Op-ed; Ukip's former Tory MP Douglas Carswell is quitting the party and hopes he will continue representing his constituency of Clacton without having to face a by-election. He plans to stand as an independent but how independent will he really be? He has already shown himself a die-hard Tory during his time with Ukip. On the BBC news channel Saturday morning he stuck the knife in Ukip firmly and squarely. He assessed Ukip as a one trick pony that is finished now that PM Theresa May is about to trigger Article 50. In October 2014 we reported "Ukip and its party leader are celebrating Friday morning. The party secured its first seat in the Commons in Thursday's vote boosting the party's image and ego. Tory defector Douglas Carswell won Clacton in the South of England but was the electorate voting for their tried and tested old Tory MP or UKIP?" Carswell was full of praise for unelected Tory PM Theresa May Saturday. His words re Ukip "job done" obviously do not reflect his full view. Carswell is hoping his constituents remain a one MP set of voters who are intrinsically right-wing but what about local Ukip supporters? If Carswell has his way they will not get a chance to elect a Ukip MP or one of any other political colour. Is he so desperate to stay in politics and if so why? Did Carswell discuss his resignation with Theresa May and other Tories? Was he hoping to simply cross the floor of the House and join his Tory chums? Such a move would trigger a by-election. He did not discuss his imminent departure with his Ukip colleagues who found out he had quit along with his blog readers and the mainstream media. Carswell posted his intention to resign on his blog saying; It has been an extraordinary achievement. UKIP, my party, which was founded in 1993 in order to get Britain out of the European Union, has now achieved what we were established to do. Later Saturday there are claims that Mr Carswell jumped before he was pushed and that he had been summoned to appear before Ukip bosses and answer questions Monday.
Finally thoughts from Twitter › owenjbennett "As I revealed in #thebrexitclub Carswell joined Ukip to lessen Farage 's role in the EU ref. Job done, now he's off. Astonishing infiltration" http://www.talkcarswell.com/ http://www.tekjournalismuk.com/where-but-the-uk/ukip-election-win-rocks-westminster
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Op-ed: Tuesday 18 days after being elected as the new party leader of UKIP Diane James quit. Enter that proverbial bad penny, boomerang man or saviour of UKIP Nigel Farage who is once more running that political party though this time he claims it will be temporary and until such time as a new party leader is elected.
UKIP are traditionally a one-man party with on political aim. The aim to get the UK out of the European Union and the man is Nigel Farage. UKIP have two MPs, both Tory Party defectors, Douglas Carswell and Neil Hamilton, but Carswell could of course cross the floor of the House of Commons and rejoin his old Conservative pals; I doubt Hamilton could! When BRexit is complete UKIP will have no meaning or purpose. For many of us they never had either. Ironically Farage has a political role as an elected MEP that is Member of the European Union parliament. Still he does not have to worry about finances but that's another story. When Diane James quit she claimed someone on a train had spit on her since becoming party leader and that she did not have the support of some in her party. Mouthy Carole Malone doing the press review on Sky News late Tuesday seemed to think the spitting was OK. She was derisory about Ms James in effect saying she should toughen up. How very odd when Ms Malone has been one of those calling Momentum and Jeremy supporters for alleged, sometimes, non-existent, abuse. But she has quit ahead of her role as leader being formalised so pranksters on social media Tuesday were quick to say Mr Farage has simply had a two-week vacation and is now back at work. She did win the election by a massive majority so who knows what claims of a lack of support are about. "The South East England MEP [James} became the first woman to lead the Eurosceptic party on 16 September, following a leadership election caused by Farage stepping down after the EU referendum." One potential candidate Stephen Woolfe was excluded as he missed the deadline because of “technical problems on the party system” on the day that nominations closed. His supporters may have been part of the problem. Political pundits, Bookies and the mainstream media now seem to think Mr Woolfe is favourite to win the next UKIP leader election but will Farage actually leave this time. He quit after the General election 2015 but quickly returned so perhaps for him and UKIP it will be third time lucky or unlucky depending on your view of Mr Farage. |
British political scene
The next General Election in the UK may not be scheduled any time soon but the British political landscape is changing. With that in mind this blog will concentrate on the political scene but with a left wing perspective. Opinion pieces and news will bring you the stories that the MSM prefer to ignore. Archives
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