UKIP: The disgusting hypocrisy of Farage, Bloom, Batten and Nattrass.

You will recall how Farage secretly signed up to a second EU pension fund. See: LINK

Besides Farage, the list of current UKIP MEPs subscribing to the second pension fund is as follows:

Gerard Batten, Godfrey Bloom and Mike Nattrass.

This pension fund is financed by the British taxpayer.

This is yet again another example of how Farage and the others are quite happy to take advantage of Britain’s membership of the EU.

In public they preach Euro-scepticism but in private they are more than happy to milk the system for every euro they can get. They can't wait to line their own pockets and thus increase the size of their private bank accounts!

To say that Farage, Batten, Bloom and Nattrass are sickening hypocrites would be an understatement!

This is what Petrina Holdsworth - UKIP’s former Chairman - had to say:

If he has been involved in increasing his pension in this way then as the then Leader of an anti EU party he is in dire straights, the humbug of it all is staggering by anyone’s standards. If he is not involved then he should make that clear immediately.

I have to say that at the time I was Chairman I heard that a number of UKIP MEPs were feathering their nests in this way but no proof was ever forthcoming.

End of quote.

This scandal is clearly not going to go away. The British media are already taking an interest.

This is from The Daily Telegraph:

Taxpayers to plug £100m hole in MEP pension fund created by financial crisis and fraud

Taxpayers could be asked to plug a £106 million black hole in a fund providing a second pension for MEPs, to make up for cash lost to fraudulent investment schemes and during the financial crisis.

By Bruno Waterfield in Brussels

The second pension perk, for 478 out of 785 MEPs, already costs taxpayers over £12 million a year, an annual bill that will increase by up to £10.6 million to meet the shortfall.

The Daily Telegraph has also learned that a number of emergency reforms to the pension scheme, aimed at stemming the huge losses, will be opposed by a powerful group of MEPs who both benefit from and administer the fund.

According to senior sources, the European Parliament's authorities are also expected to bypass a decision by its budget control committee not to bail out the scheme in order to "honour legal requirements".

The issue is expected to come to a head during a Strasbourg debate on the parliament's budget next Tuesday.

Up to half the funds loses are said to stem form investments, via a Luxembourg fund, in schemes linked to Bernard Madoff, the disgraced American financier.

Chris Davies, a British Liberal Democrat MEP who benefits from the scheme, has opposed the bailout.

"Our constituents are being told by their own pension funds to expect a lot less than they had once been promised," he said.

"MEPs must take the same kind of hit as the people we represent. It would be shameful to allow the use of public money to fill the hole created by the recession."
The parliament's Additional Voluntary Pension Scheme is a controversial perk that comes on top of national pensions, which for British MEPs is set at the same level as Westminster MPs.

Two thirds of the optional extra pension is paid for in supplementary payments by the taxpayer. MEPs pay £1052(1,194 euros) a month into the scheme. That cash is added to by a publicly funded payment of £2104 (2388 euros).

MEPs, on reaching retirement age, can expect an extra pension benefit, on top of generous national schemes, worth an annual £14,736 for every five year term of office.

An MEP benefiting from the perk can net a combined pension of over £40,000 after just 10 years in office.

Officials have moved to address the pension fund deficit, which leapt from £26.5 million (30 million euros) to £106 million (120 million euros) last year, by seeking to raise the age that MEPs can benefit from 60 to 63, as well as ending early retirement at 50 and lump sum payments.

But an internal letter written by the fund's chairman, the former Conservative MEP Richard Balfe, which was seen by The Daily Telegraph, has warned that the reforms are "not permissible under European law".

"These changes go against the 'vested rights' and the 'general principles of proportionality and the protection of legitimate expectations' of the members of the scheme'," he wrote.

The parliament's management of the supplementary pension fund has been repeatedly been criticised since 1999 by the European Court of Auditors for failing to have "clear rules to define the liabilities and responsibilities" of the scheme.

Sources have also predicted that an April 22 vote on the European Union assembly's 2007 budget will be used to overturn a decision not to bailout the pension fund taken by the parliament's budget control committee.

"Someone will try to delete this in votes next Wednesday and will probably win," said an MEP on the committee.

"This will be the opportunity for MEPs to say that their pension fund should have to manage the market fluctuations in the same way as every other pension fund."

To see the original: LINK

Farage’s useful idiots are now desperately trying to claim that this is a non- story. They have dismissed it as simply an excuse to damage UKIP.

So if they consider UKIP damaged, should they not blame those UKIP MEPs who not only secretly signed up to the fund but also sought to hide the fact from the British taxpayer?

UKIP East Midlands in election pact with the Tories

More than one disgusted East Midlands UKIPPER has contacted Junius with the news that UKIP East Midlands has agreed to an election pact with the Tories.

This emerged after Derek Clark was asked by members when a decision was going to be made on which seats UKIP would be contesting in the GE.

Clark replied that UKIP will not be contesting several key Tory seats in the region because some of the sitting MPs are regarded as good Euro-sceptics.

This decision was made without consulting the membership in the region.

So once again UKIP is exposed as nothing more than a Tory pressure group.

But should be surprised at this revelation? Don’t forget that Lord Pearson offered to disband UKIP in exchange for a Tory pledge on a referendum. And Farage has always opposed the idea of UKIP standing against Tory Euro-sceptics.

That the MPs in question are faithful members of a party committed to EU membership is something that our Nigel would rather not discuss.

But let us not forget that UKIP East Midlands is but a shadow of what is used to be. They simply don’t have the members or the finances to contest that many seats.

Branches have closed. They have lost one MEP and dozens of activists. They can’t even find members to contest key council seats. Two recent by-elections went uncontested.

Don Ransom - the RO - is a convicted drunk driver and now has to rely on taxis and public transport when travelling around the region.

UKIP Boston, UKIP’s strongest branch, is dead and buried.

And Clark is under investigation by OLAF for alleged misuse of EU funds.

Derek Clark OLAF Case Number: D/007/033/04.09.08

Derek Clark OLAF Investigation Number: DD/FD-D2008.A1/7133/OF/2008/0240

OLAF is quite interested in how Clark financed his regional organiser and other staff. Indeed, Ransom has already been interviewed by OLAF officials.

According to our sources it is quite likely that Clark will be ordered to pay back hundreds of thousands in euros. Rumours even suggest that Clark has already been forced to pay back "wrongly claimed” expenses. See: LINK

Oh dear! Has Clark got the money? Will he have to make Ransom redundant? Will he face charges in a British court for misusing EU funds?

Watch this space!

UKIP's NEC elections: A UKIPPER speaks out

We have already mentioned on here how Farage has postponed new NEC elections until after the General Election. See: LINK

This is a flagrant abuse of Party rules. But when did Farage and his odious sycophants ever bother with the rules?

More than one UKIP member is far from happy with this.

The following email was sent to Dr Eric Edmond by a concerned UKIPPER:

'The NEC elections have been postponed until after the general election. The purpose for their postponement is that Farage wants to foist membership in a Pan-European Party on UKIP. He cannot do so before the general election, as this would cause all sorts of problems with party unity in the runup to the election. The proposal is thought to be so unpopular that Farage feels that he needs to keep certain uber-loyal NEC members (who are up for election) on the NEC until the vote to join a Pan-European Party is passed. Apparently he is concerned that some current NEC members will baulk at it.

UKIP activists are beginning to notice the delay in the NEC elections. The story that will be spread about is that it was a decision taken by the NEC. However, my source has had an opportunity to peruse all of the NEC meeting minutes of the past year and nowhere has this issue been discussed. These events raise certain questions:

1. Their terms on the NEC having expired - are those NEC members who were up for re-election able to attend and vote at NEC meetings until new elections are held? Would their doing so invalidate any decisions taken?

2. If the answer to the first question is No, are decisions taken by the rump NEC without those members present valid?

3. Is it even possible under the UKIP constitution to postpone elections in this manner.'

End of email.

To read the original: LINK

Dr Edmond was a member of UKIP’s NEC. After raising concerns about corruption in UKIP he was expelled from the NEC by a Farage instigated kangaroo court.

David Bannerman - a serial liar and a man accused of attempting to bribe his way onto UKIP’s MEP list - was asked to present the charges. Nuff said!

Christopher 'Never even made it as a Pussy' Gill is one NEC member who should be seeking re-election this month. Gill is a notorious Farage sycophant and was heavily involved in the rigging of UKIP's MEP selection process.

So will Christopher Gill still be allowed to vote as an NEC member? If so, ALL decisions now made by the NEC are clearly invalid.

UKIP: Nikki Sinclaire stands up for Britain

From Nikki Sinclaire's blog:

Nikki Sinclaire stands up for UK citizens privacy

West Midlands MEP Nikki Sinclaire voted this week against the EU Commission, the European Peoples Party and the Conservative European Parliamentary Group, the ECR in their attempt to postpone the vote on the interim SWIFT agreement with the United States.

Nikki said “The EU’s poor agreement with the US gives a lack of data protection and legal redress in the provisional agreement on bank data transfers to the United-States via the SWIFT network. This has far reaching implications for UK citizens including their privacy. This information should be gathered only for the purposes of fighting terrorism and the right balance must be struck between security measures and the protection of civil liberties.”

Nikki reiterated that this should be a matter for the UK government to negotiate and not the EU. The vote to postpone was narrowly defeated and the subsequent vote threw out the agreement. Nikki said “This was a real slap in the face for the EU establishment and I am delighted to put my bit of force behind it!”

End of article.

And what of UKIP’s other MEPs? Did they defend British interests? They voted in favour of postponing rejection of SWIFT and thus in favour of supplying personal financial data to America.


To see the original:LINK

Also see: LINK

UKIP: Nigel Farage and Steve Harris are getting worried

Farage has been trying to put a brave face on UKIP’s disastrous defeat in two recent council by-elections.

Dozens of activists were drafted into the area and thousands of leaflets were distributed throughout both wards.

This is from the Bucks Herald :

Mr Bercow will not be opposed by the main parties but UKIP have put forward former leader Nigel Farage as a prospective candidate.

He will have been watching the by-election keenly as it will be seen as litmus test.

The UKIP site said: "John Russell is our UKIP candidate for this by-election in Luffield Abbey which is a District Council seat on Aylesbury Vale.

"Our UKIP team has been working extremley hard, 2 colour leaflet have already been delivered with a further 2 planned before the 11th February.

"This by election is extremely important as the seat borders the Buckingham North seat."

The party held an action day two 10 days before the election in Akeley where it paid for a pub lunch for those helping to canvas the 1,000 houses.

To see the original: LINK

End of extract.

And the result?

UKIP’s vote in Aylesbury Central dropped by 22 votes.

In the Luffield Ward the Tories won the seat easily. UKIP came second with a meagre 151 votes.

Farage regarded a win in both wards as essential if he was to stand any chance of taking Bercow’s seat.

Here is his attempt at damage limitation:

"All in all I am very pleased with the result. As far as the General Election is concerned it was a very interesting test.

"Is UKIP making progress? One is not comparing like with like, but yes we are making significant progress in the constituency."

Extract from the Bucks Herald.

But that is not what you told your followers after the results were first announced. You were quoted as being 'deeply disappointed'. If only one of them had not blabbed to one of our contacts!

And Farage is not the only one getting despondent.

Steve Harris - UKIP's bungling RO in the South East -is praying for Nigel to become an MP. And the reason?

Steve was third on UKIP’s MEP South East list. If Nigel gets elected he will replace him as an MEP.

He can’t wait to get his snout in the EU trough!

And finally this from Bucks First:

Why UKIP is no alternative

Hardly a day goes by without the MP for the Buckingham constituency, John Bercow, facing fresh revelations about his expenses claims.

But in case anyone thinks UKIP offers a real alternative, they don’t!

UKIP MEP Nigel Farage has been accused of claiming a staggering TWO MILLION POUNDS in expenses from the European Parliament on top of his annual £64,000 salary.

Mr Farage admitted to the Foreign Press Association that “It is a vast sum” and added that he had used the “very large sum of taxpayers’ money” to help promote his party’s message… at taxpayers’ expense.

When challenged by The Observer newspaper to justify how he could claim so much while running a campaign attacking Westminster MPs for their own extravagance, Mr Farage was unapologetic, saying that he was “entirely happy” that the taxpayers’ money “had been used for the best of causes“.

Mr Farage, who employs his wife to help run his office and pays her from his allowances, has since been accused of hypocrisy.

Former Europe Minister Denis MacShane has said, “Nigel Farage’s astounding £2m raid on the taxpayer shows he is up there with any other politician, happy to line his pockets with gold“.

Meanwhile two former UKIP MEPs have been jailed for false accounting, money-laundering of EU expenses, and benefit fraud while another UKIP MEP has quit the eurosceptic group in the European Parliament stating, in her resignation letter, that, “My working relationship and trust with EPD co-president Nigel Farage has broken down“.

To view the original: LINK

We did warn Nigel. It was a foregone conclusion that his opponents in Bucks would expose his sickening hypocrisy in standing as an anti-sleaze candidate.

For Farage to stand as anti-sleaze is about as convincing as Hitler standing as champion of the Jews!

UKIP: Nigel Farage named in expenses and pensions scandal!

Is the Sword of Justice about to cut Farage down to size? The OLAF investigation into Farage's expenses continues.

And yet Farage has the nerve to attack Bercow for being sleazy. Watch this space!

And now this from New Europe:

Concerns are mounting that the EU could soon face an expenses scandal that could dwarf the ongoing saga of British MPs, that caused widespread public outrage, leading some British lawmakers to go into hiding. It was recently discovered that undisclosed MEPs had repaid more than €3.4 million in “wrongly claimed” expenses. European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek is refusing to disclose the identities of the errant members, according to the Daily Telegraph, who have seen a letter where he says that:

“Such delicate and sensitive matters must be treated with the utmost caution – avoiding undue haste that can unnecessarily and unjustly cause irreparable harm to members’ reputations.” It is being asked why the European Parliament, with its commitment to transparency, seeks to shield these members. Mats Persson, the director of the Open Europe think tank, said: “If the European Parliament was serious about cleaning up its act it would name and shame the MEPs who have misused their allowances and conned the taxpayer, just as the UK Parliament is currently doing.” In addition, a significant number of MEPs employ family members, some of whom have never been seen in Brussels or Strasbourg.

Another recent revelation was the discovery of €234,000 in a budget line for “Social Services — Social Interventions.” This innocuous phrase turned out to be a fund for staff perks and jollies, including ski holidays and holiday camps for eurocrat kids. MEPs are also asking for an extra €1,500 euros a month increase in their €17,540 allowance to pay staff. The lawmakers say that this is necessary because of the increased workload brought on by the Lisbon Treaty. MEP Chris Davies of the United Kingdom and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats gave a scathing indictment, saying in Strasbourg that: “The Bureau wants us to employ 150 people to cope with the demands of the Lisbon Treaty, a massive increase in expenditure when so many of our constituents are experiencing public service cuts and tax rises. I don’t believe we need that extra staff. Sometimes we have to live withing our means”.

Secret pension fund

A report by Belgian MEP Bart Staes also draws attention to the black hole at the heart of the EP pension fund, and lawmakers are looking for a way to bail out the fund, which has a deficit of €1.25 million. Efforts to cut costs, including raising the retirement age to 63 are being introduced so taxpayers won’t have to foot the bill. However, a group of four British Conservative MEPs have resorted to the courts to try to block reforms and save the full value of their pensions. They are: Robert Atkins, Roger Helmer, Robert Sturdy, and Giles Chichester, a former European Conservative leader. In 2008, Chichester was forced to stand down as leader after being discovered breaking parliamentary rules by paying more than €500,000 in allowances through a family company. There are 59 other serving or retired MEPs also involved in the court case.

The pension fund is highly volatile as the European taxpayer contributes €2 for each €1 paid by the recipient, with the MEP’s own personal contributions coming not from their salary but taken automatically from their generous office expenses. MEPs are supposed to reimburse this account but there are no checks and balances. According to reports, up to £105 million (119.4 million euros) is alleged to have been lost from the fund, which was invested in schemes linked to disgraced American financier Bernie Madoff. If the funds are not balanced, the European Parliament has indicated that the losses may now be recouped from the EU budget, which means the taxpayers. A confidential note seen by the German press from the former president of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pottering, stated that “Financial implications for the European taxpayer should be avoided as far as possible,” but goes on to say “The European Parliament recognizes its legal responsibility to guarantee the right of subscribers to the fund to be paid their additional pension, even when the fund is empty.” In 1997, the Dutch Parliament said the fund was “morally objectionable” and said it allowed MEPs to “get rich by milking the taxpayer.”

The European Ombudsman has repeatedly ruled that the names of the MEPs who benefit from the scheme should be published. In April 2007, MEPs voted to keep secret the list of names of those MEPs who are benefit from the fund. The list of MEP’s who are in the scheme is now in the public domain. The list, dating from December 2007, provided by German investigative journalist Hans-Martin Tillack, names 394 MEPs who had signed up to the scheme. It includes Buzek as well as: European Commissioner Antonio Tajani of Italy; French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner; former Belgian PM Wilfried Martens, who heads the European People’s Party, which rules the Parliament; another former Parliament president, Pat Cox; Umberto Bossi, Italian Minister of Federal Reforms, and former French PM Michel Rocard. Politically, all groups are represented in the list, including jailed MEP Tom Wise, Glenys Kinnock (S&D,) Timothy Kirkhope (ECR,) Andrew Duff (ALDE), Nigel Farage (EFD), Rumiana Jeleva (EPP), Daniel Cohn-Bendit (Green,) Joseph Dual (EPP,) and Daniel Hannan (ECR).

To see the original: LINK

Farage's Bulletin from Brussels: Lies and more damned lies

It would appear that UKIP members are still being lied to by the leadership clique.

The winter issue of Bulletin from Brussels recently arrived on members doormats, and it is full of the usual misinformation. So may we make a few corrections?

On p6, referring to the constituent parties, it is said of the EFD group that it is "Convinced that the legitimate level for democracy lies with the Nation States,..." This is not true: the 9-strong Italian delegation, Lega Nord, is a separatist party that wants independence for its own region.

Also, on the same page, "the Group opposes further European integration (treaties and policies)..." This is again untrue. Lega Nord actually steered the Lisbon Treaty through the Italian Parliament, as they felt that this would prevent a more favourable situation for the fracturing of the Italian state that they seek.

On p7, "The group rejects xenophobia, anti-Semitism and any other form of discrimination." Hardly plausible, since the group includes one member who received a jail sentence for "racial offences" and was then forced to resign his job after "Heiling Hitler" in public. The group also includes a member who has called for racial segregation on public transport, as well as one who has been convicted of assault on a 12 year old coloured child (and other offences). One party in the group has been categorised as a "racist party" by a court of law. And all this is just the tip of the iceberg.

On p8, William Dartmouth says of Switzerland "do(es) not feel the need to submerge...in supranational prisons like the EU in order to be international players in trade" This is not entirely true. Switzerland has had open borders with the EU, and has had to abide by EU immigration policy for some years in order to facilitate this. The Swiss are opening up their banking system to greater scrutiny in response to demands from the EU. They could refuse, but then see what happens to their trade figures. Employment, tax, and environmental laws are all being harmonised with the EU in order to facilitate trade.

p11. It is spelt "Me", Marta, not "ME".

We are reminded of Napoleon Bonaparte's famous bulletins that were widely distributed across France and Europe. They became so notorious for misleading his subjects that 'to lie like a bulletin' became a popular saying.

Not that we are suggesting for even one minute that Nigel Farage is remotely like Napoleon Bonaparte. We have no wish to insult the late emperor's memory!