Remember our article on Nick Griffin’s invitation to a meeting organised by Morten Messerschmidt? This meeting concerned Turkey’s wish to join the EU. See: LINK
We have decided to return to this topic as UKIP’s leadership is still desperately trying to deny any UKIP involvement. They have even tried to claim that Griffin ‘just turned up’.
They are lying.
Here are the facts:
Nick Griffin was invited to attend the meeting by Messerschmidt.
Messerschmidt is the vice chairman of the 'Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group'.
This is the same Messerschmidt who received a custodial sentence for a "racial offence", and was forced to resign his government job after being caught "Heiling Hitler" in a bar in Copenhagen.
The Turkey Assessment Group is an EFD supported forum.
The fact that each MEP was invited individually means that Nick Griffin could have been excluded had the EFD not been willing to work with him.
Messerschmidt is an EFD MEP.
There is no such thing as a UKIP MEP in Brussels, they are EFD MEPs.
The EFD's Director of Communications wrote a report on the meeting which is posted to the EFD's website. Nick Griffin’s photo is used to illustrate the report on the EFD’s website. It is still there. See: LINK
We have decided to return to this topic as UKIP’s leadership is still desperately trying to deny any UKIP involvement. They have even tried to claim that Griffin ‘just turned up’.
They are lying.
Here are the facts:
Nick Griffin was invited to attend the meeting by Messerschmidt.
Messerschmidt is the vice chairman of the 'Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group'.
This is the same Messerschmidt who received a custodial sentence for a "racial offence", and was forced to resign his government job after being caught "Heiling Hitler" in a bar in Copenhagen.
The Turkey Assessment Group is an EFD supported forum.
The fact that each MEP was invited individually means that Nick Griffin could have been excluded had the EFD not been willing to work with him.
Messerschmidt is an EFD MEP.
There is no such thing as a UKIP MEP in Brussels, they are EFD MEPs.
The EFD's Director of Communications wrote a report on the meeting which is posted to the EFD's website. Nick Griffin’s photo is used to illustrate the report on the EFD’s website. It is still there. See: LINK
Nigel Farage is the president of the group. He has repeatedly stressed the importance of UKIP being part of such the group. It is simply not good enough to say that Griffin’s invite had nothing to do with UKIP. You can't disown UKIP’s membership of EFD when it suits you.
Farage has attacked the BNP on numerous occasions:
"We have no time for the iniquitous policies of the BNP or for their criminal leadership" (press release 5/5/03).
"We have no links or associations with the BNP whatsoever" (The Guardian, 22/4/07)
But in Europe it is a very different story!
Fact: The group headed by Nigel Farage promoted an initiative which sought the BNP leader's involvement.
The extent of the BNP link established by Morten Messerschmidt is immaterial. UKIP’s leadership have failed to censor their EFD colleague for inviting Griffin. Farage’s supposed hatred of the BNP should have resulted in UKIP distancing themselves from both the meeting to which the BNP leader was invited, and the group which supported it.
And what is completely unacceptable and has led, rightly, to UKIP being condemned for hypocrisy, is that so-called ordinary party members are insulted, disciplined and even expelled for the most tenuous of imagined BNP 'links', whilst UKIP MEPs work with the BNP on committees in Brussels and accept without demur that their EFD colleagues invite and consort with the BNP at group events.
UKIP’s leadership has routinely smeared so-called UKIP dissidents by claiming that they have connections to the BNP. Eric Edmond, Martin Haslam, John West, Richard Suchorzewski, Nikki Sinclaire, Gary Cartwright and many others have all been accused of links to the BNP.
Any member who disagrees with Farage is labelled as "BNP". Anyone who criticises him is "BNP". He even had legal action threatened against him after he accused a staff member he had fallen out with as "BNP".
The chairman of UKIP's Bath branch was expelled from the party for emailing two BNP members an item about political correctness in the probation service.
And remember Mark Croucher’s statement that a leadership candidate "managed to consort with nazis" because a supporter of his campaign had once made a donation to a BNP connected organisation?
Farage even tried to link Nikki Sinclaire with the BNP after she left the EFD group. He claimed that as she was now non-attached, she was "with the BNP".
And can you imagine the outcry from UKIP’s leadership if Nikki Sinclaire had invited Nick Griffin to a meeting organised by a member of her staff?
Farage should denounce Morten Messerschmidt's invitation to Nick Griffin, order the removal of the report on the Turkey Assessment Group's meeting from the EFD website and make it very clear that UKIP MEPs will leave the group if there is any further consorting with the BNP.
Or Lord Pearson should rule that UKIP has now dropped any objection to members associating with the BNP.
Or is Farage just a damn hypocrite?
2 comments:
Hello Junius
The former chairman of UKIP Bath you refer to goes by the name Andrew Edwards. I can totally understand why you selectively chose not to write his name as his links to the BNP are beyond question - see my blog for info.
I dare say this will not be uploaded to your blog but I just though i'd highlight this selective reporting.
We will keep this simple as Skeptyk is not the brightest of bloggers.
Andrew Edwards was thrown out of UKIP for sending emails to BNP members.
An EFD MEP invites Nick Griffin to a meeting and Farage says nothing.
Double standards? You bet!
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