Nigel Farage is refusing to do any more campaigning for Ukip in the Stoke Central by-election after falling out with the new leader’s closest advisor, Huff Post UK has learned.
Farage last week appeared at a rally in Stoke to support Paul Nuttall’s bid to win the seat from Labour, but was furious to discover a Ukip member who had made a series of allegations about him was helping to run the event.
Lisa Duffy – who unsuccessfully stood to be party leader last summer – was secretly recorded by her campaign manager making claims about Farage’s personal life, which became the basis of a controversial book about Ukip.
Farage is considering suing Duffy over her comments, and was appalled to see her at the Victoria Hall in Stoke on February 6 when he addressed hundreds of local residents.
A source close to the former Ukip leader says he holds Patrick O’Flynn – Nuttall’s closest advisor – responsible for Duffy’s involvement.
Ukip MEP O’Flynn employs Duffy and her husband Peter Reeve as assistants in the European Parliament.
The source said: “Nigel told Paul he needed to get professionals in his team running Stoke. This week he is in Strasbourg as he does not want to be around Lisa Duffy after the false allegations she made up.
“The Labour candidate is so bad this election is Paul’s to lose, but he has been hijacked by people who do not have the skills they think they have.”
Philip Toscano/PA Archive
Patrick O’Flynn is one of Paul Nuttall’s closest advisors
Despite no longer being head of the party, Farage is still a popular figure, and drew a crowd of several hundreds to the public meeting on a cold and wet night in the Potteries last week.
Huff Post UK has learned he is unimpressed with the party’s campaigning operation in the seat, and after seeing Duffy called for her to be removed from the team.
O’Flynn refused to get rid of Duffy, leading Farage to vow to stay away from Stoke for the rest of the campaign.
The Ukip leader also faced questions early in the campaign about his eligibility to take part in the election after it emerged he had yet to stay in the Stoke house he had registered as his official address.
Jonathan Brady/PA Archive
Lisa Duffy finished second in the first of Ukip’s 2016 leadership contests
Labour is defending a majority of 5,179 in the by-election, caused by the resignation of Tristram Hunt at the end of January.
The party’s candidate, Gareth Snell, has also faced criticism, with numerous offensive posts on his Twitter feed aimed at women coming to the surface.
It is not the first time Farage has clashed with O’Flynn. In the aftermath of Ukip’s disappointing 2015 General Election result the former Daily Express Political Editor described the then-leader’s team of advisors as “wrong-uns” who had made Farage appear “thin-skinned, snarling and aggressive”.
In the EU Referendum, O’Flynn was the only Ukip MEP not to support the Farage-backed Grassroots Out bid for the official Leave campaign designation, instead siding with eventual winners Vote Leave.
ALL MY BLOGS & WEB SITES are clearly sourced to me
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I AM opposed to British membership of The EU
I AM opposed to Welsh, Scottish or English Independence within an interdependent UK
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I AM strongly opposed to the subsidy or use of failed technologies eg. WIND TURBINES
I AM IN FAVOUR of rapid research & development of NEW NUCLEAR technologies
I see no evidence to trust POLITICIANS at any level or of any persuasion
I do NOT believe in GODS singular or plural, Bronze Age or Modern
I value the NHS as a HEALTH SERVICE NOT a Lifestyle support
I believe in a DEATH PENALTY for serial or GBH rape.
I believe in a DEATH PENALTY for serial, terrorist, mass or for pleasure murder.
I believe in a DEATH PENALTY for serial gross child abuse including sexual.
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Speak Out About #Racism And Corruption In #Ukip, Get Suspended …
Alternately the informed will understand,
as Ukip seem unable to act ethically!
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Hi,
Speak Out About #Racism And Corruption In #Ukip, Get Suspended …
Jay Beecher
Ukip claims to be strong in the Midlands, and one of their few successes is Peterborough, driven in the main by Jay Beecher, deputy chairman of the local branch, who co-ordinated the local Vote Leave campaign during the recent EU Referendum.
Beecher has now been suspended and has fired off a damning statement (see update at foot of post) which confirms pretty much everything we’ve ever said about Ukip.
Beecher in effect made two ‘faux-pas’. The minor one was being Campaign Manager for Lisa Duffy in the recent Ukip Leadership Election. Diane James will never forget.
But the major ‘no-no’ was to speak out, publicly about the racism, cronyism, hypocrisy and corruption. We always though Ukip claimed to stand for ‘Free Speech’ Clearly not, when it doesn’t suit them.
A few days ago he tweeted:
After a lot of thought,I’ve decided to stand up to the cronyism,the hypocrisy,and elements of unchallenged racism within our party
“I’ve been suspended for standing up to and speaking out against elements of racism, cronyism, corruption and hypocrisy which I became privy to during the leadership race. All these things are destroying UKIP.”
“I’m very disappointed with the route I’m having to take, but I’m proud to be making a stand. We shouldn’t ever shy away from challenging someone’s immoral or racist behaviour simply because we might share the same political beliefs or swear allegiance to the same party.”
“Since my suspension I’ve had members from all over the UK – chairmen, grassroots, and even members of the NEC and the Welsh assembly – contact me to offer their support.”
“Our party looks to be turning in a rather questionable direction. Our grassroots, our elected officials and the people they represent are being sorely let down. It’s time we made a stand.”
In reply, an un-named UKIP spokesman said: “Mr Beecher has been suspended after repeatedly making deliberate and demonstratively false allegations against other members of the party, and doing so to various media outlets. He is a talented young man and it is a shame that he uses his time to attack people in his party rather than to build up support as we move forward to the Cambridgeshire County Council elections next year.”
So Ukip have determined that these allegations are, apparently ‘demonstratively false‘. That’s quick – within 24 hours – yet it takes them 6 to 9 months to investigate whether a racist tweet is against their policies.
However, Ukip’s denials are all in vain: Beecher’s allegations are mostly true from what we can see.
Seems to us these actions should get Beecher promoted, not suspended.
But this is how Ukip works. All dissent is hammered while simultaneously wailing about Free Speech. For any suspension for racism, homophobia, islamophobia, etc, the whole process can take months. Beechers ejection seems to have been overnight.
Such was the system under Farage : Diane James is clearly continuing that legacy.
Update:
Almost the moment this post went live, Beecher made a full statement, in a long, rather rambling post he laid out a damning indictment against the party, and a complete confirmation, from an insider, of almost all of the issues we and others have raised.
“As campaign manager for one of the leading candidates, I’ve been able to get a good insight into how our party operates. As a result, from what I’ve learnt, I’m resolved that, in its current format, UKIP is in a state of crisis.”
“A few at the top, through ego, and through personal interest, have launched a fierce regime to control our great party.”
“Anyone who has dared to point out the immoral actions of anyone associated with the top tier cronyism in our party has been slandered and demonized by an egotistical clique. Party loyalty has been rebranded as disloyalty. We have also fallen victim to a controlling donor, to corruption, and in some cases, have even allowed acts of racism to go unpunished. This MUST stop.”
(Beecher says ‘some cases’. We would say ‘many’ and have documented them on this site and on our Social Media feeds.)
“When Suzanne Evans is suspended for speaking out against homophobia, yet Jamie Ross McKenzie – the chairman of our Youth Wing, gets away scot-free after being cautioned by police for verbally and racially abusing a black doorman, or after using white supremacist terms on social media and encouraging appalling levels of racism and trolling, you know we have a serious problem.”
“I filed an official complaint, calling for the discipline or expulsion of certain members who had made racist or derogatory comments; the chairman of YI included. Yet to date, this complaint has been ignored. And that is because Jamie Ross McKenzie – who gave the closing speech at our Bournemouth Conference, worked for a particular candidate in the leadership race.”
“Diane, however, as Ian told me, didn’t want the job at all. She lives predominantly in France, and her employment as an MEP supports this rather agreeable lifestyle.”
“But it was already decided for her that she would stand. Farage convinced her. And Arron Banks (who uses our party as his play thing) convinced her not to attend any hustings for fear that she wouldn’t fare well against stronger candidates.”
(We were always critical about Diane James refusing to attend hustings. We now know why.)
“In direct contradiction of rule N4 of our party’s rulebook, Diane James was given unfair advantage in the contest by being able to use the Leave.EU database to send out her campaign material to millions of people.”
“Meanwhile, it appears clear that the outcome of the race had been determined long before the off.”
“One of Diane’s assenters, the wife of Ian McKie, in fact, is NOT a member of UKIP. This has been confirmed by head office, and means that Diane’s paperwork wasn’t in order, did not meet the strict criteria set out from the beginning, and as such, just like Steven Woolfe, Diane James should NOT have been able to stand, and subsequently should NOT be out new leader.”
(We checked on this. Beecher is correct, McKie’s wife is not a member. Thus, Diane James has no legitimacy as Party Leader.)
“Our rules are there for a reason. Bending them for personal interest only goes to show that, through corruption, mismanagement, and the exploitation of incompetence, a handful of people are trying to turn our party into one that is like all the others.”
“We cannot allow a small handful of self-serving politicians or plain and simple negligence, or a power-hungry donor, destroy what so many passionate and decent people have achieved.”
“I will continue to fight against the poisonous elements trying to destroy UKIP from within, and will continue to expose the many cases of cronyism, hypocrisy, corruption, and indeed racism, until it can no longer be swept under the carpet.”
“I urge you to fully investigate this leadership election and to reconsider the legitimacy of Diane James’s candidacy and subsequent leadership.”
This is one of the most damning indictments of Ukip we’ve ever seen. It will be interesting to see how Ukip, and Diane James, spin this, her first crisis.
ALL MY BLOGS & WEB SITES are clearly sourced to me
I do NOT use an obfuscated eMail address to hide behind
I do NOT use or bother reading FaceBook
I DO have a Voice Mail Message System
I ONLY GUARANTEE to answer identifiable eMails
I ONLY GUARANTEE to phone back identifiable UK Land Line Messages
I do NOT accept phone calls from witheld numbers
I Regret due to BT in this area I have a rubbish Broadband connection
I AM opposed to British membership of The EU
I AM opposed to Welsh, Scottish or English Independence within an interdependent UK
I am NOT a WARMIST
I do NOT believe the IPCC Climate Propaganda re Anthropogenic Global Warming
I AM strongly opposed to the subsidy or use of failed technologies eg. WIND TURBINES
I AM IN FAVOUR of rapid research & development of NEW NUCLEAR technologies
I see no evidence to trust POLITICIANS at any level or of any persuasion
I do NOT believe in GODS singular or plural, Bronze Age or Modern
I value the NHS as a HEALTH SERVICE NOT a Lifestyle support
I believe in a DEATH PENALTY for serial or GBH rape.
I believe in a DEATH PENALTY for serial, terrorist, mass or for pleasure murder.
I believe in a DEATH PENALTY for serial gross child abuse including sexual.
I do NOT trust or believe in armed police
I do NOT believe in prolonging human life beyond reasonable expectation of sentient participatory intellectual existence
I believe in EUTHENASIA under clearly defined & legal terms
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
The Ukip Ferrets squabbling over leadership bring little but shame on the Party as the ‘heavy weights’ wade in, all bar mud wrestling in the ordure surrounding the internal election!
~~~~~~~~~~#########~~~~~~~~~~
Nigel Farage’s Former Aide Tells Suzanne Evans To ‘Shut Up’, While Leadership Candidate Trolled In Secret Facebook Group
Huff Post UK has also uncovered secret Facebook group where Ukip leadership candidate is mocked over her weight
Nigel Farage’s former aide Annabelle Fuller told suspended Ukip members Suzanne Evans to “shut up” last night at a party leadership hustings.
Annabelle Fuller
A furious Fuller told Evans to “shut up” after the former party deputy chairman tried to shush her during a leadership contender’s closing speech.
Fuller was arguing with the campaign manager of leadership candidate Lisa Duffy
Lisa Duffy
over claims he had commented on the revelation that the fiancée of another contender – Bill Etheridge – had discovered Viagra in his car. [For details CLICK HERE]
After being told to shush by Evans – who is supporting Duffy – Fuller snapped back.
Speaking to the Huff Post UK this morning, Fuller – who now works for Ukip MEP Mike Hookem under her legal name of Trixy Sanderson – said: “I told Beecher to delete his tweet.
Trixy Sanderson
“Suzanne put her two pence in and I told her to shut up.”
Susanne Evans
Last night’s row is just another example of the increasingly bitter contest to succeed Farage as Ukip leader.
The early favourite was Steven Woolfe, an MEP for the North West who had the backing of high-profile Ukip donor Arron Banks.
His campaign seemed to be in trouble before it got off the ground, and his eligibility to stand was called into question after claims he had let his party membership lapse for 15 months.
One Ukip insider told the Huff Post UK: “If Diane becomes leader of Ukip she will act as a puppet for Nigel Farage, she will appoint Steven Woolfe as her deputy, and after a short stint she will stand down and let Woolfe take over, with Farage pulling the strings behind the scenes.”
The candidate with the most momentum seems to Lisa Duffy, who has secured a number of significant endorsements in the past few days. The party’s former health spokesperson Louise Bours yesterday announced she was backing Duffy, while Gerrard Batten, one of Ukip’s founding members, is also supporting her candidacy.
Duffy is a virtual unknown outside of Ukip circles, but the Ramsey Town Councillor has the support of MEP Patrick O’Flynn and former Deputy Chairmen Suzanne Evans.
While Duffy has attracted support from established party members, some members of Ukip’s youth wing – Young Independence – have been mocking the leadership contender.
In a closed Facebook group called ‘YI Faculty’, Oscar Gomez, a former local election candidate in North East Derbyshire, wrote: “Roll the fat fuck down the street and straight to the RSPCA. We can flog her off as an unwanted butchers dog.”
Another group member, Edwin Smith, wrote: “She rolls her sleeves up before assaulting another bucket of deep fried poultry.”
After a picture was posted of Duffy mocked up as Mr Blobby with the caption: “Mrs Duffy says Move on”, Smith wrote: “She needs to ‘move on’ to a treadmill.”
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After being shown the comments by Huff Post UK, Duffy’s campaign manager Jay Beecher said: “The comments made by certain members are utterly disgraceful and have no place in Ukip, let alone civilised modern-day society.
“Lisa has gained overwhelming support from across the UK to be the next leader of Ukip.
Jay Beecher
“These vile attacks on her are clearly just a childish attempt by some of her competitors who see her as the main contender. We’re busy fighting for a bright future for Ukip, so we’ll do what we’ve always done: rise above them”
What is it about the folk who have floated to the top of the septic tank that is Ukip? They fight like ferrets in a sack yet are all too willing to turn up in public slagging each other off in their nightwear!
Do you think any of them look like they have the vaguest similarity in look or style to anything that looks like a credible leader!
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Regards,
Greg_L-W.
~~~~~~~~~~#########~~~~~~~~~~
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.
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Philip Toscano/PA Archive
Jonathan Brady/PA Archive
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Ukip-vs-EUkip 