European Union-The End Game: But where are UKIP?

So the House of Commons refused the British people their say on the EU. Where were UKIP in the build up to this week's vote? Out on the fringe as usual. The end of the EU will come about in spite of , not because of UKIP.

Despite the massive resources generated by their MEPs they still do not have a single voice in the House of Commons. Instead UKIP were left singing patriotic songs and shouting slogans in Parliament Square while MPs debated the referendum motion. 'Occupy' without the tents!

It's time we started taking a look at UKIP again, so look out for more posts from now. We're back.

UKIP Barnsley By Election

Congratulations to another one of Nigel Farage's 'very good friends' Jane Collins.

12% in the Barnsley by election put Ms Collins top of the anti-Coalition, anti-Labour sleaze protest vote. The real test will be the forthcoming local elections. Will people really want to elect local councillors who only have one policy, to leave the EU, which is as far removed from local politics as you can get?

Another false dawn in our view which UKIP will, in their usual amateurish way, spin as putting them on the brink of government. Remember the Hartlepool by election way back when Farage sycophant Steve Allison got 10%? It was downhill from there too.

Wonder how Mr Farage will thank Ms Collins for such a sterling effort? Or will Ms Collins thank Nigl for giving her the opportunity?

UKIP is Finished

Other than as a connecting station for the EU gravy train UKIP is finished, as evidenced by the pitiful result of its deputy leader and northwest MEP Paul Nuttall in the Oldham East by-election. It is now in intensive care only to rally from its comatose state for the next Euro elections, when there will be much money to be garnered.

As a result blogging will be extremely light for the foreseeable. Of course we will cover anything worthwhile, so it's only a matter of time until some UKIP MEP, candidate or member somewhere does or says something so stupid that we will be blogging again.

Exclusive-UKIP'S Ray Finch NOT Jack the Ripper

UKIP's resident idiot, Ray Finch, likes to take to the internet to claim not to be somebody he isn't. See blog post below.

To avoid any confusion we would like to make it clear that Ray Finch is not Jack the Ripper. He is far too young to be a Victorian mass murderer. At least that's what we believe, I suppose with plastic surgery.... No, before we go down a road that could lead to Finch himself having to claim not to be Jack the Ripper, he is definitely too young.

To avoid any doubt he is not the Yorkshire Ripper either. I don't think even our justice system would allow the Yorkshire Ripper out to help the Farage campaign in Buckingham. But that may be why Finch wasn't seen in the Eastleigh constituency, where he stood in the election last May but wasn't spotted in the constituency campaigning. He claimed to be campaigning in Buckingham instead. Maybe he just wasn't free to campaign.

No, Finch is definitely not the Yorkshire Ripper either. And we apologise to Peter Sutcliffe for this sick joke of a blog post.

UKIP's Bizarre Ray Finch Declares Who He Isn't!

The British Democracy Forum contains the lunatic fringe that even UKIP find a bit rich for their taste. Admittedly you do get sane people on it, but they appear to be critics of UKIP or its current leadership. But today there was a post on the forum that even UKIP observers found extremely bizarre, things in UKIP just seem to get worse.

We have mentioned Ray Finch on here before. A very odd individual who isn't very bright. Out of the blue today the following post appeared on the forum from one Ray Finch:

"I have had a few calls and texts from people in the last couple of days regarding allegations on this forum and elsewhere that I am "Spastyk".

For the avoidance of doubt, I am not "Spastyk", I do not know who "Spastyk" is and, frankly, I do not care. The same thing applies to all who post anonymously on the internet. If you do not have the courage to post in your own name or at least acknowledge your identity, then you are, to be brutal, a coward. Those who know me will know that, for the last few months, I have had extremely limited time on the internet due to illness in my family. This is not likely to change in the near future. I have not indulged in any UKIP related business, apart from a couple of days in Oldham to assist the campaign there last week and attendance at the UKIP Eastleigh Christmas party, for a couple of months for the same, and other unrelated, reasons.

Those who still believe this mistaken opinion are welcome to speak to the board administrator here. Anthony Butcher has my full permission, if he so chooses, to examine any logs he keeps of my activity on this forum to see if there is any correlation between myself and "Spastyk".

I will not indulge in any correspondence on this, or any other, issue for the time being for the reasons mentioned above.

I wish all, including those who apparently believe me to be somebody I am not, a very happy new year.

Regards,

Ray Finch."

"Spastyk" is our pseudonym for a particularly nasty and unpleasant blog that smears decent people, mostly those who oppose UK membership of the EU but who do not necessarily support UKIP or the current leadership of UKIP. We have changed the name as we see no point in giving it free publicity.

What we find so odd is why somebody who has "had a few calls and texts" asking him if he is responsible for a particularly nasty blog, should widen the circle of enquirers by proclaiming, on the worldwide net, that he is not "Spastyk". Bizarre behaviour from a bizarre individual.

Some might quote from Shakespeare's Hamlet- "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." We would never be that cynical.

Oldham East and Saddleworth By-Election: UKIP Disaster and Expenses Questioned

Despite spending thousands of pounds of your tax money on their campaign UKIP could only muster a mere 5.6% of the vote in Oldham East and Saddleworth. Why your taxes? Well ther candidate, Paul Nuttall MEP is on a salary, allowance and perks package worth well over £100,000 pa, paid for by the taxpayer. Makes UKIP's attacks on public sector pay in the UK seem slightly hypocritical we think, and they have over 10 MEPs, they keep losing them so it's hard to know exactly how many at a given time. Remember the UKIP MEP John Bufton, who was confronted by journalists about receiving an extra £250 a day just for turning up? His response was: "Well, that's the system". That's how UKIP fund their campaigns.

So UKIP ran an extremely expensive campaign, paid for by you, and what did they get? The result is below:

Labour: 14,718 (42.1%)
Lib Dems: 11,160 (31.9%)
Conservatives: 4,481 (12.8%)
UKIP: 2,029 (5.8%)
BNP: 1,560 (4.5%)
Green Party: 530 (1.5%)
Monster Raving Loony Party: 145 (0.4%)
English Democrats: 144 (0.4%)
Pirate Party: 96 (0.2%)
Bus Pass Elvis Party: 67 (0.1%)

To put the result in perspective compare last night's result with the UKIP vote in a simialar by-election in 1999. In Wigan, a not dissimilar place to Oldham, the UKIP candidate achieved a vote of 5.2%. So having numerous MEPs since 1999, a much higher profile and staff employed on MEPs allowances in the northwest since 2004 UKIP only got 0.4% of the vote more last night than they did twelve years ago. That's hardly progress.

Add to that that our man in Oldham this week being told by people from two other parties that they would be going through UKIP's election expenses with a fine tooth comb then there could be further trouble ahead for UKIP. There is a widely held view in Oldham that they could not have run the campaign they did within the statutory expenditure limits. We will see.

Oldham East and Saddleworth By-Election: Paul Nuttall MEP

When people leave UKIP, usually after a disagreement with the autocratic leadership, UKIP sets out to lie and smear the person who has departed. This usually takes the form of accusing the person of being a BNP infiltrator. It sometimes seems that UKIP have so many infiltrators that they just can't be anything but a shadow of the BNP. But last May we reported here how UKIP leader Nigel Farage MEP had been photographed meeting Tony "The Bomber" Lecomber. Why would the UKIP leader have had a meeting with  a notorious man, even by BNP standards like Lecomber?

The Junius on UKIP blog helps to shed some light on this with a recent article about UKIP's colleagues in the European Parliament here. Nikki Sinclaire MEP refused to sit with UKIP's group in the EU parliament, quite reasonably she would rather not be associated with far right racists, holocaust deniers and homophobes. She has been joined by fellow MEP Mike Nattrass. Sadly other UKIP MEPs, including Paul Nuttall, are happy to associate with the nastier far right elements in the EU parliament. Nikki Sinclaire recently won a legal action against UKIP reported here.

UKIP have a history of changing policy in midstream if it suits them, and producing ill researched policies that don't add up.  Gary Cartwright is an ex-employee of Nigel Farage in Brussels, but left disillusioned and disenchanted. Of course, as with anybody who leaves the dangerous cult that UKIP became under Farage he is constantly smeared and attacked by Farage's disciples. Now that Mr Cartwright works for ex-UKIP MEP Nikki Sinclaire, he is coming under renewed attack and smear by certain UKIP people. Truly, UKIP is the politics of the playground but a very nasty and unpleasant playground.

Unable to garner the needed 5% to save their deposits in most parliamentary elections, UKIP have now come out in favour of Proportional Representation. Well if you can line your pockets becoming an MEP with a small perecentage of votes in EU elections, try the Westminster gravy train next. When UKIP claim to be the straight party remember Ashley Mote and Tom Wise. God knows what UKIP would get up to under PR. Pole dancing and prostitues on MP's expenses maybe?

Here's what Gary Cartwright says about the UKIP way of developing policy:

"The UKIP policy making process was always a bit different. Although I was one of those who called for a widening of the policy base from the moment I joined the party, I eventually came to agree with Roger Knapman who argued for a narrower and more focussed set of policies concentrating on withdrawal. Britain does need a new party, but UKIP clearly ain't it!

I was very surprised, however, to read that UKIP is now coming out in favour of farming subsidies, a la the Common Agricultural Policy. Opposition to the CAP is one thing that traditionally unites all eurosceptics - and quite a lot of europhiles as well. Maybe UKIP has become so obsessively contrarian that it has even turned against conventional euroscepticism now, who knows?

I recall a transport policy paper which called for the electrification of a line that had, in fact, been closed for many years. There was also a local government paper that was quite probably the most politically illiterate thing I have ever seen.

The biggest question that observers will be asking, however, is not whether UKIP has done an about-turn on farming subsidies, but whether the party is, as it appears to be, out of control".

Taken from Gary Cartwright's Brussels Blog.