Sunday People political editor Nigel Nelson urges voters not to give Nigel Farage a crack at government
PAINS ON AN ASS
Some intelligence reaches me which I might avoid sharing with my children – each generation has been brighter than the last.
Denmark has carried out the same IQ test on 18 year olds since the 1950s to check their suitability for military service.
And the Danes found IQ went up three points a decade.
Then something odd happened. Scores peaked in 1998 and are now 1.5 points lower. UK and Australian studies produced similar results.
Scientists don’t know why we’re getting dumb. And dumber. Just that we are.
Which takes me to the North Kent coast and the South Thanet constituency where I suspect Danish IQ testing would show an even sharper decline in intelligence.
South Thanet voters would need the IQ of donkeys to send the Ukip leader to Westminster. And those in Clacton would be asses to allow Tory defector Douggie Carswell to remain their MP.
PA
Farage: your having a laugh
This Nigel likes that Nigel. I enjoy his company, and admire his political savvy.But Ukip MPs would be a bloody menace if David Cameron or Ed Miliband end up leading a minority government next year.
Ukip is no party of government. Its manifesto looks as if Nigel wrote it on the back of one of his fag packets.
Ukip’s only answer to complex issues like terrorism, immigration, and fuel poverty is to leave the EU.
The Kippers even claim, bizarrely, that exiting Europe would put more fish in the sea.
John Chapa / Barcroft USA
Ukip’s pledge: more fish in British waters
And then there Nigel’s own IQ to consider. He’s offering to buy a pint for the winner of the Ukip conference prize draw, a modest financial commitment.
I’ve read the small print which says the competition “is open to individuals aged 16 or over who are resident in the UK.”
But 16 year olds can only drink legally in a pub if they are bought a meal as well.
And I wouldn’t trust Britain’s economy to a man who spends five times more than he originally intended.
Yes all too easily this can be shown to be the frippery of the media but the very fact that Ukip is laid open to these criticisms whether of failing to explain how their move to leave the CFP might give rise to more fish and how abrogating on Treaty Undertakings can be achieved or encouraging 16 to 18 year olds to break the law, when it comes to the national licensing laws.
How may the idiots in Ukip’s leadership team be considered suitable for any position in Governance when their entire policy seems to revolve around policies and clever weezes dreamed up on the spur of the moment and endless ill thought out band wagon jumping is no substitute for gravitas, reliability and responsible intelligent planning.
After 21 years with the core policy of Leave_The_EU neither Nigel Farage nor Ukip in general have managed to provide a credible, honourable and ethical exit and survival strategy – little wonder they lost their last representative MP at Westminster so rapidly when Bob Spink saw through the smoke and mirrors and comic behaviour of Ukip’s leadership to its core of racism, anti homosexuality and criminal corruption.
Little wonder Ukip after 21 years has but a miniscule spattering of Councillors and that includes the all but irrelevant Town & Local Councillors and absolutely no one within so much as a sniff of election in a General Election as they pin their desperate hopes on a Tory turncoat hanging onto his seat in a by election!
Like Alex Salmond in Scotland Ukip is desperately trying to enrich and empower itself without any credible structure or plan, dependent on stirring up fear and hatred amongst the least well educated and those who feel dispossessed by the relentless march of modern life and the unarguable effects of the global increase in population, communications, mobility and technology hand in hand with undeniable increases in temperature and changes of weather patterns that this planet has always been at the mercy of as our local star pulsates on what seems to be a cyclical basis over the eons!
I note today a Ukip press release written for Jill Seymour that endeavours to make much of the efforts of Staffordshire to ring fence expenditure for its cancer patients and end of life patients – yet as ever with Ukip they capitalise on criticism funded by the public purse but have, like Alex Salmond, no plan B.
For those interested in the subject of cancer care, the NHS and end of life care may I suggest you CLICK HERE for some FACTS! I suggest Jill Seymour reads this too before letting Ukip write more press releases for her!
Mike Nattrass’ Efforts to Expose UKIP Corruption now feature in The Mirror! One of the comments was amusing ‘Another picture of Farage drinking. Friggin hell doesn’t he ever stop?’!
.
~~~~~~~~~~#########~~~~~~~~~~
.
UKIP leader Nigel Farage under pressure as own MEP threatens legal showdown
It added: “I’m concerned the party brand will be tarnished, even holed below the water line, by his monopoly of power.”
A source said: “Nigel has a long memory for people who have crossed him.”
Last week UKIP was in chaos when chief executive Will Gilpin stepped down after just eight months. He launched a devastating attack on Farage, accusing him of running a party of “enthusiastic amateurs having a good time rather than the professional fighting team they could be”.
It is thought Farage wants to replace Gilpin with ex-Tory MP turned Ukipper Neil Hamilton.
Nattrass has emailed supporters saying: “There has been no reason given for my exclusion from the selection process.” He denies failing “a head-shrinking test”, saying: “I never took one and the shrinks who missed me were the lucky ones.”
Carl Humphries, the Chair of Worcester UKIP branch, is also backing Nattrass. He emailed: “I’m amazed and disappointed to find Mike’s name is not on the list of approved candidates.
UKIP said: “We don’t comment on unsuccessful candidates.”
regular readers of this blog will be aware that we drew attention to the scam of Isle of Man bank accounts to avoid British taxes being exploited by Nigel Farage several years ago. Farage was of little interest then but now with a very slack nes period the media are USING Farage and the4 cult he has created as a goad to other parties of relevance, to embarrass them and create stories.The media has had this story for an age but have never bothered with it as Farage is of little significance having destroyed the credibility of U*KIP imn the long term by running it as a cult – even to the extent of now managing self adulatory vi9llage hall meetings on a Dave alien basis with a bottle of wine and quofing it during his performance which is all about him and further undermines the cr4edibility of UKIP.UKIP has absolutely no one of gravitas or consequence and is anchored by a self publicist6 spiv – one strong wind and the entire organisation will risk being blown off course and drift inevitably onto the rocks to break up in internal squabbles of the mediochre as they try to take over the party.
UKIP hasn’t a single solitary individual of gr5avitas or consequence who could take over from Farage to lead HIS cult nor anyone who is of any value who couild even support him.
As I have said for a number of years UKIP has the benefit of riding a natural wave that i8s both popular and populist – the tune is excellent, the performing monkey on top of the organ is clever, charming and attracts the crowds, who like such dumbed down entertainment, but there is no organ grinder and thus the entire performance lacks leadership and vision, strategy or tactics and is constantly pilfered for bits by its own team – effectively the monkey dances well but for lack of an organ grimnder the very organ itself is increasingly being shown to lack all sorts of vital parts.
It is clear that with the rise in light weight populism and the cult of the celeb all UKIP has going for it is an increasingly ill informed and fickle claque parasitically feeding off the nuts the monkey drops.
Now that the numbers are increasing it is clear talking to the professional sephologists and more consequential journalists that UKIP may well have collapsed by the General Election, collapsed into the morass of impropriety, profligacy and petty scandals!
An amusing thought, though sad if one is a true EUroRealist patriot and remotely aware of the facts and the methods required to Leave-The-EU, we saw Robert Kilroy – Silk who having lost his career as an entertainer and commentator on TV swallowed the bait of Farage’s promise that he could become leader of UKIP (not in Farage’s gift at the time!).
Now we see Farage desperately maneuvering to make the transfer the other way to become a full time entertainer!
The one success Kilroy – Silk had that seems likely to elude Farage in the long run is that Kilroy – Silk was an MP before he made his name as an entertaining chat show host!
Beware Farage: ‘The higher up the tree the monkey climbs the more you see its rs’!
UKIP leader Nigel Farage admits mistake after setting up offshore fund to avoid tax
The UKIP leader paid a tax adviser to create a trust in the Isle of Man – which he intended to channel funds through
Nigel Farage opened an offshore trust fund in a plan to slash his tax bill, a Mirror investigation has revealed.
But he insisted he did not personally benefit from the trust fund he set up in a bid to save thousands of pounds in tax.
And the UKIP leader even claimed he ended up out of pocket after opening the scheme on the Isle of Man.
The 49-year-old paid a tax adviser to create the Farage Family Educational Trust 1654 in the tax haven – which he intended to channel funds through.
The outspoken anti-Europe politician confessed its existence during a string of meetings with our investigators.
But the former City trader said: “My financial advisers recommended I did it, to have a trust really for inheritance purposes and I took the advice and I set it up.
“It was a mistake. I was a completely unsuitable person for it. I am not blaming them it was my fault.
“It’s a vehicle that you chuck things in through your life that you don’t need and you build up a trust fund for your children or grandchildren.
“It was called an educational trust and could have been used for grandchildren’s schools fees, things like that.
“It was a mistake for three reasons. Firstly, I’m not rich enough to need one and I am never going to be.
“Secondly, frankly, the world has changed. Things that we thought were absolutely fair practice 10 years, 20 years ago, 30 years ago aren’t any more.
“Thirdly, it was a mistake because it cost me money. I sent a cheque off to set it up.”
Farage’s statements are even more extraordinary as he criticised offshore tax havens – naming the Isle of Man – in a speech in the European Parliament.
Tax expert Richard Murphy, who studied our dossier, said: “There are only two good reasons to set up an Isle of Man trust.
“One is secrecy, you don’t want someone to know what is in there. The other is tax avoidance.
“And sometimes, of course, they go together.”
Evidence: Farage fronted by Daily Mirror reporter Nick Sommerlad in Aberdeen
Newsline
Tax dodging costs Britain £35billion a year, according to HM Revenue and Customs, but Tax Research experts say it is as much as £123billion.
David Cameron backed a landmark deal at the G8 summit this week to crack down on corporate tax evasion.
The Mirror confronted Farage with financial documents as he campaigned for UKIP in Aberdeen.
These revealed he transferred his shareholding in Farage Limited after it was founded in 2003 to the Farage Family Educational Trust, based in Douglas, capital of the Isle of Man.
This meant the trust owned a 33% stake in Farage Limited, later rising to 50%.
Quizzed about the Farage Family Educational Trust, the politician insisted: “I was not a beneficiary.”
When we showed him a copy of Farage Limited accounts from 2004 indicating he owned shares in the city trading firm, he declared: “They are wrong then, aren’t they?
“I originally had the shares. I gave them away to the trust.”
Asked who set up the trust, Farage replied: “I set it up on behalf of somebody else.”
Pressed on who were the owners of the trust, Farage added: “There are none. It is closed.”
His brother Andrew, a co-director who owned the other 50% of the company, pocketed £969,000 in dividends from the firm.
Farage initially refused to confirm his sibling’s windfall. Asked if the payouts went to Andrew, he replied: “They must have done.”
And pushed on who received the £969,000, he said: “It’s a slightly unfair question because you are asking me to implicate someone else’s tax affairs in the Daily Mirror.
“It’s sensitive and the sums of money are quite big. You’re talking about nearly a million quid.
“The accountant who set up the company is prepared to speak to you.
“He will tell you on the record that I never received any dividends at all from that company ever and it all went to one individual. It’s not difficult to work out who it was.”
Farage Limited’s accountant Spencer Watson later confirmed that all £969,000 in dividends were paid to Andrew.
When we contacted Farage’s 47-year-old brother, he said: “I don’t want to make any comment. If I did, I did.
“If that’s what I earned that’s what I earned. All my money was paid and tax was paid on it in this country.
“Nigel had nothing to do with those monies. But if that’s what my accountant is saying then that’s fine.”
Brother: Andrew Farage
John Alevroyiannis
Farage himself claimed he was “unpaid during that period of time”. He added: “I packed up business completely in 2004.”
But on his Declaration of Members’ Financial Interests for the European Parliament dated January 2004, he stated that he was paid for being a director of Farage Limited.
He was also company secretary of the firm.
In every annual declaration from 2004 to 2009, Farage stated he was paid for “commodity broking”.
Farage Limited was his only company appointment posted at Companies House.
He later gave the Mirror a longer interview at the Kent home he shares with German-born wife Kirsten.
After inviting us into his kitchen, Farage was asked why he told EU officials he was paid for “commodity broking”, as he had said to our reporter he gave up business in 2004.
He replied: “Just to be careful, purely caution. I was over-declaring. I didn’t need to do it.”
He said he was unpaid as secretary and it was “an act of brotherly love”.
Companies House documents show the offshore trust remained a shareholder in Farage Limited until 2011.
The right-winger insisted it shut down in 2007 or 2008.
He said: “I sent a cheque off to set it up, out of my own taxed income, and basically just through administration fees that money disappeared.”
Accountant Mr Watson said he was not involved in setting up the Isle of Man trust for Farage.
He revealed Farage Limited lost a major client in 2011 and owed unpaid corporation tax.
Six weeks after the Eurosceptic resigned as company secretary in 2011, HMRC filed a petition to wind up the company.
Farage Limited went into a “voluntary arrangement” in 2011, one step short of going into administration.
Its debts of more than £100,000 are due to be paid off by 2017.
Reporting team: Nick Sommerlad, Andy Rossington, David Collins, Ben Rossington.
Farage on tax
Outspoken Nigel Farage last month told fellow members of the European Parliament they had a “common enemy – rich people, successful companies evading tax”.
The UKIP leader was elected as an MEP in 1999, earning £64,000 a year but he has boasted about claiming £2million in allowances.
Speaking on May 21 this year, he attacked European bureaucrats earning £100,000 a year who pay 12% tax under EU rules.
Farage said: “It is tax fraud on an absolutely massive scale. How can that be deemed to be fair?
“How can people struggling – the 16 million unemployed in the eurozone – look at these institutions, not only paying people vast sums of money but allowing them tax and pension benefits on a scale not seen else in the world?”
Farage has also called for tax cuts for the rich to tackle tax avoidance.
He said: “The biggest reason tax havens are allowed to prosper is we’ve this mindset we must try and get as much tax out of successful individuals as we possible can.
“If you do that, and if you have a complicated tax system, people will do all they can within the law to avoid paying tax.”
PA
Nigel Farage barricaded in a pub
View gallery
Why rich leg it to Isle of Man
Tax and secrecy are the biggest industries on the Isle of Man, employing around a quarter of the island’s 86,000 population.
But the Manx government is coming under new pressure to uncover its financial dealings.
There is no inheritance tax on the island and most companies pay no corporation tax.
Income tax is 20% or lower for individuals and is capped at £120,000 tax a year.
This low-tax culture has created a finance industry generating 40% of the island’s economy, where the average wage is 50% higher than the rest of the UK.
But tax campaigners, such as UK Uncut, have shifted attention to the murky side of island life, helping criminals and tax dodgers hide cash.
A crackdown on tax evasion using the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey is expected to raise £1billion in five years, says HM Revenue & Customs.
Timeline
1999 Nigel Farage elected to European Parliament
February 2003 Farage, his brother Andrew Farage and a third director set up commodity trading firm Farage Limited.
August 2003 A document filed at Companies House stated that Nigel Farage owned no shares in Farage Limited and the Farage Family Educational Trust 1654 owned 33 shares.
May 2004 Another document filed at Companies House stated that Nigel Farage owned 33 shares in Farage Limited and the Farage Family Educational Trust owned none.
October 2004 Farage was appointed company secretary of Farage Limited.
February 2006 Farage resigned as director of Farage Limited but remained as company secretary.
September 2006 Nigel Farage became leader of UKIP.
November 2009 Nigel Farage stood down as UKIP leader.
November 2010 Farage was re-elected leader of UKIP.
May 2010 Farage failed to win a seat at Westminster in the general election.
February 2011 Nigel Farage resigned as company secretary of Farage Limited.
March 2011 HM Revenue & Customs filed a petition at the High Court to wind up Farage Limited.
July 2011 Farage Limited went into a “voluntary arrangement” to pay off its debts by 2017.
Greg Lance - Watkins (Greg_L-W)
. Re-TWEET my Twitterings
Ukip-vs-EUkip 