Ukip official in charge of vetting candidates admits he spends half his time ‘weeding out the lunatics’
- David Soutter said he did not have time to find good new candidates
- Comes after a series of scandals which have rocked the party this week
- One candidate recorded making a series of astonishing remarks
- Kerry Smith, chosen to fight Basildon South seat, referred to‘old pooftahs’
- Mr Smith issued an ‘unreserved’ apology and retracted corruption claim
By Tom McTague, Deputy Political Editor for MailOnline
Published: 15:48, 14 December 2014 | Updated: 17:33, 14 December 2014
The Ukip official charged with vetting the party’s election candidates has revealed he spends half his time ‘weeding out the lunatics’.
David Soutter told Ukip activists he was not able to spend enough time finding good new candidates – because he was too busy getting rid of people ‘who shouldn’t be there’.
The remarks come after one Ukip candidate was recorded making homophobic, racist and obscene comments – while another was exposed as a fantasist after becoming embroiled in a public sex scandal.
Nigel Farage is battling to contain a series of scandals which have hit Ukip over the past week
Ukip MEP Patrick O’Flynn played down the revelations – claiming they were ‘hand grenades rolling down the corridor’
In recorded comments passed to the Sunday Times, Mr Souter said the party needed to become more disciplined,
He said: ‘One of the things that Ukip has lacked as a party — and looking at it the way I’ve been able to from the outside — discipline is one of the things that’s really been missing.
‘Half my job is spent not finding good candidates to stand, it is weeding out the lunatics, the people who shouldn’t be there.’
Mr Soutter had even resorted to ‘doing tests to make sure people were vaguely sane and that they could string their words together more or less’, Ukip’s Scottish MEP David Coburn said.
Mr Souter’s role vetting party candidates was thrown into the spotlight last week over his failure to spot a series of glaring errors on the CV of leading Ukip candidate Natasha Bolter.
Ms Bolter was introduced to the Ukip party conference as a Labour defector, who taught at a local comprehensive school and had a degree from Oxford University.
But after she accused the party’s general secretary Roger Bird of sexual harassment it emerged that she never attended Oxford – and may not have been a teacher.
Doubts were first raised about her account after a series of affectionate text messages she sent to Mr Bird were published.
Kerry Smith (centre) was recorded making a series of astonishing comments including a baseless claim Nigel Farage had accepted ‘a nice fat envelope’ for promoting a Ukip ally
EXCLUSIVE: Leaked phone calls expose rants of Ukip man
In a shock announcement on Monday evening, Ukip announced Mr Bird had been suspended while it investigated allegations of ‘impropriety’.
On Tuesday Mrs Bolter gave an interview claiming to have been the victim of sexual harassment.
But Mr Bird has said the pair were in a relationship. Mrs Bolter told the BBC’s Newsnight: ‘I didn’t sleep with Roger Bird, end of.’ But he insisted: ‘For the record, yes she did.’
The scandal came after a series of tape-recorded phone calls were leaked to The Mail on Sunday, showing party candidate Kerry Smith, chosen to fight Ukip target seat of Basildon South in Essex making a series of offensive remarks.
In the tape he mocks ‘f***ing disgusting old pooftahs’ who belong to a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning group, calling them ‘BLTs’ – bacon, lettuce and tomato.
He also jokes about ‘shooting peasants’ and refers to a woman with a Chinese name as a ‘Chinky.’
But Mr Farage last night refused to sack Mr Smith. A well-placed Ukip official said: ‘Kerry wants to make a full apology and is hoping it all blows over.’
Ukip MEP Patrick O’Flynn today defended Mr Smith – claiming he had been drugs at the time.
He said: “This was a phone call sometime ago while he was on sedatives by his own account, not really speaking, thinking rationally. He was on prescription sedatives after suffering an injury.’
But he said: ‘Using derogatory terminology, this slang, is not right at this level of politics and you shouldn’t do it.’
‘Clearly what he said there is unacceptable. He’s apologised unreservedly, there are big mitigating circumstances, it’s from some time ago, and we’re willing now to judge him on his performance going forward from this.’
Ukip game to rate ‘blacks’ and Muslims to win £100… or golf umbrella: Farage in another race row over ‘rate on immigrant’ survey
The Ukip leader has found himself embroiled in another row over race
Nigel Farage was in another race row last night after asking supporters to rate ‘blacks, Muslims and Eastern Europeans’ in a game – with prizes of cash and a Ukip golf umbrella.
The ‘rate an immigrant’ survey is part of a Ukip private survey of members aimed at helping the party draw up its policies.
Sent last week by Ukip chairman Steve Crowther, it asks members to say ‘how close they feel’ to a number of groups.
They include ‘Blacks, Asians, Muslims, English, Eastern Europeans and Whites’ as well as the four main political parties.
Ukip activists are urged to rate each on a scale from 0 for ‘not close at all’ to 10 for ‘very close.’
But the survey was slammed as a racist stunt after details were leaked to The Mail on Sunday.
Last night, senior Labour MP Margaret Hodge condemned the Ukip survey as ‘shocking’.
Mrs Hodge, who won a campaign against the BNP in her Barking constituency in east London, said: ‘This openly brings race into politics. It’s shameful, it’s shocking and it’s offensive.
‘It lifts the lid on the unacceptable face of Ukip.’ The survey comes after a series of claims of racism involving Ukip, although Farage has insisted ‘stupid or offensive’ comments by a handful of candidates ‘never have and never will’ represent the views of his party.
The email to thousands of Ukip members from chairman Crowther is headed: ‘Help the Party and Win Prizes!’
It declares: ‘Ukip is growing quickly. We want to strengthen our party by understanding our rapidly growing membership. We are asking all our members to complete a new survey.’
The aim was to ‘use the insights to strengthen the Ukip operation… Your responses will be invaluable in making sure we fulfil our promises over the coming years – and in government!
‘So please, do complete the survey. It should be fun! You might even win some prizes!’
Prizes included ‘one prize of £100, two of £50, three prizes of a Ukip golf umbrella, four prizes of £25, five Ukip notebooks and six Ukip pocket diaries.’
Other Ukip race rows include:
- National executive member Gerard Batten’s call for Muslims to sign a ‘charter of understanding’ in which they rejected violence and parts of the Koran that promote ‘violent physical Jihad.’
- Parliamentary candidate in Grimsby Victoria Ayling was recorded saying ‘let’s keep the blacks out’. Council candidate Andre Lampitt said Africans should ‘kill themselves’.
- Council candidate William Henwood said Lenny Henry should ‘emigrate to a black country’.
- Exeter activist David Challice denounced the ‘lunacy of multiculturalism’ and called Greeks ‘vile’.
- Town hall candidate David Wycherley said Mo Farah was African, not British.
A Ukip spokesman denied the survey was racist, claiming every major employer carried out similar research of their staff.
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