Thursday, April 17, 2014
UKIP in trouble
UKIP is learning pretty quickly that improved poll numbers leads to imcreased scrutiny and the pressure is starting to show.
The Times reports claims that Ukip members were silenced, ignored or forced out of the party after questioning its use of EU allowances and donations. They say that whistleblowers have alleged that Nigel Farage and other senior UKIP officials traduced colleagues who raised concerns about how the party handled millions of pounds in funds:
Mr Farage called a senior female Ukip official a “stupid woman” and told her to “shut up” when she asked for an independent audit into party finances, according to Delroy Young, formerly Ukip’s only black executive. Another member was allegedly physically threatened. The Ukip insiders spoke out as Mr Farage was confronted by a barrage of questions after The Times revealed yesterday that he was facing an investigation into a “missing” £60,000 in EU allowances
In transparency reports filed on the Ukip website, Mr Farage claims to have spent £15,500 a year solely on utilities, business rates and insurance for his small constituency office in West Sussex. A former office manager said that such costs, which exclude staff salaries, office equipment, phone bills and stationery, amounted to no more than £3,000 a year.
Mr Farage dismissed criticism over his EU spending yesterday as “yet another politically motivated attack from what is the establishment newspaper”. His defence came as:
· The Electoral Commission wrote to Ukip seeking answers as to why Mr Farage’s rent-free office was not declared as a donation for all relevant years;
· The Ukip leader told the BBC that he spent European funds to “push the Ukip campaign” in an apparent breach of EU rules;
· MEPs vote in Strasbourg today on a plan to reform European allowances, amid growing calls for change.
I am not sure that the wheels have come off the UKIP bandwagon just yet, but they are certainly being taken outside their comfort zone.
The Times reports claims that Ukip members were silenced, ignored or forced out of the party after questioning its use of EU allowances and donations. They say that whistleblowers have alleged that Nigel Farage and other senior UKIP officials traduced colleagues who raised concerns about how the party handled millions of pounds in funds:
Mr Farage called a senior female Ukip official a “stupid woman” and told her to “shut up” when she asked for an independent audit into party finances, according to Delroy Young, formerly Ukip’s only black executive. Another member was allegedly physically threatened. The Ukip insiders spoke out as Mr Farage was confronted by a barrage of questions after The Times revealed yesterday that he was facing an investigation into a “missing” £60,000 in EU allowances
In transparency reports filed on the Ukip website, Mr Farage claims to have spent £15,500 a year solely on utilities, business rates and insurance for his small constituency office in West Sussex. A former office manager said that such costs, which exclude staff salaries, office equipment, phone bills and stationery, amounted to no more than £3,000 a year.
Mr Farage dismissed criticism over his EU spending yesterday as “yet another politically motivated attack from what is the establishment newspaper”. His defence came as:
· The Electoral Commission wrote to Ukip seeking answers as to why Mr Farage’s rent-free office was not declared as a donation for all relevant years;
· The Ukip leader told the BBC that he spent European funds to “push the Ukip campaign” in an apparent breach of EU rules;
· MEPs vote in Strasbourg today on a plan to reform European allowances, amid growing calls for change.
I am not sure that the wheels have come off the UKIP bandwagon just yet, but they are certainly being taken outside their comfort zone.
