Tuesday 24 September 2013

UKIP MEPs are green bottles waiting to fall

Just like the old children's song about 10 green bottles sitting on the wall. One after another they are off, Sinclare, Andreasen, Bannerman, Natrass, now Bloom plus Bufton, Clarke  & Colman hors de combat leaving Farage, Agnew, Batten, Nuttall and Legge holding on like grim death. Its deja vu all over again yet the leader takes no responsibility for this wipe out of UKIP MEPs. Well if its not Farage's fault whose fault is it? According to Nuttall all the NF infiltrators have been in Farage's words rooted out so who is there left to blame?

I saw Legge, the belted Earl, give a performance of stunning ineptitude on last Sunnday's Politics show West region. He has not improved since I sat with him on the SW2009 hustings and he got very upset when I gave a different speech at each of the 5 meetings emphasing different aspects of UKIP policy. Legge gave the same speech word for word at each meeting. It bored me and the other candidates to death but as a belted Earl he sailed in on the huge defential vote in UKIP assisted by the late Malcolm Wood arranging prior to the vote  speaking dates at the largest SW branches for the belted one. Other candidates such as myself and Alan Wood were not invited to speak at these select gatherings I guess because we might appear better speakers than Legge.  Legge's problem is that 5 years down the line he is still a poor and boring speaker compared to most politicians.

I know Legge does not like to be called a belted Earl but that's what all Earls are when raised to the peerage by the king giving them a sword and belt. .Rabbie Burns in his seminal poem, "A Man's a Man for a'That", on valuing the man not the rank said,

A prince can mak a belted knight, 
A marquis, duke, an' a' that; 
But an honest man's abon his might, 
Gude faith, he maunna fa' that! 
For a' that, an' a' that, 
Their dignities an' a' that; 
The pith o' sense, an' pride o' worth, 
Are higher rank than a' that. 

Also the previous verse from the same poem,

Ye see yon birkie, ca'd a lord, 
Wha struts, an' stares, an' a' that; 
Tho' hundreds worship at his word, 
He's but a coof for a' that: 
For a' that, an' a' that, 
His ribband, star, an' a' that: 
The man o' independent mind 
He looks an' laughs at a' that. 

The killing Burns line is:

“The rank is but the guinea’s stamp;
the man’s the gowd [gold] for a’ [all] that!”


He was saying that the common man is as good as any king or lord. Burns was a man far ahead of his time: on the eve of the French Revolution in 1792, he was writing "The Rights of Woman" 

He also had something prescient to say about Europe.

While Europe’s eye is fix’d on mighty things,
The fate of empires and the fall of kings;
While quacks of state must each produce his plan,
And even children lisp the Rights of Man;
Amid this mighty fuss just let me mention,
The Rights of Woman merit some attention.
—Robert Burns


When asked to name the source of his greatest creative inspiration, Bob Dylan selected "A Red, Red Rose" by Robert Burns. Abraham Lincoln was also a Burns fan, reciting his poetry from memory and perhaps being influenced to emancipate African American slaves by the great Scottish poet's passionately stated belief in human equality.

Let us hope for UKIP's sake Legge is the next bottle to fall off the wall. Bloom had the decency of a common man to fall on his sword for the good of UKIP. Will Legge do likewise? There are many better men than him in UKIP.


6 comments:

ALAN WOOD said...

In the South West in 2009 Legge was given a sharp "talking to" by Malcolm Wood who advised him that as No 2 on the list he would need to put in a large sum of money to ensure that the publicity campaign was successful in gaining the second seat.His payback would be a place in Brussels.
Without Malcolm Wood will the South West get a second seat ?
In Wales John Bufton was outstanding and only stupidity by Farage stopped Wales from also getting seats in the Assembly.
Without Bufton will UKIP get a Welsh seat.
The Midlands has imploded - without Nattrass & Nikki Sinclaire will they win seats ?
Will the Bloom episode foul up Yorkshire where seats are hard to win ?
Will Andreason poison South East and stop SE getting a second seat ?

UKIP was a good brand in 2009 but it is now a tarnished lamp.

An underperforming 2014 European election, in the face of false Referendum promises by the other 3, will effectively kill off UKIP for 2015 and ever after.

A slick deal by Merkel over the next Treaty, with a weak Cameron or Miliband getting a few crumbs to save their skin, will effectively put UK in financial jeopardy and on the road to ruin.

Farage will give up after 5 more years, as Bloom predicted, leaving the way open for a genuine anti-EU party to succeed in 2019/20 off the back of some really annoyed Brits who have seen their lives ruined, as in Greece etc.

Eric Edmond said...

I do not publish anonymous comments. Put your name to it if you want your views shown on this blog.

Pre MEP list voting Legge was given huge speaking oportunities denied to other candidates by the then Regional Organiser Malcolm Wood. After the election Malcolm Wood was then employed by Legge.

Mike Bridgeman said...

But Alan, who else is there to vote for?
I predict a stunning result for Ukip in the Euros.
It's just a shame that they get through so many MEPs and members for that matter.
Jo public doesn't have a clue about all this.
Mike

Eric Edmond said...

Mike,

Short of a Bloom II UKIP are bound to win a lot of MEP seats in 2014. They will be the chosen of Farage so will go the same way as the 2009 intake. The ones I have seen are as mediocre as the previous lot. How many have pledged £10000 a year to UKIP funds as Wheeler tried and failed to get out of the previous lot? Zero I bet!

Mike Bridgeman said...

At least a deal with the Conservatives has been ruled out (at the moment). That has to be a step in the right direction. Ukip candidates may not be shafted in 2015 as they were last time. That is progress for a pressure group.
And as for funds, what do they need funds for? All a pressure group needs is candidates and a politically ignorant voting public.

ALAN WOOD said...

The 2014 election will be a watershed for UKIP; not only the European elections but a number of other local elections.
There is the possibility that the CON/LD coalition, as the sitting government, will lose ground to UKIP & Labour.
The final positions will be interesting and it will be necessary for UKIP to increase their % vote and number of MEP seats for the other parties to worry unduly about them.
Successes by UKIP in Local Government elections would be icing on the cake.
For people who feel let down by UKIP would they vote for UKIP because it is the only anti-EU Party with a chance to win ?