Monday, May 06, 2019
Same-old, same-old for Farage's Brexit Party
Having listed a litany of offences and misdeeds on this blogs for leading UKIP members over the years, it is time to turn my attention to the Brexit Party, which aspires to take UKIP's place as the go-to party for anti-Europeans and the far right, and which has already inherited a number of miscreants and rejects from Farage's former party.
Yesterday's Observer reports that two senior members of Nigel Farage’s Brexit party who left their roles after the Guardian uncovered offensive social media messages they had sent are still directors of the organisation weeks after they had supposedly cut all ties.
The paper says that Catherine Blaiklock, the first leader of the party, who resigned over a series of anti-Islam messages, and the former treasurer Michael McGough, who was ousted because of anti-Semitic and other offensive Facebook posts, are still listed as directors:
Blaiklock, who also retweeted far-right messages, including one from a former British National party activist referring to “white genocide”, also resigned as company secretary of the party soon after the posts emerged, six weeks ago. But despite that change being made to the Companies House register, she remains listed as a director.
McGough is also still a director. He was removed as treasurer a month ago after posting what the party called “unacceptable statements”. A party statement at the time said he would no longer have any role in the organisation.
The only other two directors are Farage and the new treasurer, Phillip Basey, a former Ukip activist. In some messages, McGough referred to Ed and David Miliband and Peter Mandelson as having “shallow UK roots” or being “devoid of UK roots” – seen as a common antisemitic trope about Jewish people.
One post from 2017 called David Miliband the “son of an east European communist now milking it from a charity in New York and devoid of UK roots”.
Another message said: “The Miliband dudes and Mandelson have the shortest of roots. Transient folk they have no loyalty to the UK.” One reply by another user tells McGough he is on “slightly dangerous ground”. McGough replies: “True, but there is a valid point to be made even if it seems offensive. It is not dissimilar to Lord Tebbit’s cricket test.”
A post about Mandelson reads: “I resent being called racist by an old queen with shallow UK roots.” Blaiklock sent offensive tweets that she later deleted, including one saying: “Islam = submission – mostly to raping men it seems.”
She also retweeted seven messages from the far-right activist Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. Farage left Ukip after its current leader, Gerard Batten, made Robinson an adviser. Other tweets sent by Blaiklock included one that referred to Islam as “a non-democracy ideology that is incompatible with liberal democracy”. Another said of Islam that it was “perfectly rational to be phobic about people who want to kill you”.
Both Blaiklock and McGough were longtime former Ukip members, and moved to the Brexit party with Farage. Their departures marked a tricky launch for the party, which has since rebounded spectacularly, and is leading in the polls for the European elections.
That old adage that in politics everything changes and yet nothing changes, still seems to run true on the far right.
Yesterday's Observer reports that two senior members of Nigel Farage’s Brexit party who left their roles after the Guardian uncovered offensive social media messages they had sent are still directors of the organisation weeks after they had supposedly cut all ties.
The paper says that Catherine Blaiklock, the first leader of the party, who resigned over a series of anti-Islam messages, and the former treasurer Michael McGough, who was ousted because of anti-Semitic and other offensive Facebook posts, are still listed as directors:
Blaiklock, who also retweeted far-right messages, including one from a former British National party activist referring to “white genocide”, also resigned as company secretary of the party soon after the posts emerged, six weeks ago. But despite that change being made to the Companies House register, she remains listed as a director.
McGough is also still a director. He was removed as treasurer a month ago after posting what the party called “unacceptable statements”. A party statement at the time said he would no longer have any role in the organisation.
The only other two directors are Farage and the new treasurer, Phillip Basey, a former Ukip activist. In some messages, McGough referred to Ed and David Miliband and Peter Mandelson as having “shallow UK roots” or being “devoid of UK roots” – seen as a common antisemitic trope about Jewish people.
One post from 2017 called David Miliband the “son of an east European communist now milking it from a charity in New York and devoid of UK roots”.
Another message said: “The Miliband dudes and Mandelson have the shortest of roots. Transient folk they have no loyalty to the UK.” One reply by another user tells McGough he is on “slightly dangerous ground”. McGough replies: “True, but there is a valid point to be made even if it seems offensive. It is not dissimilar to Lord Tebbit’s cricket test.”
A post about Mandelson reads: “I resent being called racist by an old queen with shallow UK roots.” Blaiklock sent offensive tweets that she later deleted, including one saying: “Islam = submission – mostly to raping men it seems.”
She also retweeted seven messages from the far-right activist Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. Farage left Ukip after its current leader, Gerard Batten, made Robinson an adviser. Other tweets sent by Blaiklock included one that referred to Islam as “a non-democracy ideology that is incompatible with liberal democracy”. Another said of Islam that it was “perfectly rational to be phobic about people who want to kill you”.
Both Blaiklock and McGough were longtime former Ukip members, and moved to the Brexit party with Farage. Their departures marked a tricky launch for the party, which has since rebounded spectacularly, and is leading in the polls for the European elections.
That old adage that in politics everything changes and yet nothing changes, still seems to run true on the far right.
Comments:
<< Home
There is one innovation. In 2015, Farage launched a "gold standard" manifesto. This time round, voters will have to wait until after the elections to find out what Brexit stands for.
Post a Comment
<< Home
