UKIP's election shambles continues. And Nuttall makes an ass of himself on TV

And so the farce continues. More ex-BNP standing for UKIP, a candidate makes a Nazi salute and Godfrey Bloom insults women .... again.

And yet all the party leadership can do is moan about the Tories leaking ''smear' stories to the press. The odious Paul Nuttall's pathetic performance on the Sunday Politics is just one example. Nuttall may have a small brain but hasn't it occurred to him that the fault lies with UKIP's shambolic selection process?

UKIP has the money - thanks to the EU-  to employ competent people to oversee the selection process. And yet what do they do? Use sycophants and the mentally challenged - stand up Duffy, Reeve and Crowther - instead!

And what of Godfrey Bloom - Nuttall's colleague in Brussels? So will Nuttall defend him? After all, he can't blame the Tories for Bloom's sexist outbursts!

From The Mail:

Alex Wood, 22, is standing in council elections in Somerset

 

Claims account was hacked and denies making racist comments

 

Pictures emerged clenching knife between teeth in front of Union Flag

 

Denied making Nazi salute and comments that Africans 'lived in mud huts'
 
UKIP leader Nigel Farage admits it 'doesn't look very pretty'

Refers to 'coloured people' in radio interview rejecting claims of racism

UK Independence Party election candidate has been caught on camera apparently making a Nazi salute – bringing further scandal to the party ahead of Thursday’s local elections.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage admitted the latest revelations about members 'doesn't look very pretty' as he was again forced on to the back foot over the failure to vet people standing in this week's local elections.

The latest photo to emerge is of Alex Wood, candidate for Blackmore Vale in Somerset, which was posted on Facebook, along with racist comments. In another picture, part of a series of images, the 22-year-old clenches a knife between his teeth against a backdrop of the Union Flag.

UKIP candidate Alex Wood, who is standing in the Somerset County Council elections, is pictured apparently making a Nazi salute. Wood said he was reaching for a camera

Mr Wood, pictured clenching a knife between his teeth in front of a Union Flag, denies being a racist

Comments saying that Africans ‘lived in mud huts’ and ‘kill each other’ also appeared under his name on the Facebook page, but he told the Mail last night that he ‘categorically denies’ posting them.

He said: ‘My account has been hijacked – by that I mean someone, somehow, has gained access to my Facebook and posted personal pictures of me without me knowing.

'Claims that I am a racist are categorically untrue and all comments of a racist nature on Facebook were not posted by me.’

A string of revelations about UKIP candidates have dogged the party ahead of Thursday's elections.

Mr Farage was again forced to admit the party does not have the resources to check the backgrounds of everyone standing for election on a UKIP ticket.

Challenged about the pictures of Mr Wood, Mr Farage said: 'That doesn’t look very pretty, I agree with you, and we have had, out of out 17,000 candidates, a handful that have embarrassed us, most of them because they simply haven’t told us the truth.

'We’re the only party in British politics who actually forbid former members of the British National Party or extreme organisation from even becoming members of UKIP, let alone candidates, and in one or two cases, people haven’t told us the truth, but I’m pleased to say it is only a handful,' he told BBC Radio 4.

Mr Farage also courted controversy when he referred to 'coloured people' during an interview to reject claims UKIP supporters are racist.

Party aides later stressed he was referring to comments made by former Tory councillor John Cherry, who resigned last week after suggesting inner-city children from a ‘coloured area’ would not be welcome at a proposed new school in the countryside.

Pollsters predict UKIP could make major gains in Thursday's elections of between 50 and 100 seats.

But the campaign drive has been over-shadowed by revelations about some of the party's candidates.

Mr Wood defended the photograph of him raising his left arm, insisting it was in fact a picture of him at a Christmas party reaching for his friend’s camera after she had taken pictures of him ‘trying to eat from a tree’.

Party leader Nigel Farage has come under pressure to suspend Mr Wood, pictured together

‘It sounds stupid, I know,’ he said. ‘But it’s true.’

He added: ‘I do not wish to say anything else as it is being investigated by police.’

Mr Farage last night came under pressure to suspend Mr Wood.

UKIP suspended 24-year-old Chris Scotton, a candidate in Leicester, at the weekend after it was revealed he backed online groups with racist views.

The release of the image also comes after a series of other humiliating incidents for the party, including a UKIP candidate being investigated by police over allegations of electoral fraud.

Northumbria Police said officers were investigating a report of alleged electoral fraud in the Cowpen area of Blyth.

Detective Inspector David Brown said on Sunday: ‘We can confirm that we have received a complaint... We are in the early stages of the investigation.’

Last week UKIP were also forced to respond to a series of revelations about candidates’ racist pasts.

Others are accused of making homophobic comments or saying that vigilantes should kill paedophiles.

And on Saturday UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom sparked fresh controversy when he repeated his call for company bosses not to employ women of child-bearing age.

Branding maternity rights ‘draconian’, he said: ‘I would say be very, very careful indeed what that young woman has to offer.

If I wanted a receptionist or a dental nurse, I would be thinking very carefully about the age of that woman because she has to turn up at nine o’clock every morning. This isn’t rocket science.’

It comes after veteran Tory Cabinet minister Ken Clarke claimed UKIP voters are racists and said the party's politicians are clowns.

Mr Clarke said UKIP is merely a protest party and those attracted to it are ‘waifs and strays’ who are simply ‘against’ foreigners and immigrants.

Recent polls showed that Nigel Farage’s Eurosceptic party has overtaken the Liberal Democrats and is set for its best local election results ever on Thursday, when 35 county councils and unitary authorities in England and one in Wales go to the polls.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2316924/UKIP-candidate-Alex-Wood-caught-camera-apparently-making-Nazi-salute.html#ixzz2RwdmlXD7

From the East Anglian Daily Times:

A UKIP candidate in Thursday’s county council elections in Suffolk has been disowned by the party after it discovered he had once been a member of the BNP.

But Alan Ryall will still be on the ballot paper in the Wickham division because the discovery came after the closing date for withdrawals.

Weekend reports looking into UKIP candidates across the country said Mr Ryall had been a member of the BNP for “one or two” years but he said he now felt that party was “too extreme”.

He did not want to discuss his candidacy when our reported visited his home near Wickham Market – although he said he understood it was too late for him to withdraw from the election.

Asked about allegations that he had been a member of the BNP in the past he said he did not want to say any more and went into his home.

UKIP spokesman Stuart Gulleford said the party had a very strict policy on not allowing current or former members of the BNP to become members. “He will not be standing as a UKIP candidate and his membership will be terminated,” he said.

However, he accepted Mr Ryall will be described as the UKIP candidate on the ballot papers because they have already been printed – and many have already been sent out to postal voters.

Mr Gulleford claimed: “Everyone who joins UKIP has to sign a declaration that they are not and never have been a member of the BNP.”

UKIP was stronger on this issue than other parties, he said, and asked: “Do they know that none of their members have ever been a member of the BNP?”

However, Mr Ryall told a national newspaper he had not been asked by UKIP about his lapsed BNP membership.

Mr Gulleford said he would not be giving any advice to voters in the Wickham Division about how they should vote on Thursday following his party’s withdrawal of support for Mr Ryall. “That is a matter for voters’ conscience,” he said.

To read the original: LINK

And here is the odious Paul 'just call me Benito' Nuttall's shambolic performance on the Sunday Politics: