Simon Muir on UKIP

Simon Muir was the organiser of the UKIP Bristol conference back in 2004.

This is what he now thinks of UKIP:

Start with UKIP. When you have a set that might be a viable opposition or government pro tem, then the others become the target.

Why do I get so exercised about them?

Because they are so FFFFing USELESS! And they need not be, apart from the corruption, and Farage-the-puppeteer messing up everything because he only sees intellectual equals as a threat.

Only the blind or stupid would waste time on them presently, and the sad thing is that they don't care about the depth of the betrayal, because nobody in the party wants to be honest about their true position.

Games to play in UKIP:

- Spot the Economist. First person to score 0 is the winner.

- Spot the Politician. Same rules as above except the scoring is 1.

- Hunt the strategic plan. Hint: look down the back of the sofa and in Farage's trouser pocket: it can't be anywhere else...

- Beat the Bishop, er MEP: Sit him/her in a chair and hit him once with a rolled up newspaper for every bit of wasted expense and irrelevant posturing in the EP. Stop when the police arrive, or your arm gets too tired.

It's twelve years since I was persuaded that UKIP were the only hope for the future. Since then, in actual measurable terms, all that's happened is that the party's grown fat on EU handouts, and, under Farage, reneged on its constitutional promise about withdrawal etc. With one or two honourable exceptions, such as Alan Woods and Denis Brookes, nobody has come even close to winning a real, FPTP, election. Such is the REAL impact the party has made.

As for claims they frighten the Tories: they evidently don't bother Cameron - his leadership is arguably more pro-EU than even John Major's cabinet was, and he's just slammed the door on a referendum. He's obviously terrified UKIP will steal Tory seats, not!

Insiders suspect too, that there are enough people who know where the buried UKIP bodies are to trash the party's election campaign. Tom Wise probably won't be the last UKIP MEP to have his collar felt: any manipulative anti-UKIP functionary would be saving the best till last.

Be sure that any dirt the Tory press have to spread around won't be used now, when UKIP might just have time to recover before the vote. It will 'surface' two weeks before polling day, so that every UKIP candidate spends a fortnight defending the indefensible, before their inevitable electoral wipeout.

Do I sound angry & betrayed? You bet. The likes of Ken Clarke make their betrayal of the country no secret, in a sort of perverse honesty. You can hate them but you cannot misunderstand them.

UKIP, in contrast have taken the trust, time and effort (and money) of thousands of people like me and wasted it.

On that theme, what about the poor saps picking up the HUGE bill for UKIP's rudeness to the Electoral Commission? How many UKIP people know the matter could have been settled out of court for LESS than £20,000? It might even have cost nothing at all, had simple courtesy been observed from the start. There is a timeline and detail of the whole farrago in the public domain, for anyone who cares to look.

Let's think: would it be better to spend £1m campaigning, or to hand it to a Labour government as a fine? Nope. It beats me too.

Meanwhile, UKIP's words remain weasely and they evidently have NO PLAN, and NO IDEA how to actually DO what they claim they want to do.

Oh, and should the best anti-EU defence we can muster in these islands be the racist thuggery of the BNP? Ten years ago, UKIP's membership was climbing and the BNP's diminishing. What has happened since, and why?

I'd like UKIP GONE as fast as possible, so we can start again with something true and honest, that people might actually ELECT.

Regards,

S.

More from Simon:

Cameron's pitch will be simple:

"Vote Tory to save the country; a vote for either of the other two means you'll get five more years of the same communist destructiveness."

They'll circle the wagons and make no direct reference to UKIP unless forced to. The 'do you want to split the vote?' argument will keep the faithful on-board, PRECISELY BECAUSE UKIP IS SO USELESS.

If there was any risk of a decent campaign being run, or a shred of joined-up and sensible policy, UKIP might make headway. But there isn't and it won't. A vote for UKIP is simply a wasted vote. You might just as well scribble profanities on the ballot paper, for all the good it will actually achieve.

And anyway, as I said, the arm of the law is long and tends to grab people at most inconvenient moments...

Where is the EGM to put the party right? Why aren't people demanding Farage personally pays for the court case? Where is the plan? What are the fat MEPs doing TODAY to get the UK out of the EU (hint: are they on expenses in Brussels or fighting the battle here, where it actually matters?).

WHAT SINGLE ADVANTAGE HAS THE INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT GAINED FROM UKIP MEPs GOING TO BRUSSELS, ON ANY OCCASION, EVER?

The battle is here, not at enemy HQ. How could anyone ever think otherwise?

S.


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