as it so clearly supports the unpleasant Socialist drivel promoted by the odious Corbyn wing of Labour & Hates all else! This however is one of those rare occassions.
Who Is Gerard Batten? MEP Who Called Islam A ‘Death Cult’ Appointed As Ukip’s Interim Leader
Ukip’s interim leader, who once called Islam a “death cult” and proposed that Muslims sign a special code of conduct rejecting violence, has been described as a “disaster” for the party’s political future.
Batten will be interim leader while a new leadership election is organised in the next 90 days.
PA Archive/PA Images Gerard Batten is Ukip’s interim leader after Henry Bolton was ousted.
But there are already concerns surrounding his appointment, with anti-racism campaign group Hope not Hate accusing Ukip members of “sounding the death knell for their party”.
So who is Ukip’s interim leader and why is he so contentious?
Who is Gerard Batten?
The 63-year-old party veteran is a founder of Ukip and is a serving Member of the European Parliament (MEP).
He was first elected as an MEP in 2004 and was selected to stand as the party’s candidate in the 2008 London mayoral election.
He was unsuccessful, receiving just 1.2% of the vote.
What are his views on Islam?
In the wake of the Westminster terror attack, Batten posted a blog in which he called Islam a “death cult”.
“The terrorist attack in Westminster was just the latest in a long line of atrocities committed internationally in the name of Islam,” he wrote.
He then listed the following suggestions:
First of all, let’s stop calling it Islam (submission to the will of Allah) and accepting it on its own terms.
We should return to calling what the West used to call it: Mohammedanism – the cult of Mohammed – because that is what it is.
It is a death cult, born and steeped in fourteen hundred years of violence and bloodshed, that propagates itself by intimidation, violence and conquest.
Batten added in his blog: “A normal non Mohammedan should have a perfectly rational fear of ‘Islam’.”
A document he commissioned in 2006 called ‘A Proposed Charter of Muslim Understanding’, says that parts of the Qur’an promote “violent physical Jihad”.
The MEP argued that some Muslim texts also required updating, particularly those bits he claimed say “kill Jews wherever you find them”. He said: “If they say they cannot revise their thinking on those issues, then who’s got the problem – us or them?”
Speaking in 2010, Batten pledged to end the building of new mosques in the UK, until and unless a non-Muslim place of worship was built in Mecca.
FREDERICK FLORIN via Getty Images Gerard Batten at the European Parliament.
Batten denies that he has ever made comments about Muslims, but anti-racism group Hope not Hate said that his appointment today “sounded the death knell for their party”.
Nick Lowles, chief executive of Hope not Hate, said: “Gerard Batten is… known for his extreme anti-Muslim views and closeness to various figures in anti-Muslim networks across Europe.
“This is a man who calls Islam ‘Mohammedanism’ and ‘a death cult’, for heaven’s sake. His vote is a disaster for any hope UKIP might have of resurrecting its political fortunes.
“The party is now a bad joke, haemorrhaging support and money. However, the bigger threat lies in Nigel Farage and his Leave.EU backer Arron Banks who are eagerly waiting in the wings.
“Farage and Banks are far more capable figures than anything Ukip is likely to offer and likely to hit home hard on anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim messages when they re-enter the political fray, most likely at the helm of a new radical-right political movement.”
Quick Verdict on Ukip: Appointment of Batten as interim leader a risky move. One of the founders of the party so knows it inside out, but previous anti-Islam comments will be a turn off for many.
Ukip ran on a pretty strong anti-Islamic fundamentalism ticket in the last election – in the wake of terrible terrorist attacks – and got nowhere. I don’t see the appetite for that kind of politics in this country. Don’t think there’s a huge base for it.
Would be amazed if Paul Oakden doesn’t run. He’s good with media, got a sense of humour and delivers a good speech. His preamble before announcing the result was a clear leadership pitch.
Seeing as Farage’s influence is clearly on the wane – he backed Bolton after all – Suzanne Evans may feel she should have another run at it. But her previous
I’ve said it before, but if Ukip can get themselves together they could the May 19 local elections into a referendum on the Brexit deal, which might help them. A big ‘if’, as hard to see how the party can claw back credibility.
But when asked on Saturday whether he intends to take Ukip in the direction of being more anti-Islam, Batten said: “I’ve never made comments about Muslims, I’ve always talked about ideology and the literalist interpretation of that ideology.
“That is a big problem that is facing not just the UK but Europe and the Western world. I will be looking at policies of how we can address that.
“It’s all very well to talk about integration but one of the practical things we should do – our Government should do – straight away, is to stop the foreign funding of mosques and imans by places like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan who have exported extremist ideology to our country and other countries.”
The Ukipper, who also believes the European Union was conceived by NaziGermany and suggests the Bilderberg Group is a “shadow world government”, insisted on Twitter that the country “relies on the UK for its existence”.At the time Ukip distanced itself from the comments, with the party’s head of delegation, MEP Ray Finch, telling HuffPost UK in a statement: “Mr Batten’s late night tweets do not reflect UKIP policy or sentiment.
UK threatened by Ireland. A tiny country that relies on UK for its existence. We should advise, we are free to revoke common travel area.
4:31 PM – 26 Nov 2017
“We wish to maintain free trade and free movement between the North and South of Ireland, full stop.
“The best way to avoid the European Commission imposing a hard border is to create an equal partnership of independent states outside EU.”
Will Batten stand in the Ukip leadership contest?
Ukip faces its fourth leadership election since the EU referendum in June 2016.
Batten said he has not decided whether or not to stand for the leadership, telling a press conference on Saturday: “I honestly don’t know the answer to that.
“I’ll wait and see how it goes or otherwise over the next few weeks.”
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further to the crass debacle orchestrated by Crowther, Richardson & the Ukip NEC regarding the utter stupidity and ill considered libellous malice of Ukip’s MEP Jane Collins which I covered at: CLICK HERE
From: UKIP Regional Chairman – London <walthamforest@ukip.org>
Date: 15 February 2018 at 19:20:17 WET
To: “myword_is_mybond@hotmail.com” <myword_is_mybond@hotmail.com> Subject: Two hundred thousand pounds !
Friends and others,
There’s bad news at the end of this email. And the timing is diabolical; even, suspicious.
Many of you will have been aware “we” (UKIP) were facing being forced to pay a substantial chunk of the defamation action costs (not damages) of Jane Collins MEP, over her alleged assertion that three local Labour MPs knew, in advance or at the time, about the ongoing child abuse in Rotherham, but did little or nothing about it to intervene or stop it.
If you don’t know about this, the (attached) High Court Approved Judgement from 54 weeks ago (Neutral Citation Number: [2017] EWHC 162 (QB) ) will provide the background you need.
I am not a lawyer but, in the late 1980s, my company and I were involved in not one but two unconnected actions for defamation. In one, as the potential plaintiff and the other – in respect of words written by someone else, published without my permission and which I did not endorse or agree with – as the defendant (I was worth suing, he wasn’t). I succeeded in both matters, out of Court – and I did not use a lawyer in either of them.
On the facts known to me (a small fraction of what there was to be known) about this present matter, I could not believe that we (UKIP) would not not be held liable.
The reasons are complicated, and it may be counter-productive for them to be aired here. As far as I could tell, UKIP was bang to rights and it was self-indulgent wishful thinking that we could escape by arguing that our objectives were principally philanthropic or charitable, and not self-serving as a political party with political objectives, however noble we believe them to be.
The number of people higher-up in UKIP who told me I was being alarmist, misguided or wrong is not funny. My questions were, however, not answered to my satisfaction.
Frankly, I’ve heard this “expert advice” twaddle all too often. The experts are often not independent or not experts, especially if even I know more than they do about what they claim to be expert at.
This is the main reason I refused to stand for election to the NEC, despite many telling me I should.
Had I been successful, I would have been a Director of UKIP Ltd (the limited company underlying our party) and so would have been privy to all sorts of information which I have not been (the only information to which I have been privy, to date, has been from public domain sources including the Electoral Commission and Companies House).
I fear what I might then have found out.
Had the company subsequently become insolvent, and furthermore (a huge leap here – hopefully this does not apply, and we have been as diligent as both law and common sense dictate we should have been) been found to have been trading while insolvent, as a Director or shadow Director I could have been potentially held liable personally. Arguably, more so than most or all who would then have been my co-Directors, because given both my professional background and subsequent experience, I could not plead financial ignorance or accounting naiveté without being guilty of perjury too. While almost all company Directors are not pursued in similar cases, us being UKIP, my guesswork (for guesswork is all it was, but so far my guesswork has been 100% correct) would have been that some of our Directors would be.
The case re our share of the liability was heard last week – Friday 9th February was the second day:
Royal Courts of Justice Cause List date: 09/02/2018, Listings, Cases, hearings, UK
Well, and with exquisite “coincidental” timing, our share of the costs have been decided by the High Court a few minutes ago (in the afternoon of Thursday 15th February 2018), and it is an eye-watering £200,000:
The judge said the defamation case brought against Jane Collins would probably have been settled `quite swiftly´. This is devastating. I’ve no idea whether this decision is practicably appealable.
Shouldn’t heads roll for this – have we been misled, misguided or betrayed?
With ill-concealed fury,
Freddy
How right Freddy was and is – lets face it the legal opinions Ukip received were at best crass and at worst utterly crass if not corrupt!
Anyone who doubts this summary might be well advised to read the full judgement:
One has merely to consider which idiots put a dullard like Jane Collins on a party list within striking distance of being an MEP what talent did she have or was this just someone of influence in the party who either was or fancied their chances of bedding her!
I for one never saw one iota of talent she brought to Ukip, but then aqgain that goes for almost everyone amongst the leadership and staff of Ukip!
One has to ask why Ukip did not distance themselves from an idiot who would so freely libel anyone from a public platform in Ukip’s name – even after the event how on earth did Ukip fail to get competent legal advice let alone listen to someone, anyone, who offered to commit the Party to direct involvement in Collins’ utter stupidity!
It is my opinion that Ukip and the directors of the Party’s Limited Company were exceedingly lucky not to be found jointly and severally liable for both the libel and the subsequent costs.
Limited liability does not absolve directors party to either a Civil or Criminal action and its consequences!
Probably the most astonising fact is that there is an EGM today and at least two individuals are squabbling over which of them will take on the mantle of leader to lead this disaster! Perhaps the fact that they actually wish to be embroilled and probably participate in the debts of Ukip tells you all you need to know of their co0mpetence, judgement and ability!
Regards,
Greg_L-W.
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Posted by: Greg Lance-Watkins
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neither Ukip nor their MEP Jane Collins had a good day!
This judgement has finally been delivered after several years of it hanging over both the heads of Ukip who have been very fortunate and have had their liability limited to £200,000, I say lucky because no Court appreciates any individual or organisation trying to dupe them!
Read the full judgement and pay close attention as to how Richardson & Crowther sealed the Party’s fate with what seemed clearly, to me, to be an attempt to midlead the Court, which became apparent during ‘disclosure’.
The depth of Jane Collins’ problem is even greater due to her idiotic & unpleasant stupidity.
It looks to me as if Jane Collins managed to talk her way into owing 3 Labour MPs, who it seems offered to settle with an appology & a consequential donation to charity, for her odious & unprincipled public libel. Collins stupidly resiled on her offer and Richardson would seem to have presumed to ADVISE her to offer a risible £10,000!
ADVISE was a word that Ukip came to rue as it irrevocably locked Ukip into an element of liability, probably regardless of the NEC 12 to 1 decision to help fund Collins’ expenses.
Expenses that have ended up somewhere between £200K & £600K + expenses eventually set by the Courts at £100K each for the 3 MPs she libelled – so it sounds as if Collins has earned herself a bill that the Courts will ensure she must pay of possibly approaching a £Million, but clearly well over £500K.
Read the judgement for yourself and when you have finished remember this is just one of a number Ukip has so far accumulated with more to come seems likely!
It also looks as if part of the Ukip settlement required by the applicants includes all Ukip’s intellectual properties – presumably name, web sites, logos and the like – I can’t think of any other signs of intellect in Ukip!
Regards,
Greg_L-W.
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Posted by: Greg Lance-Watkins
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Henry Bolton will find out this weekend whether his party wants to keep him, in fact it will be interesting to note if enough people turn up to reasonably be able to call Ukip a Party, for as Bolton publicly announced members have been Bolting at the rate of 1,000 a month.
Of course the figures do not seem very accurately to reflect membership as in the past Ukip had a habit of keeping long dead members on the books and many of the members are nothing more than those who have taken little interest and in fact may well have forgotten they were given free membership in an effort to boost figures a few years ago!
The reality is better defined by the percentage vote the rump party is getting on a national basis which seems at the moment to be less than 3%! They are currently a total irrelevance and it seems unlikely they could turn that around by May’s Local Government elections its unlikely due both to lack of finance and the paucity of competence of a single individual visible in the party over a prolongued period.
Ukip hasn’t even been able to find a competent leader for years and their NEC is even less impressive – clearly there isn’t a single MEP of calliber or stature who stands out – just a rag tag of self serving also rans. As of May they are unlikely to retain a single Council seat up for election and many have Bolted already as with Thurrock & also Thanet!
In a clearly desperate last-gasp attempt at hanging on to leadership Bolton has dreamed up a new party constitution/rules. You will find an insight in the article below there is little exciting in it, it seems and it comes across as somewhere between smoke & mirrors distraction from the main issues amounting to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic & a game of ‘spot the lady’.
There is much in his reforms which are similar to the power grabs Farage made in his time but was prevented by the membership; the aim seems to be to dramatically reduce the role of the party chairman, putting in place an unelected new Chief of Staff thus give sweeping new powers to the leader!
Whether the membership is so diluted now that with the support of Nigel Farage, who failed to change the Party will open the door to this centralising of power will become apparent on Saturday!
Already the proposal seems to be making waves as Ukip’s chairman Paul Oakden last night revealed he was stepping down he may of course be Bolting Off due to the parlous financial situation of the party where staff such as Gawain Towler have Bolted as there is clearly no longer money to fund his bloated salary, he is not alone I gather!
Bolton told LBC yesterday that ‘ex’ mistress Jo Marney ‘might’ get a Valentine’s card from him I guess she may, if the numbers are sufficiently diminished, be Bolted On as the new Chief Staff Officer, as I gather she is not working at the moment!
Astonishingly Bolton has been defending her vile racists texts attacking Meghan Markle, claiming they had been merely “fiery” and “provocative”.
This does sound ever so similar to the sort of justification KKK members make when they are thwarted in their efforts to lynch & murder on a racist basis – ‘Oh it was just a bit of fun’ – yeah yeah fun for whom:
IN MEMORIAM: 19-May-1918 8 mth pregnant #Mary_Turner lynched in Lowndes County, Georgia for speaking out about her husbands death. White men cut her open while suspended, the foetus fell out…& they stomped on it. Police did nothing..She was 19
The important point for Bolton is that the risidual members don’t Bolt is the defacto leader of Ukip for the last 23 years Nigel Farage & his openly stated support for absolute authority for the leader! Bolton’s future is largely in the hands of Farage whether Bolton does or doesn’t survive Saturday is of course of little consequence as it is unlikely Ukip will survive the loss of its NEC, as they have no choice but to resign if Bolton is supported if they have any integrity and act honourably.
Also it must be considered that IF Bolton survives or if not the main task of the leader will be fending off the many pending Court cases & very substantial debts minded that most of their MEPs have bolted, the staff seem to be Bolting & the income from the EU has seemingly Bolted.
No wonder Mr & Mrs Glum look so cheery:
Ukip Leader Henry Bolton Will Cut Power Of Party Chairman Under Make-Or-Break Reforms
His future will be decided at a meeting of party members on Saturday
Under-fire Ukip leader Henry Bolton is set to release his blueprint for party reform at noon in a last-ditch attempt to save his political career.
Bolton, who was handed a vote of no confidence by Ukip’s ruling committee last month, will put out his proposed changes to how the party is run in a bid to win the support of rank and file members.
Bolton’s future is set to be decided at a crunch meeting in Saturday, where members will decide whether to back him as leader and adopt the new constitution, or oust him from the top job.
HuffPost UK understands Bolton’s changes to the party would see a dramatically reduced role for Ukip chairman Paul Oakden, the creation of a new Chief of Staff, and put the leader at the heart of the decision-making process on key issues.
One source said: “It’s very interesting, but is it enough to get a lot of people to get people to support him?
“We’ll have to wait and see.”
One person’s support Bolton will need if he is to persuade the membership to back his plans is former leader Nigel Farage.The MEP and talk-show host was sent a copy of the document this morning, and is set to give his verdict on the proposals later today.
Bolton’s position has become increasingly precarious since it emerged he had left his wife for Ukip activist Jo Marney – a move which some in the party felt undermined his ‘family man’ image.
Leaked texts from Marney which contained racist and derogatory comments about Prince Harry’s fiancée Meghan Markle only added to the pressure on Bolton, who then broke up with the glamour model in order to stay on as leader and fight for his position.
Clearly Dopey & Mopey are an ongoing item – they are clearly well suited!
Already there have been moves to replace Bolton, unsurprisingly with various people putting themseves forward – Guido has rather belatedly published the story of the front runner IF/when Bolton is Bolted Off:
Interestingly in this bit of catchup by Guido he has published his thoughts on the possibility that the vile & corrupt Ukip MEP Gerard Batten might become interim leader if Bolton gets Booted Off:
Senior UKIP figures are proposing to appoint pink-suited Muslim-basher Gerard Batten as their interim leader if Henry Bolton loses the vote at this weekend’s EGM, Guido can reveal. The three UKIP peers, Lords Pearson, Stevens and Willoughby de Broke, have written to the party’s NEC this morning:
“We now write to suggest that, ahead of the EGM on 17th February, you resolve to immediately appoint Gerard Batten MEP as Interim Leader in the event that Henry Bolton loses the vote at the EGM. Further, we suggest that you publicly announce ahead of the EGM that it is your intention to appoint Gerard in the event that Henry Bolton loses, so that UKIP members will know as they vote that you have a plan of action around the party leadership and that there will not be any demoralising vacuum at the top.”
Batten’s support is growing: John Bickley says “most Kippers want Gerard Batten to be interim leader. He’s a safe pair of hands and the party’s Brexit guru. Many of the colleagues I work with and I would support him”. He has also won surely game-changing endorsements from Bill Etheridge and Ben Walker. Batten was previously best known for saying British Muslims must sign a code of conduct, describing Islam as “Mohammedanism” and a “death cult” of which we should have a “rational fear”, and calling for an end to the building of new mosques in the UK until a non-Muslim place of worship is built in Mecca. A supporter once defended him to HuffPo saying: “It’s not like he wants to kill all Muslims”. UKIP leadership jostling seems like bald men fighting over a comb to Guido…
It is of interest that amongst those seeking to empower the vile Racist Islamaphobe Gerard Batten; is the odious Malcolm Lord Pearson, who the informed will be aware is an award winning Zionist! Pearson is obscenely anti Muslim and about whom The News of The World did a double page expose, an expose which proved an embarrassment for Ukip during his leadership of the party which was amateur in the extreme and beset with problems due to his own dishonesty as a puppet for Nigel Farage and the dubious influence of the failed Tory MP Christopher Gill!
Well lets see what degree of debacle is the outcome of Saturdays EGM – debacle? well more probably blood bath followed by all too probably a funeral!
Regards,
Greg_L-W.
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Surely this is just a criminal #dirty_old_man with some revolting associates making a fool of the hospitality & shelter #Britain gave him & abusing the #British Justice system – If NOT I can only assume it is #CPS, #Police & #Courts colluding in corruption
Greg_Lance-Watkins added,
Greg_Lance-Watkins@Greg_LW
To Me It Smacks Of Corruption: This Is NOT Justice Being Done, Nor Seen To Be Done! … http://ukip-vs-eukip.com/2018/02/12/to-me-it-smacks-of-corruption-this-is-not-justice-being-done-nor-seen-to-be-done/…
How is justice being done or being seen to be done when one minute Bukovsky claims to be not ill & seeking to sue the CPS for ‘libel’ for charging him twice!
Then we see Bukovsky is not ill atall and not only publishes but also promotes his own autobiography, just after his first trial was abandoned because he claimed to be ‘too ill’ to continue.
Notably Bukovsky isn’t too ill to travel to Moscow and participate in the Russian elections as a Moscow Mayoral Candidate, but is too ill to stand trial for the deplorable crimes he has clearly committed.
This dirty old man would seem to have put in place a series of defences most revolting of which was admitting he downloaded the material as a hobby (clearly a mistranslation of the Russian word for perversion I presume) – then he tried to justify his obscene criminal perversion by saying the children being abused looked as if they were enjoying it and laterly trying to claim he had nothing to do with downloading this vile and criminal material as the Russian State loaded it on his personal computer!
Perhaps he can find yet another implausible justification for the various independent storage devices he had with 1,000s of his vile collection of abuse of children and videos of sex acts involving children – all presumably enjoying it – I assume in the same way the baby Poppi Worthington enjoyed the full on rape by her father that led to her death!
Bukovsky’s appearaces regarding his gross perversion and criminal accumulation of hard core pornography involving small children seem to be performed in a wheel chair – his entire act is just not plausible and I am forced to wonder why the CPS, Police and Courts are seemingly colluding in what is very apparent as a criminal deception.
Why the trial of Russian dissident Vladimir Bukovsky has taken four years to conclude
Russian-born Bukovsky, an author and activist, was first arrested in 2014
Vladimir Bukovsky stood accused of making and possessing thousands of indecent images of children – but will now face no further action
It was April 2015 when the media first heard Vladimir Bukovsky was due to be charged with making and possessing indecent images of children.
The case has taken almost four years to reach its conclusion – with Bukovsky first being arrested in 2014.
His trial started once and a jury was sworn in, but then abandoned due to the Russian dissident’s ill health.
Russian-born Bukovsky is an author and activist who became well-known internationally as a vocal critic of the Soviet regime.
He spent 12 years in Soviet prisons, forced-labour camps and psychiatric hospitals, which were used by the authorities to incarcerate political dissidents and submit them to compulsory treatment to “cure” their beliefs.
At Cambridge Crown Court today (Monday, February 12) the charges were ordered to lie on file, with no further action being taken against Bukovsky.
The court was told that Bukovsky was too ill to stand trial, so no further court proceedings would be brought against him.
Below, the News explores the background to the case – from when he was first charged to when the case was abandoned for what is thought to be the last time.
April 2015
The News told how Bukovsky was due to be charged with making and possessing indecent images of children.
He stood charged with five counts of making an indecent photograph of a child, five counts of possessing indecent photographs of children, and one count of possessing a prohibited image.
At the time Jenny Hopkins, chief crown prosecutor for the CPS in the East of England, told the News: “Following an investigation by Cambridgeshire Police, we have concluded that there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to prosecute Vladimir Bukovsky in relation to the alleged making and possessing of indecent images of children.”
She added: “The decision to prosecute was taken in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors.”
Vladimir Bukovsky arriving at Cambridge Crown Court
May 2015
The Russian dissident was due to make his first court appearance on May 5, 2015, to face the charges.
However, his appearance was delayed due to ill health.
Cambridge Magistrates’ Court was told how Bukovsky was seriously ill in hospital and was being treated in a clinic in Germany.
He was admitted there with renal failure on April 29, 2015, the court heard, and it was not known how long he would spend in hospital.
Another court hearing was scheduled for later that same month, but Bukovsky did not appear in court again until August 25, 2015.
He denied all charges against him, and was released on unconditional bail with a further scheduled hearing for September 1, 2015.
The case did not go back before the courts until May 2016, where it was adjourned again until December 12, 2016 after a discussion excluding the press and public.
December 12, 2016
Vladimir Bukovsky’s trial got underway at Cambridge Crown Court, with a jury sworn in and the case opened by Will Carter, prosecuting.
The dissident stood trial for allegedly accessing still and video images over 15 years, some of which were being downloaded at the point of his arrest in 2014.
The 73-year-old told police he had become curious at the end of the 1990s about issues involving control and censorship of the Internet and decided to look into what was available online, the court heard.
The pensioner, who sat in court in a wheelchair, was living alone in Cambridge when he was arrested.
He told officers that his online interests had become something of a hobby, which he told no-one else about.
Mr Carter said: “What he said was that his initial curiosity turned into a hobby rather like stamp-collecting.”
Mr Carter said some of the material found on hard drives at the defendant’s home involved children of toddler age. Bukovsky told police the youngest were six or seven.
Mr Carter said: “He said he wouldn’t download any which showed a toddler although he said age could be difficult to judge.”
The barrister said Bukovsky had noted that “they (those in the images) looked to him as if they were enjoying themselves”.
Bukovsky is considered a hero by some who pursue democratic reform in Russia and a handful of his supporters were in court.
But the jury was told that Bukovsky had another side to him beyond the heroic figure.
Mr Carter added: “The prosecution say that there was another side to this man which was far from laudable, an extensive interest in real children really being abused.”
Pro Ukraine anti Putin placards outside Cambridge Crown Court as Russian dissident Vladimir Bukovsky arrived at Cambridge Crown Court in 2016
December 13, 2016
Claims the Russian state may have been part of a hack to plant indecent images of children on the computer of a dissident living in Cambridge have been rejected at his trial.
A computer expert who has worked for GCHQ said he was confident the images had not been put there by anyone other than Bukovsky.
Dr Howard Chivers, a lecturer at the University of York, examined five discs of files recovered from Bukovsky’s hard drives at his home in Cambridge.
Bukovsky told police he had been researching the images and videos out of “social” curiosity and not for sexual gratification, according to an agreed summary of his interview which was read to the court.
He said he became interested in the debate around internet censorship at the end of the 1990s and wanted to see if child pornography was as widely available online as people claimed.
Bukovsky told officers: “It was never done for any sexual pleasure on my part. I have never been attracted to children in that way.”
He said he did not believe searching for and having the material was criminal or causing any harm.
He referred to sadomasochistic imagery he had seen and told officers he was convinced it was staged because the children taking part appeared to be “giggling”.
Bukovsky, a highly-regarded human rights campaigner who has been a prominent opponent of the Russian regime, was arrested as part of the national Operation Notarise aimed at paedophiles and led by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre (CEOP), Cambridge Crown Court heard.
Cambridgeshire police arrested Bukovsky at his home in an early morning swoop in October 2014 after information was passed to them by CEOP.
Detective Constable Gareth Purdy said Bukovsky answered the door when police arrived at around 7.30am and when officers asked him about computer equipment he said there was a computer in the study they would be “interested in”.
The court heard that Bukovsky’s collection of images grew after he discovered a file-sharing service and that he continued to download them, despite losing interest and coming close to deleting his collection which had become too big to analyse.
Det Con Purdy said the images had mostly been of boys, aged from around 8-14, although some were aged between 6-8 and a number were of toddlers.
There were some images of girls, although they were usually associated with boys, and the images were often grouped together in nationalities.
December 14, 2016
Jurors in the trial were discharged after the court heard Bukovsky’s ill health had deteriorated and he had been admitted to hospital.
Defence counsel Francis FitzGibbon QC told the court that Bukovsky had been admitted to hospital with bronchial pneumonia.
Mr Fitzgibbon said Bukovsky was a “very unwell man” who also suffered from congestive heart failure and diabetes.
He asked Judge Gareth Hawkesworth to discharge the jury in the case.
Judge Hawkesworth agreed, stating that the current jurors could not be “kept waiting in suspense”.
He said once, and if, Bukovsky was fit enough to stand trial then the trial would be with a different jury.
A further hearing was then scheduled for January 19, 2017.
July 2017
Bukovsky’s trial was delayed again – and did not reach the courts until July 2017.
The trial was listed to begin on July 24, 2017, with a new jury.
But the case was postponed again because of Bukovsky’s ill health, with a court appearance rescheduled for February 12, 2018.
Russian dissident Vladimir Bukovsky leaving court on November 9, 2015
January 2018
On January 16, it was announced that Bukovsky would finally stand trial.
A further call to Cambridge Crown Court confirmed the court hearing on February 12, 2018 would still take place.
February 2018
Today (February 12, 2018) Judge Gareth Hawkesworth ruled that charges against Vladimir Bukovsky, now 75, should remain on file after the Crown Prosecution Service said he was not fit to stand trial.
The charges related to making or possessing more than 19,000 still images and more than 8,700 films of child pornography.
Judge Gareth Hawkesworth ruled the trial be postponed indefinitely after prosecution and defence counsel said it was not in the interest of justice to proceed.
The trial could only happen by order of the court, or Court of Appeal, if and when Bukovsky’s health improves enough for him to stand trial.
Bukovsky was due to be tried via video link from his Cambridge home.
The court heard it was the third time the trial had come to the court after the defendant was admitted to hospital on the second day of a trial for the offences in December 2016.
Judge Hawkesworth said: “I’m quite satisfied in light of the continuing deterioration in his health that whilst he might not be able to catch up from time to time during the crown’s case when it comes to the moment whether or not Mr Bukovsky should or could give evidence… I take the view that it would not be fair to try a man in these circumstances.”
Prosecutor William Carter told the court that the situation had now got to the stage where there was “clearly a risk” to Bukovsky’s health.
He added: “The Crown have taken the view that the proper course in the interest of justice is not to oppose that [defence] application and indeed to go further and to add to it.”
After the hearing, defence lawyer Francis Fitzgibbon QC said Bukovsky denied all the allegations and his defence would have included claims the images were planted by Russian state operatives.
He told the court: “It is extremely unlikely that he would be able to participate effectively in a trial.”
Bukovksy was forced into exile and moved to the UK, where he studied biology at Cambridge University.
I try to make every effort to NOT infringe copyrights in any commercial way & make all corrections of fact brought to my attention by an identifiable individual
Greg Lance - Watkins (Greg_L-W)
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Ukip-vs-EUkip 
I’m sorry to hear that Caroline and I fully understand the sentiment. UKIP has done its members and candidates no favours in Wales either, the final insult for many being the appointment of the ludicrous spectre of Neil Hamilton as Wales leader.
The top down control of the party has led to a situation where it is almost completely divorced from its members. The actions of the party and some of those in it has caused many a disturbing time for this household, but then we’re very close to two Assembly members who have been atrociously mistreated by the party and some of those in it.
For all that though, I and some in my branches (we’re maintaining the only regional branch in the entirety of the UK partly because it works for us and partly as an act of defiance against the top down hierarchy) have re-rallied and have convened a grassroots conference in Newport. One reason for that is that we won’t be bullied into submission. We fight on, hopefully not just amongst ourselves.
All best wishes to you.