Ray Finch UKIP-More on UKIP's Useful Idiot

Thank you to those who have sent further information about Ray Finch, or Convict 811326860 as he is known by the team. Much of what we have received needs some research, so more later hopefully.

In the meantime it is interesting to look back at the coverage of his campaign in the general election last May. It really does show the calibre of so many UKIP candidates. Whoever put a dunce like Ray Finch up against a high profile candidate like Lib Dem Chris Huhne must be an even bigger dunce.

Ray Finch, on a flight of fancy common in UKIP circles, had declared in the campaign that he would move to live in the constituency should he be elected. Well if I'm selected to play for Chelsea I will move across London to Kensington. Yes, there's two empty promises for you. Serious candidates move to live in the constituency for which they are selected. They don't wait and see, and certainly don't make vacuous promises that insult the intelligence of the voters.

But it got worse. Finch is known in UKIP circles for being one of Nigel Farage's most ardent and obsessive followers. Indeed so obsessed with his leader that he campaigned in Buckingham where Farage was standing rather than his own Eastleigh constituency. So up yours people of Eastleigh, your UKIP candidate couldn't even be bothered with you, blinded by his obsessive lapdog obedience to his leader.

This from Eastleigh News:

"Ukip’s Ray finch was easily the most despondent man of the evening. He had spent a large portion of the campaign canvassing in Buckingham on behalf of former Ukip party leader Nigel Farage who had been injured in a plane crash earlier in the day.

Ray said he had been due to take a flight in the aircraft himself".

So, Ray had been lured away from a serious campaign with the offer of a quick flight in a plane that crashed, just like the UKIP vote on polling day.

But it got even worse with Ray Finch garnering a paltry 3.6% of the vote. The voters of Eastleigh aren't dunces then.

But he managed to make an even bigger clown of himself:

"On hearing the result Ray commented that if Nigel Farage won in Bucks then he would feel vindicated at having spent so much time away from his own constituency".

As ever Finch's hero was thrashed, pardon the pun, in Buckingham getting 4,000 votes fewer than a pro-EU independent. Mr Finch seems to be blinded to reality by his hero worship of a third rate political chancer. How sad that he seemed to be the only person in the world who thought Farage could beat Bercow. But that's Ray Finch, UKIP's useful idiot.

Oldham East and Saddleworth By-Election: Councillor Chris Cassidy

Googling UKIP and the Oldham East by-election I came across an internet diary about UKIP's campaign by a man claiming to be UKIP's youngest councillor. Looking at his picture he probably is, by quite a few decades. So I had a read.

His article was attacking the Lib Dems for making misleading statements, a common complaint about most politicians I would have thought. So this led me to delve  little further into this shining light of democracy, Councillor Chris Cassidy. When was he elected? What proportion of the vote did he get?  What ward on which council does he represent? So many questions.

I discovered that he is actually a councillor on Ringway Parish Council, the only civil parish within the jurisdiction of Manchester City Council.

OK, so when was he elected? There hasn't actually been an election to Ringway Parish Council for some years. Even though UKIP trumpet 'the election of their new councillor' on their website, Mr Cassidy has never actually been elected. They should have trumpeted 'newly co-opted Councillor Chris Cassidy'.  You see there weren't enough interested people for an election to be held.

 But how many electors will Councillor Cassidy be working on behalf of? Well, the total population is 106. The electorate is currently 88. So each of five councillors theoretically has responsibility for 17.6 voters or 21.2 people including those not on the electoral register. Most of the area of Ringway Parish Council is aircraft hangars belonging to Manchester Airport. 

A UKIP councillor such as this, writing an article about the Lib Dems misleading the electorate, does seem a little hypocritical under the circumstances.

If you are interested, UKIP in the north west only have three councillors according to their website. One is a borough councillor who defected from the Tories, one is Councillor Chris, the third is also a parish councillor. Not sure if the other parish councillor has ever been elected, but assuming he has, only one in three actually being elected as a UKIP candidate is also a tad misleading I would have said.

Oldham East and Saddleworth By-Election: UKIP, Mutual Hatred and Self Loathing

Young UKIP members parade before their Leader

The thing UKIP does best is fight, but it's not the enemy they fight, oh dear no, it's each other. That's because UKIP is more of a cult than a political party. In a serious political party there is not 100% agreement on most issues and, within reason, debate is regarded as a healthy thing and encouraged. In UKIP, if you dare question any aspect of it's leadership, direction or policy you are publicly denounced as a traitor who hates UKIP.

Most members who have either left or been driven out face a campaign of lies and smears carried out by puppets of the Leader. The most common smear is that a former member was discovered to be a member of the BNP. Indeed this happens with such regularity that it looks like UKIP is mostly made up of BNP members merely infiltrating. However we have written before, here, about the UKIP leader and the BNP. It does shed new light on UKIP's obsession with the BNP.

But UKIP is now in a state of turmoil as members wake up to the fact that the party is back in the kind of position it was last time Farage was their leader, plummeting like a rock thrown from the White Cliffs of Dover. So this is where the British Democracy Forum, that window on the soul of UKIP, comes in so handy to observers of the decline of UKIP.

Here you will find a thread started by UKIP fanatic and leader worshipper Michael 'Mick' McGough asking for any dirt on party activist Richard Allen. What has Richard Allen done to fall foul of the UKIP Stasi? Here is what Mr McGough says in his question:

"Sometime treasurer of UKIP Hodge Hill and Yardley,a two constituency branch and forum moderator.Appears to be more anti UKIP than pro and is close to Nikki".

Nikki being Nikki Sinclaire who was unconstitutionally hounded out of UKIP and has recently won a court case against them for discrimination. More on that here.

Here's what Richard Allen says in his own defence:

"I am the Secretary and Treasurer of my local branch. Last year I was a local election candidate, election agent for 7 other local candidates and election agent for two general election candidates. In the last year I have delivered over 25,000 UKIP leaflets, donated the best part of two thousand pounds and incurred out of pocket expenses running to several hundred pounds. As someone of relative modest means this is a substantial financial contribution. This year I will again be a local election candidate and the agent for several other candidates and no doubt I will again put my hand in my pocket whenever it is necessary to do so.

UKIP NEC

That you, as a member of UKIP's National Executive Committee should attack me in public as being "more anti UKIP than pro" only shows how pathetic you are and how utterly undeserving you are to hold a position of responsibility in the party".

If this is waht UKIP are like when they have no MPs and very few councillors, what would life be like in their form of Stalinist dictatorship if they ever did achieve anything in the UK?

Thankfully that is never likely to happen, their constant state of civil war guarantees it.

Ray Finch-UKIP

We have decided to run a regular little spotlight on Ukip's more bizarre members. We've found a failed council, parliamentary and EU election candidate called Ray Finch, and thought he would be a good place to start. OK, so Ukip have lots of failed candidates, that's not the point.

Ukip members are not very bright, and some even think that Nigel Farage and Marta Andreasen are good things. Internal opponents of Farage call those people sycophants, some call them worse. Why don't you decide? Here's what Ray Finch had to say in an interview with Bloggers4UKIP before last year's EU election:

"In my opinion MEPs can do absolutely nothing in Brussels as they are merely ciphers employed to offer a veneer of democracy to an anti-democratic regime. There is a place for Nigel to be there to make news by being interviewed using it as a backdrop and when Marta is elected she can cause trouble by getting on the financial committees because she knows where the bodies are buried but ordinary MEPs sitting there pressing voting buttons like so many Pavlov's dogs whilst getting fatter on free lunches is a waste of time, money and talent".

I bet the other Ukip MEPs love Mr Finch for likening them to Pavlov's dogs, but not as much as Mr Finch obviously loves Mr Farage and Ms Andreasen .

He can't seem to say much without mentioning his hero Nigel. Take this example:

"Winston would have come to UKIP, had a fight with Nigel over whether brandy was better than best bitter and defected back. Pre war Winston was best known for putting country before party so he was a UKIP man before his time really".

So Winston Churchill would have defected to Ukip, had an argument about alcoholic beverages with Nigel Farage, then defected back to the Tories, presumably leaving Ukip after his brief defection to put country before party as Mr Finch pointed out. We can see why Mr Finch doesn't get elected can't we?

Oldham East and Saddleworth By-Election

Paul "Roderick Spode" Nuttall

UKIP recently announced former party chairman John Whittaker would be fighting the Oldham by-election on their behalf. They have now announced their North West MEP Paul Nuttall will be standing in the by-election. Who knows maybe they are putting up two candidates. Or even more, after all nominations are open until Thursday.

They do have a habit of making themselves look foolish. When Whittaker was an MEP he stood in multiple seats in the 2005 general election, proving the contempt in which UKIP hold the electorate. Maybe now they are going for multiple candidates.



Nigel "Bertie Wooster" Farage

 The problem with Nuttall is that he lacks sincerity. He dresses like Roderick Spode as a sign of his worship of Bertie Wooster impersonator and UKIP Fuhrer Nigel Farage. Despite dressing like a country squire Nuttall actually comes from one of the rougher parts of Liverpool. Any illusion created by his Roderick Spode dress sense is soon shattered when he opens his mouth, he makes Lily Savage sound posh.

So the running comedy that is UKIP continues. Except it isn't all funny really. It's ironic that UKIP pitch in an MEP in a by-election caused by Phil Woolas being sacked for telling porkies. Let's not forget, if UKIP try to play whiter than white, that two of their MEPs have spent time at Her Majesty's Pleasure. They are Ashley Mote and Tom Wise.

UKIP Lose Another Court Case

From the Northern Echo, again!

A TEACHER has won a legal battle with the UK Independence Party (UKIP) over an attempt to use his former membership of the British National Party to expel him.

Judge Peter Fox ruled that UKIP and the party’s Stockton branch chairman Gordon Parkin acted unlawfully when they tried to throw out member Alan Hardy.

The High Court in Middlesbrough heard how Mr Hardy, the branch’s former press officer, was initially expelled after falling out with Mr Parkin, who stood for UKIP in the Stockton North constituency at the last general election.

In his ruling, which declared Mr Hardy’s expulsion as null and void, Judge Fox summed up the relationship between the two men.

He said Mr Hardy, from Stockton, accused Mr Parkin of being “incompetent, dishonest and self-seeking”, while Mr Parkin accused Mr Hardy of being dishonest and so disruptive that it was impossible for the branch to function.

The row came to a head when Mr Hardy asked Mr Parkin to resign as branch chairman.

An argument between the two men resulted in UKIP Stockton branch being temporarily banned from the venue it used for meetings.

In September last year, Mr Parkin wrote to Mr Hardy saying he should no longer attend branch meetings.

In January, when Mr Hardy tried to renew his membership, Judge Fox found that UKIP general secretary Jonathan Arnott contrived to exclude him from the party on the grounds that he was a former BNP member, despite party leaders being aware of his past when he joined.

Mr Hardy, from Stockton, who is teaching English as a foreign language in Saudi Arabia, last night welcomed the ruling.

He said: “This has been about accountability. Gordon Parkin, aided by the UKIP hierarchy, now knows he cannot treat those who may disagree with him like dirt.

“Indeed, in light of the outcome of this case, I think he should do the decent thing and resign his membership.”

UKIP executive chairman Steve Crowther told The Northern Echo that the party was very unhappy with the judgement and would be reviewing its position.

He said: “UKIP is a tolerant, inclusive and non-sectarian organisation and it is important to our members that those values are maintained.”

The most interesting paragraph in the article is:

In January, when Mr Hardy tried to renew his membership, Judge Fox found that UKIP general secretary Jonathan Arnott contrived to exclude him from the party on the grounds that he was a former BNP member, despite party leaders being aware of his past when he joined.

So they were happy for a former BNP member to join them. Then used his previous allegiance against him when they wanted to oust him as branch chairman. Such nice people.

UKIP-More Stupidity

One of UKIP's major problems is the membership. They are not very bright you see. What normal people think is supidity, UKIP members think is a smart political stunt. From the Northern Echo:

THE North-East branch of euro-sceptic party UKIP has been investigated by trading standards officials after making a bogus application for cash from an EU quango.

Members of UKIP North- East created the fake Hartlepool and East Durham European Language and Culture Club to apply for a £50 grant towards a fictitious event to celebrate the European Day of Languages.

Once the scam was exposed, trading standards officials in Durham were alerted and looked into the case.

Europe Direct, an arm of the the EU’s European Commission based in Durham, which promotes European culture across the North-East, initially agreed to pay the grant in an email sent to the fictitious club in July.

UKIP claimed they had set up the bogus club to expose Europe Direct for not making the necessary checks before it agreed to hand out EU cash, and said UKIP would never have cashed the cheque had it arrived.

The UKIP sympathiser behind the stunt, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “This all started to wind up the EU – when I created a totally fictitious organisation.

“I was surprised to learn that Europe Direct North-East fell for it and decided to give us a grant.”

Europe Direct approved the grant by email, and even offered free bunting, booklets and prizes – but the ruse was exposed before it sent any money out.

The organisation had agreed to hand out 20 of the £50 grants to schools, colleges, youth and community groups to fund a European Day event next week.

Dave Pascoe, of UKIP North- East, said: “Through this hoax we have gained a modest victory over the EU machine and managed to kick the malevolent EU monster in the ankles.”

However, Dorothy Gibson, manager of Europe Direct North-East, said: “The checking and vetting procedures we have in place raised concerns about this application and guidance was sought from Durham County Council’s trading standards service.

“It is now the intention of the county council to inform the National Anti-Fraud Framework, which alerts all local authorities to incidents of this nature.”

It is understood that Durham County Council’s trading standards officials ruled there was no further action they could take because they would have difficulty proving UKIP intended to defraud Europe Direct – especially as the party claimed it would not have cashed any cheque received.

Ms Gibson said: “From a very early stage we had serious concerns about this application.”