Mike Nattrass, UKIP MEP resigns from EFD Group

AS we heard yesterday from a very reliable source it seems that Mike Nattrass, UKIP MEP for the West Midlands has now followed the principled stand taken by his colleague, Nikki Sinclaire, and resigned from the EFD Group in the European Parliament. He is now listed as non-attached, click here.

Although there is yet to be an official statement it seems that this is a further blow to the extreme right wing neo-fascist, racist and homophobic group in the Parliament led by Nigel Farage, UKIP's former leader and still leader in all but name.

As Farage and his cronies hounded Nikki Sinclaire out of UKIP for standing by her principles, so Nattrass's departure from UKIP now looks inevitable.

UKIP's Nigel Farage

No sooner is EFD President Farage off his sick bed than he faces a huge crisis on top of all the others. Couldn't happen to a nicer chap.

What that is will be revealed tomorrow, and it's priceless.

UKIP in the Supreme Court and Tom Wise

UKIP are in court today as covered by Junius on UKIP:

The case concerns illegal donations made by Alan Bown to UKIP between Dec 2004 and Jan 2006. The donations were illegal because Bown was not on the electoral register.

ELCOM warned UKIP on 67 separate occasions that the donations were illegal. UKIP’s leadership ignored EVERY warning and continued to take Bown’s money.

As if that isn't bad enough for UKIP Tom Wise is soon to be released from prison and is planning to expose the truth about his conviction, and certain things within UKIP. Wise is the former UKIP MEP jailed last year for fraud after his expenses and allowances were investigated by the EU authorities. He was never disciplined by UKIP and the only reason he is no longer a member is because he let his membership lapse last year. Here is an interesting article from EU Politics News:

Shamed former MEP Tom Wise plans to "point the finger" at those he says were culpable in his fall from grace when he leaves prison.

According to a well-placed source he will "pull no punches" in a book he plans to write when he is released from prison later this month.

Wise is expected to be released from jail on 29 June having served just six months of a two-year sentence for fiddling his parliamentary expenses.

The 62-year-old, a former UK Independence Party MEP, was jailed in November 2009 for false accounting and money laundering.

At his trial, the court was told he spent parliamentary money on cars and wine.

Wise, a former policeman, is currently working as a trustee and prison carpenter at Ford Open Prison in the south of England.

He has also been working with young inmates who have drink and drug problems.

According to a close friend, the former deputy will start work on a book when he is released outlining details of his downfall.

"It will pull no punches and he will not hesitate to point the finger at those who were culpable in what has happened to him," he said.

Wise has been allowed out of prison to spend time at this home with his family in Leighton Buzzard.

The source said Wise had been "bowled over" by the response from his former constituents to his imprisonment.

"People have been coming up to him in the street saying how much they are pleased to see him.

"He says the worst part of it all is that, even when he comes out of jail, he will not be able to visit his grandchildren who live in Luxembourg due to the terms of his release."

News of his release, however, has not met with universal approval.

Ukip MEP Gerard Batten said, "I regarded Tom Wise as a friend. He consistently maintained his innocence to me up until a week before his trial, at which point he changed his plea to guilty.

"He could have saved himself and UKIP a great deal of trouble by admitting his guilt at the beginning. If he had anything to say about his colleagues he could and should have said it at his trial.

"If a book ever appears, I shall not be buying it."

These are extraordinarily interesting times for UKIP watchers.