UKIP feels the heat as Farage admits incompetence as far-right candidates stand for party in May elections

UKIP has been taking a pounding after it emerged that several UKIP candidates were ex-BNP members/supporters and racists. Indeed, one has been exposed as anti-Jewish and yet another one has been accused of electoral fraud! Now what were we saying about UKIP being the new BNP? LINK

But why are so many UKIPPERS upset that the press are now taking a greater interest in the shadier aspects of UKIP? They want to be in the big league but then get upset when party members are caught with their trousers down!

Farage has pathetically tried to defend the party by admitting that candidates were not properly vetted before selection. He told the World at One:

When it comes to the general election and the European elections we have put in place a very rigorous testing procedure … I’ll be honest with you, we don’t have the party apparatus to fully vet 1,700 people.

I have no doubt that among these 1,700 one or two will have slipped through the net that we’d rather not have had.

As the New Statesman put it:

It is hard to think of a greater gift to UKIP’s political opponents. By voting for the party are you inadvertently supporting a racist or a fascist? Don’t ask Nigel Farage, he can’t tell you. LINK

In other words, incompetence! And this chump wants to lead the country! And let us not forget that Farage rigged the MEP selection to ensure that Bannerman and Andreasen became lead MEP candidates. Both later jumped ship and joined the Tories!

Read on to view a selection of interesting national press articles on UKIP:

From the Telegraph:

Ukip criticised over ‘cloud cuckoo’ views of candidates

Racism is “just ethnic banter”, vigilantes should be allowed to kill paedophiles and Londoners should wear face masks to protect themselves from Eastern Europeans, some of Ukip’s local election candidates have suggested.

The party is facing questions over its vetting after campaigners criticised the “far-right connections” and “cuckoo conspiracy theories” of some of its potential councillors.

Ukip has been surging in polls ahead of local elections on May 2, with the latest survey suggesting it could win 100 seats.
 

However, Nigel Farage, its leader, admitted the party has not checked the backgrounds of all its 1,700 candidates, which has led the party to abandon a number of its contenders and distance itself from others when their views have been exposed.
 

One controversial candidate is Richard Wilkins, standing in the Isle of Wight, who suggested on his Twitter feed that childkiller Mick Philpott should have faced “chemical castration” to stop him claiming benefits for more than two children. He also suggested Mr Philpott should be “hung or burned at the stake” and objected to police charges against “3 blokes [who] kill a pedo”, adding “if they can’t do it we will”.
 

Mr Wilkins said he stood by his comments on “chemical castration and hanging” and wanted them printed “up in lights”.
 

Another candidate, Chris Scotton, who is standing in Leicestershire, has a Facebook page that endorses the far-right English Defence League.

He has “liked” groups including “No more mosques in Britain”, “Women deserve as much respect as men… LOL jk, get yah tits out luv.”, “RACISM?? NAA MATE ITS JUST ETHNIC BANTER”, and “I hate when I lose my black friend in the dark”.

Another candidate, David Waller, a candidate in Malling, Kent, suggested that Londoners need to take extreme medical precautions when restrictions on Bulgarian and Romanian immigration are lifted next year, because of the risk of tuberculosis.

“I would…suggest not going to London after January 2014 unless you absolutely have to and if you do, adopt the Japanese practice of wearing a face mask,” he wrote on his blog.

Mr Waller later told The Daily Telegraph that he had not meant the remark to be serious and he is in no way xenophobic.

Caven Vines, a candidate in Rotherham, has also written a blog rant against “so-called British Muslims”.

“Muslims go to war warring the same cloths as ordinary people who they hide behind they cover their faces, they hide behind women and children they set up rocket launches in school yards they use children to push wheel barrows into crowds and soldiers then detonate it killing innocent people SO WHO ARE THE COWARDS.

“Its about time the Government and the Police stopped pandering to these so called British Muslims and other foreign nationals.” Mr Vines has stood by his comments.

Meanwhile, the Leeds branch of Ukip has a page describing asylum seekers as “primitives” and “undesirable aliens”.

Over the last few weeks, Ukip has been forced to withdraw some of its candidates amid rows over their extreme views.

It suspended Anna-Maria Crampton, a candidate in East Sussex, over alleged comments blaming Jewish people for the Holocaust, and Sue Bowen, a candidate in Cornwall, after it emerged she was a former member of the British National Party.

However, it has embraced some candidates with controversial histories. One ex-Tory, Rob Fraser, was censured by Leicestershire County Council in 2011 for using the phrase “n*gger in the woodpile” and previously in 2009 for saying Romanians would “stick a knife in you as soon as look at you”.

Peter Wilding, a founder of the pro-Europe British Influence campaign, said Mr Farage should not “get away with a smile while saying we haven’t done due diligence” . He criticised the “cuckoo conspiracy theories” of some candidates and the “far-right connections” of others.

However, a Ukip spokesman last night blamed Conservatives for trying to “traduce people supporting Ukip”.

“UKIP is made up of ordinary people many of whom are young and have made the odd excessive comment on new media,” he said. “However, I am perfectly prepared to answer every criticism that [Conservative] central office has laid at our door after they have told me how many Romanians and Bulgarians they expect to come to London in the next five years.”

To read the original: LINK

From the Mail:

The UK Independence Party today suffered a string of damaging revelations about its election candidates, including one who reportedly claimed Jews murdered each other in the Holocaust.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage was forced to admit the party had not properly checked all 1,700 candidates it is fielding in next week’s council elections, raising the prospect of more embarrassments to come.

The row threatens to undermine the party’s hopes of making a major breakthrough in May 2’s elections.

Anna-Marie Crampton, a UKIP candidate in East Sussex, was suspended by the party over reports she posted extreme views on a conspiracy theorist website called 'Secrets of The Fed'.

Crampton, 57, is allegedly quoted as saying: ’Holocaust means a sacrifice by fire. Only the Zionists could sacrifice their own in the gas chambers.

’The Second World Wide War was engineered by the Zionist jews and financed by the bankers to make the general public all over the world to feel so guilty and outraged by the Holocaust that a treaty would be signed to create the State of Israel as we know it today.’

Just two weeks ago Mrs Crampton posed with Mr Farage at a rally in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

A spokesman said: ’These comments are really way out there and really hard-core anti-Zionism.’

 

A spokesman for British Influence, which is campaigning against UKIP policies on Europe said:

’This sort of holocaust denial from a UKIP candidate is further evidence of the toxic mix of anti-semitism and cuckoo conspiracy theories that run rife in UKIP and she should be expelled from the party and not simply suspended.

’The fact is that UKIP has more than 1,700 candidates being fielded in next Thursday's local elections - almost as many as the Lib Dems – and one has to ask oneself how many more of them have skeletons in the cupboard.’

 

 

 

Yesterday, Susan Bowen, from Boscastle in Cornwall, was dropped as a candidate in elections to the county’s unitary council after it emerged she was once a member of the BNP.

In county council elections UKIP is fielding more candidates than the Lib Dems.

But the dramatic election push could come at a cost, after Mr Farage admitted that not all of them have been properly vetted to ensure they do not hold extreme views.

He said that a ’rigorous testing procedure’ was in place to choose candidates for next years’s elections to the European Parliament, and the 2015 general election.

This tested ’people’s knowledge, their ability with media - you know, full credit checks, police checks and all the rest of it’.

But he told BBC Radio 4’s World at One: ’I’ll be honest with you, we don’t have the party apparatus in a very short space of time to fully vet 1,700 people.

’We have made people sign declaration forms, expressing the fact that they’ve never been part of political parties that we consider to be wholly undesirable. By that I mean the BNP.

’And, you know, we ask people if there is a problem with a criminal record or whatever else it may be, please tell us.

’I have no doubt that amongst those 1,700 one or two people will have slipped through the net that we’d rather not have had.’

Mr Farage has previously criticised Tory leader David Cameron for his 2006 claim that ’Ukip is sort of a bunch of ... fruit cakes and loonies and closet racists mostly’.

To read the original: LINK

From the BBC:

Norfolk election: Police investigate 'malpractice' allegation

Police have been called in to investigate allegations that signatures were forged on a nomination paper for next week's local elections.

The inquiry relates to forms for Jonathon Childs, a UKIP candidate in the Norfolk County Council elections.

A Norfolk Police spokesman said: "We can confirm that we have received a complaint of electoral malpractice, which we are investigating."

Mr Childs said he would co-operate with any police inquiries.

It is alleged one or more signatures on his nomination paper were forged.

Under election rules, candidates have to sign the form, along with 10 people who support the nomination.

Linda Mockford, assistant returning officer, said she received a complaint about an alleged irregularity on a nomination paper and had referred the matter to the police.

"The nominations have been declared valid and the election will proceed. Anything will be dealt with after the election," she said.

 

UKIP agent Matthew Smith said he did not believe there had been any wrong-doing

 

Mr Childs, UKIP candidate for East Flegg, near Yarmouth, said: "I was made aware of someone's name on the nomination form who hadn't signed it.

"I went of my own free will to make Great Yarmouth Borough Council (GYBC) aware of this and then found out that my signature had been forged, too. The council thanked me for making them aware of this.

"If a crime has been committed I would like the full weight of the judicial system levied against the perpetrator.

"I am sure GYBC will conduct their duties in a diligent way and I have 100% trust in their protocol and systems in place."

Matthew Smith, who is agent for UKIP candidates in the Great Yarmouth area and is also standing for election himself, said he was "absolutely certain" the paperwork had been filled out correctly.

"I can say that there's been no wrongdoing on our part and I don't believe that there has been any wrongdoing at all," he said.

To read the original: LINK

Also see: LINK