Marta Andreasen and UKIP: The end of a not so beautiful relationship

 

"to mould and shape (UKIP) in any way he sees fit, regardless of the views of others".

 

"Nigel promotes the people who say yes to him and will be grateful for getting the job and will never contradict him".

 

Andreasen on Farage

 

And so Marta has flown the UKIP nest and found a new home with the Tories. Farage is furious and has been heaping insult after insult on his former colleague. But has Nigel forgotten who promoted her? Has he forgotten who twisted the rules to ensure that she was selected as an MEP candidate? And the name of the person who did all this? Just check the photo above!

Yet another example of Farage's 'leadership' qualities!

And we happily note Marta's criticisms of UKIP under Farage. We have - along with GLW - been pointing out Farage's failings as a leader for years. The man is corrupt, dishonest and a disgrace to the Euro-realist movement. Fortunately, certain revelations concerning this man are now in the hands of interested parties. We await developments with interest.

From the BBC:

Relations between UKIP leader Nigel Farage and MEP Marta Andreasen had become strained.

A senior member of the UK Independence Party has said she is leaving the party to join the Conservatives.

Marta Andreasen, a South East region MEP, sent her resignation letter to UKIP leader Nigel Farage on Friday.

It comes two weeks after she accused the UKIP leader of bullying and being “anti-women” and “a Stalinist” and threatened to leave the party.

In response, Mr Farage said the Tories “deserve what is coming to them” and added: “The woman is impossible.”

Marta Andreasen, 58, said resigning from UKIP to join the Conservatives was not a decision that she took lightly.

In an open letter expressing her dissatisfaction with UKIP, she accused Mr Farage of treating any views other than his own with contempt.

Ms Andreasen said she did not believe the party could offer “real leadership”.

She said Mr Farage surrounded himself with “an old boys club of like-minded sycophants”, whereas Conservative leader David Cameron had shown “he can listen, adapt and do what is right for the country, not just for personal gain”.
 

The MEP said the prime minster’s speech on Britain’s relationship with the EU last month had convinced her the Conservatives were the “true referendum party”.

Conservative Party Chairman Grant Shapps said he was “delighted” to welcome her to his party.

“She brings a wealth of experience – and a dedication to fight for what’s best for the British people in Europe,” he said.

Meanwhile, in a statement issued on Friday, the UKIP leader said: “Having left the OECD, the European Commission and UKIP in unpleasant circumstances, the Conservative Party deserve what is coming to them.

“The woman is impossible.”

Relations between Ms Andreasen and Mr Farage had been strained for some time, with Ms Andreasen calling for Mr Farage to quit after the party’s poor performance in council elections in 2011.

Since then, UKIP’s fortunes have improved and it recorded its best performance in a parliamentary by-election in Rotherham in December.

Ms Andreasen, who is Spanish but was born in Argentina, worked as an auditor and financial director for various companies before working as an accountant for the European Commission in 2002.

She later joined UKIP and was elected in 2009. She currently sits on six committees in the European Parliament.

Ms Andreasen had been UKIP’s sole remaining female MEP, after Nikki Sinclaire was expelled from the party in 2010.

Ms Sinclaire later brought a sexual discrimination case against the party which was subsequently dropped.

At the time, UKIP issued a statement affirming its “opposition to discrimination on all grounds as prescribed by law and otherwise” and stressed that sexuality was “no bar to involvement or advancement” within the party.

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From Richard North's blog:

From many accounts, Marta Andreasen is an impossible woman, and UKIP is well rid of her. But the fact that she became a UKIP MEP at all is a reflection of how Nigel Farage manipulates the party list to put his own candidates in place – very often in breach of his own party rules.

Nevertheless, when she was first introduced at their conference in Bournemouth, a party activist remembers that Nigel himself introduced her as their new golden girl - the UKIP equivalent of a then ascendant Sarah Palin. How things change.

For what it's worth, my view is that she should never have been included in the list in the first place. Those with longer memories will recall that before Farage found her a home, she had already sought a place on the Tory list, only coming over to UKIP when offered a paid post as its treasurer.

However, one cannot entirely disagree with her analysis of UKIP, when she says that that party has [some] "good people in it at grassroots". Despite that, she has been at odds with Farage for a long time, having called for his resignation as party leader as early as May 2011. And she is not wrong when she declares that he treats any views other than his own "with contempt".

Andreason saw UKIP as his plaything "to mould and shape in any way he sees fit, regardless of the views of others". Sadly, there is truth in that as well. I myself formed that view long before she joined the party, and very much recognise the validity of her claim that, "Nigel promotes the people who say yes to him and will be grateful for getting the job and will never contradict him".

"Under his leadership - and I have questioned his leadership obviously a number of times – the party has become a dictatorship", she said in an interview earlier this month, adding: "This is a Stalinist way of operating and he doesn't care about the membership or the grassroots…".

Currently, she says about Farage, "His actions, surrounding himself with an old boys' club of like-minded sycophants, are dictatorial, in sharp contrast to those of David Cameron, who has shown he can listen, adapt and do what is right for the country, not just for personal gain".

Responding to her defection to the Tories, Farage says of Andreason, "Having left the OECD, the European Commission and UKIP in unpleasant circumstances, the Conservative party deserve what is coming to them. The woman is impossible".

On the other hand, Grant Shapps, the Conservative chairman, says that her defection is a vindication of Mr Cameron's European policies. Her words on the Prime Minister's record "prove that the Conservatives are the only party who can protect Britain’s interests in Europe".

Standing back from that, one can only regret - as does Autonomous Mind - that the eurosceptic cause is served so badly by all these shenanigans. We have enough difficulties and hurdles without our own side adding to them.

 

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Also see: LINK