Wednesday, September 12, 2018
Welsh Assembly UKIP group splinters further
Surprise, surprise, yet another member of the Welsh Assembly UKIP group has left the party. Is there anybody left in that group? This time it is the South Wales West UKIP Assembly Member, Caroline Jones.
She has told the BBC that the party's leader Gerard Batten is alienating his members by moving the party to the far-right. She added that UKIP is taking "a direction that I'm not comfortable with". Her resignation means the UKIP group has four AMs left from the seven which entered the Senedd in 2016:
Mrs Jones said Mr Batten was changing the party "to a more far-right position, which a lot of the long-standing members are finding quite unfavourable, including myself".
"I never joined the party to be part of a far-right organisation. I joined the party because I wanted to come out of the European Union. I still do."
"Gerard Batten should listen to all sides and try to mediate and bring people together, as opposed to alienating them", she added.
In response Mr. Batten said: "Her statement is politically correct twaddle to disguise the fact that Mrs Jones is politically ineffective. I wish her well languishing in the outer realms of irrelevance." What a lovely group of people.
It has to be said that Caroline Jones did not appear to have the same problem with Batten and the direction he was taking UKIP in when she was acting leader of the Welsh branch for a few months earlier this year. She also sustained her membership during the EU referendum when UKIP were posting clearly racist propaganda about immigrants.
Far be it for me to suggest that losing the leadership has anything to do with this situation.
She has told the BBC that the party's leader Gerard Batten is alienating his members by moving the party to the far-right. She added that UKIP is taking "a direction that I'm not comfortable with". Her resignation means the UKIP group has four AMs left from the seven which entered the Senedd in 2016:
Mrs Jones said Mr Batten was changing the party "to a more far-right position, which a lot of the long-standing members are finding quite unfavourable, including myself".
"I never joined the party to be part of a far-right organisation. I joined the party because I wanted to come out of the European Union. I still do."
"Gerard Batten should listen to all sides and try to mediate and bring people together, as opposed to alienating them", she added.
In response Mr. Batten said: "Her statement is politically correct twaddle to disguise the fact that Mrs Jones is politically ineffective. I wish her well languishing in the outer realms of irrelevance." What a lovely group of people.
It has to be said that Caroline Jones did not appear to have the same problem with Batten and the direction he was taking UKIP in when she was acting leader of the Welsh branch for a few months earlier this year. She also sustained her membership during the EU referendum when UKIP were posting clearly racist propaganda about immigrants.
Far be it for me to suggest that losing the leadership has anything to do with this situation.
