Ukip's founder says the party has gone 'completely fruitcake
Click on http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/10080835/Ukips-founder-says-the-party-has-gone-completely-fruitcake.html to read the wide ranging piece. I met Alan Sked about 4 years ago at a Freedom Society meeting at East Coker where he was a speaker along with Roger Helmer. Sked was excellent and I had a long chat with him after the meeting on our mutual friends at the LSE. The host worked for ABN Amro and was the first person who hinted the RBS takeover of ABN might well cost Fred the Shred his job.
Sked is a heavyweight political thinker. Helmer is a typical old Tory with typical old Tory views.
Sked's opinion of Farage is summed up by this quote,
"Ukip’s original leader even said that he tried to oust Mr Farage when he organised a conference exploring Ukip’s future direction after it failed to win any seats in the 1997 general election.
Prof Sked described the event as “bizarre” and disloyal. He expelled Mr Farage and two other leading members of the party. However, the trio took legal advice and were told they had a case for being unfairly dismissed.
“I had to drop it,” says Prof Sked. “Ukip was down to about £40,000 back then. We couldn’t waste money on lawyers to fight Nigel.” The historian resigned as leader soon after Mr Farage and his two allies returned to the party"
Farage and his cronies have always been very litigious. UKIP have lost some expensive cases over the years.
Prof Sked criticised the way Mr Farage and his allies subsequently removed a passage from Ukip’s literature which said the party “is a non-sectarian, non-racist body with no prejudices against foreigners or lawful minorities of any kind”.
UKIP may now find its record in this area more closely scrutinised!
Clearly the Telegraph want to undermine UKIP to help the Tories. They won't be short of material.
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