Monday 4 July 2016

Farage resigns as UKIP leader

I and many others in UKIP over many years were smeared and villified by Nigel Farage but without him we would never have got an In/Out Referendum. That was his great achivement and I thank him from the bottom of my heart. To get us out of the EU in my lifetime was my sole ambition and the sole reason that I and many others joined UKIP. Nigel Farage steadily increased UKIP's media profile and put such electoral pressure on Cameron that he had to include the offer in the Tories 2015 manifesto.

Farage has always been lucky electorally as UKIP leader. The expenses scandal of Feb 2010 engulfed all of the three main political parties enabling UKIP to go from 13 seats in 2009 to 24 seats in 2014 when UKIP became the biggest UK party by share of the vote in the European parliament. His second slice of luck was the collapse of the LibDems in the 2015 General Election leaving Cameron with an overall majority and hence he had to honour his pledge to hold an in out EU referendum. Cameron had been counting on another LibCon coalition when he could ditch his referendum promise because it was a LIbDem red line so Dave was hoist on his own petard as the Lib Dems had been in 2010 on the no increase in student fees public pledge which when they found themselves in government they could not deliver.

Being lucky as Napoleon noted is the prime requirement for a leader and Farage ticked that box..

The job is not yet done and I expect the establishment will try and reverse the Referendum OUT decision. Resisting that is a job for others. The Referendum was won however not by Farage  by others, Dan Hanaan, Gisela Stuart, Andrea Leadsom, BoJo, Gove etc but no Nigel no Referendum.

UKIP will go on but at the top it is stuffed with Farage placemen which will make it difficult for the new leader. I also suspect UKIP is bankrupt. Nigel was always liberal with party money. His 7 MP election failures did not come cheap. The referendum result redeems Nigel and ensures him a seat on the red leather. His timing is excellent. He knows he is toxic to many people but by going he takes himself out of the easy Europhile targets. As Richard Nixon said when standing down they will have to find a new guy to kick. Well done Nigel!

9 comments:

James Haintalf said...

We shall see if this serial liar really means his resignation this time. He's announced fake resignations twice before, most infamously last year with the "unresignation" after his equally untrustworthy pledge to resign if he didn't win a Westminster seat. I note he has already said he's not quitting the Brussels gravy train and his MEP salary until the very last moment. Funny, as he's shed crocodile tears all these years about how he's given up his life and career to shuttle to and from Brussels, and today he's making the same whines about wanting his life back, so you would think that logically the shuttling to and from Brussels would be the first thing to go, but no, this "non-career politician" is hanging onto his cushy political career in a foreign land until the bitter end, while he's absolving himself of all his responsibilities in his home country quicker than you can say "pay my MEP pension in euros".

But at least if his resignation from the UKIP leadership is permanent, then good riddance to this vile creep who has caused so much division and upset within the party.

I am disappointed to see you repeat the media's lazy myth that the In/Out referendum would never have happened without Farage. The truth is rather different. When others in UKIP were fighting hard for that referendum - principally Roger Knapman first, and Nikki Sinclair later - not only was Farage doing much less to secure it than them, but in fact he was actively trying to block their efforts!!!

I would direct you to this very telling passage from Richard North's blog, written in the disastrous aftermath of Farage's failed 2015 election strategy:

"There should be no place on the BBC website, for instance, for Farage's lies, as he asserts that: "I've put 20 years of my life into trying to get a referendum and now is not the time to walk away". I sat across a desk from that man over a period of four years. He never then mentioned the possibility of a referendum, and has barely mentioned it in public until fairly recently, only agreeing to sign Nikki Sinclair's petition for a referendum when he was bounced into it. Farage's game plan has always – since the very beginning – been the electoral route, initially trying to pressure the Conservatives into taking us out of the EU by damaging them in general elections. Then he had fantasies about holding the balance of power, and thus forcing a Conservative minority government into action, as a condition for his support. Having recently spent most of his time and effort trying to prevent Mr Cameron getting a majority, and thereby honouring his referendum pledge, it ill-behoves Farage to claim he has been working for a referendum. He hasn't, he never has and, as a result, he and his party are totally unprepared to fight one."

Link: http://eureferendum.com/blogview.aspx?blogno=85583

That's the cutting truth of the matter. Since then, with his usual thirst for self-promotion, Farage has been able to clamber back into the spotlight and jump onto the referendum bandwagon, trying at the last minute to take the glory on the back of others' years of effort trying to secure a referendum he actively obstructed. Well, because of the media's stupidity it is difficult to stop him taking some of that glory, but one would have hoped at least to count on the likes of your good self, Dr Edmond, to stop him taking the credit when that belongs elsewhere too.

Eric Edmond said...

All you say is true Mr Haintalf. Farage however terrified Cameron after he destroyed Nick in the 2015 election debate hence no face to face debates this time for our Dave. To nullify UKIP/Farage Cameron made his referendum pledge and my ex-colleague M Hancock was sent round the TV studios to sell this line never expecting the woukd have to deliver it. Nick let Dave down again and the rest is history.

My views on Farage have not changed he is a nasty unpleasant man but sometimes bad people end up by mistake doing good things!

James Haintalf said...

I'm certainly aware that to your great credit, Dr Edmond, you have remained bravely steadfast in expressing your views on that nasty unpleasant man as you rightly call Farage, in the face of endless personal abuse and intimidation from his cronies and lickspittles, here in your own comments section and elsewhere. That's why I'm saddened you of all people are giving him credit that I do not believe he deserves. But I will say this much about your doing so - it certainly shows you are a bigger man than he will ever be, and bravo to you for that.

I agree with you that Cameron made his referendum pledge to nullify UKIP, but that's not quite the same as to nullify UKIP/Farage as you put it, and I would disagree with your inclusion of Farage in the equation. It was the culmination of years of pressure. Pressure for a referendum has been growing, especially on the Tory backbenches, ever since Blair reneged on his promise to hold one on the EU Constitution, after it was repackaged as the Lisbon Treaty. And why had Blair made that pledge in the first place? Because of Roger Knapman's success in making it a breakthrough issue for UKIP in the 2004 Euro elections - UKIP's first really big electoral success, long before most people had even heard of Farage. Blair made his pledge soon after that and when he reneged on it, the genie was out of the bottle. After that, Mr Knapman kept pushing for a referendum through meetings and rallies around the country. I myself attended two such and I distinctly remember how at one of them the place was fizzing with the word that Farage was trying to sabotage the campaign and had even sent his spies to the meeting. What a s**t. So bravo to Roger Knapman and bravo to Nikki Sinclair, the real heroes in the culmination of years of struggle, and knickers to Farage from me, I'm afraid.

I see Dr North has reprised his critique of Farage on his blog today:

http://www.eureferendum.com/blogview.aspx?blogno=86132

Once again, Dr North says of Farage: "as regards the referendum, he always opposed the idea – preferring to put his resources into taking Parliament by storm through the election process. When he found he could not block it, he reluctantly supported it, climbing on the bandwagon at the last minute."

On a personal note, North says Farage "is a liar, a bully and a braggart, who does not know the meaning of the word loyalty." Ouch.

And finally, tucked away in Dr North's blog column, is this very interesting snippet:

"With unconfirmed rumours that his Brussels offices have been raided, believed to be at the behest of Olaf investigating falsified documents in relation to Ukip's finances, Farage could be jumping before he is pushed. More than a few are suggesting that this "shock" move was not voluntary."

This again tallies with the very many allegations of corruption that have been made over the years about Farage. Many have long worried that those chickens would come home to roost one day and do the anti-EU movement great damage. Some of those may have sighed with relief on June 24th that despite Farage's alleged impropriety no such damage had been done and it was now too late to matter. If these reports are true, allowing such an individual as Nigel Farage anywhere near the anti-EU movement may yet prove to be a great source of regret.

Anonymous said...

Why vilify Nigel Farage Northj was just another hoping for a miracle and doing precisely NOTHING but carp from the sidelines .

James Haintalf said...

And is if by magic, up pops a cowardly anonymous troll to demonstrate that Richard North has faced precisely the same constant personal abuse and intimidation from Farage lickspittles over the years as that faced by Dr Edmond on the lines I described earlier. It's too easy when these people prove one's point on one's behalf with tedious predictability and don't even have the wit to see it.

As for the exact point made by our intrepid hero from behind his or her dashing cloak of anonymity, it's almost too nonsensical to reply to. However, in the interests of fairness towards Richard North, I will try to work through Anonymous' inability to use any grammar whatsoever and say this: Dr North was campaigning hard for a referendum when Farage thought a referendum was something that blows a whistle on a football pitch. The idea that he was doing precisely nothing but carp from the sidelines, when he was travelling all around the country doing his bit (presumably at his own expense and certainly without the aid of a cushy MEP salary) is a gross slur. As to your question "why vilify Farage?", there are answers galore in what I have already posted, but as you show little evidence of being able to write, I doubt there's much point in inviting you to read.

James Haintalf said...

Quckly moving on from our anonymous comedy contributor and back to your good self, Dr Edmond, I would be keen to hear your thoughts on the reports of Farage's Brussels offices being raided for fraudulent financial documentation.

Eric Edmond said...

Mr Haintalf,

I accept what you say about me but its all history. I am concerned with the future especially the report that T May has been hobnobing with tax exile and non dom Richard Branson who wants the Referendum to be re-run. They say a man is known by the company he keeps. This presumbly applies to women as well. I don't think there is the slightest chance May will lead us out of the EU. The one I believe could do this is Liam Fox but it seems the Tories do not like him. I find this incomprehensible.

You have to look at what is coming down the track.

Eric Edmond said...

I know nothing about raids on Farage's Brussel's office except all the bottles they find will be empty.

What is going on in Nikki Sinclaire/ Ison trial in Birmingham may be interesting.

I am, and always have been a good friend, of Roger Knapman and I agree with what you say about him. He and his wife rightly detest Farage for the wrongs he did to Roger

James Haintalf said...

I agree very much with you, Dr Edmond, that May is likely to backtrack on Brexit, but that is why it remains imperative that Farage must be disowned by us, not glorified, because of the immense damage that he could yet do. May and company, no doubt backed by Branson's millions and that of others too, will be looking for every possible excuse to wriggle out of matters, and Farage tarring the entire Out movement with his disreputable brush will help them, not us.

That is why the reports of the Brussels raid, if correct, DO matter. And yes, you are absolutely right - the revelations coming out of the Nikki Sinclaire trial are even more potentially devastating. It is entirely possible that Nigel Farage is about to be exposed in court as having attempted to pervert the course of justice in the worst possible way, by colluding with one of his lickspittles to have another person - a party colleague, to boot - framed in a way designed to send her to jail. Of all the obscene things I have heard about this vile man over the years, this, if true (and the evidence so far is pointing towards the truth of it), will be the most sickening by far. Ison, certainly, looks to be in serious difficulty.

One of the main arguments of those wishing to overturn the referendum result is that the public were lied to by leading Out campaigners. If one of those campaigners is revealed to be so duplicitous as to attempt to pervert the course of justice (while simultaneously coming under investigation for falsifying financial documents), that will play right into such arguments.

You are right, the future matters most, the rest is history. But that is no justification for rewriting history, as those who would give credit to Farage for "securing the referendum" are doing, when the credit lies wholly elsewhere with campaigners such as Roger Knapman and Nikki Sinclaire, the very woman Farage allegedly tried to frame. And concern for the future is precisely why Farage's misdeeds continue to matter, particularly those currently being raked over in a Midlands courtroom.