UKIP: Geoffrey Collier on The Press, the Police, and public confidence.

Geoffrey Collier is a long standing and well respected member of UKIP. His recent comments on UKIP, originally published on the British Democracy Forum, are worth repeating:

The squalid stories about the News of the World, should rightly be seen, as they are, about the nature of our political establishment. On being elected prime minister, David Cameron appointed a former N.O.W. - Andy Coulson - as his press adviser. The Daily Telegraph reports to day that News International had released to the Police new evidence that Mr Coulson. when NOW editor, had condoned payments from his staff to members of the Police. Does the receipt of those payments tell us as much about the NOW as the police themselves. That must be a very small step from payments being made by politicians to the police. What confidence can anyone have in government being conducted in this social climate?

What can we do about this situation? In the 1980's the membership of trades unions who engaged in criminal behaviour would, after a conviction in the courts, suffer the sequestration of their union funds. This should be the model for dealing with corrupt newspapers. The size of a newspapers readership is largely irrelevant. Providing that they attract advertisers newspapers can be distributed free. The London Standard, and the Metro, and a host of other documents more than testify to the truth of that claim. It is to the credit of the Ford Motor Company that they have suspended advertising in the NOW, and others like Npower are reviewing their policy. This is sound business judgement and good examples to other companies which make the gutter-press viable. I suggest that following any conviction for a serious offence, a sur-charge should be imposed on the newspapers advertising revenue. That would be defensible, understandable. enforceable and equable.Certainly it would be less difficult to enforce than changes in censorship legislation.

Newspaper like to boast that they are the Fourth Estate of the Realm; they are no such thing but they like to think that they are. It is important that newspapers are separated from the Executive and subject to the laws of the Legislature. Taking journalists of a low calibre to the heart of government is not without problems as Cameron may now be discovering.

At a more 'parochial level' UKIP has not always been served well by the statutory authorities. Call centres from which money disappears in large amounts. Donations circulated through various private companies without apparent justification, and schemes like Wine World, lotteries and public appeals from which it is claimed not a penny was raised, or the amounts declared suspiciously small. The Electoral Commission provided the name and number of a Metropolitan Police officer with the suggestion that action in respect of one of those activities should be taken. Little seems to have happened. The unconventional relationship of the Ashford Employment Ltd. and a NEC member cannot be deemed satisfactory. Much of what is wrong with Britain is wrong at the top. Ukip was founded to challenge that what exists; sadly it is now very much part of the problem.

We now have appointed at public expense a Mr Greaves who claims to be a barrister and specialises in International Law. Further claims to his credit involve appearances before the International Court at the Hague. That Court has no evidence of him appearing in any capacity. Furthermore he does not appear on the Roll of Bar members who are currently practising. Perhaps Mr Greaves would welcome an opportunity be explain this matter to satisfy the curiosity of the membership. The Registries at the Inns of Court may have knowledge of the gentleman. Burke's Peerage and Debretts were very obliging when one member of UKIP staff claimed aristocratic antecedents. Perhaps history will repeat itself.

To read the original: LINK