mkpdavies

Forgiven! Sorry we got off to the wrong start! I'll walk back in and we'll forget that we ever met, deal?

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Libydee

sounds fair

Matt O'Grady

Just out of interest really, what percentage of UKIP come from minority groups?

Anthony Butcher

Everyone fits INTO phpbb_one minority group or another

Or are you asking if we have many ethnic minority members? The answer is: I don't think so. I imagine that the myth about the party being right wing or racist probably puts them off a little. It will change over time as more people see that we are a centre ground, liberal party.

I know that Rusty Lee is standing for the party as a PPC, and two out of ten of the listed officials in our London office aren't white.

We aren't in any hurry to use "positive" discrimination methods like other parties to patronise our members though.

Tom Wilde

I've never seen any estimates of the ethnic minority membership of UKIP. The reason is the view which Anthony just expressed, which I've heard often before within UKIP:
There was once some talk of setting up a 'black members section' like that in the Labour Party, but this too was dismissed on the grounds that it would be patronising.

It's also difficult to estimate on the basis of personal experience. I have the impression that, as with other parties, there are far more ethnic minority members in the big cities than in the sticks.

Of UKIP's 30 or so local councillors, I know that one in the Midlands (in Walsall, I think) is a Muslim. He defected to UKIP from the Tories last year.

A small number of Asian candidates represented UKIP in the 2001 General Election, mainly in London, and one of the Euro Election candidates in London was also Asian. (Though he was about no. 6 on the list, so he never had much of a chance).

Before that, there was Ashwinkumar Tanna, a pharmacist from south London who stood as an independent candidate in the first London Mayoral elections. Afterwards he joined UKIP and represented the party in the Tottenham by-election in 2000 (?) I followed his campaign with interest as it was the first by-election after UKIP's wins in the 1999 Euro Elections. I remember being miffed that he got literally no media coverage whatever, apart from a brief paragraph in the Chemist & Druggist!

One of the forty UKIP candidates in the last Welsh Assembly election was Asian (Dr Rajan). He contested the Rhondda Valley, and managed to outpoll the Conservative candidate there (though beating a Tory candidate in the Rhondda is one of the more minor foothills of political achievement! )

Rusty Lee is undoubtedly UKIP's highest-profile ethnic minority candidate so far.

EP Employee

We shouldn't encourage the enlargement of the EU behemoth; we should be trying to dismantle it.

Bellatrix

Turkey joining the EU when most of the country isn't actually in Europe...interesting.

I am very happy for Turkey to be in NATO, but no more.

mkpdavies

SNIP SNIP. Posts deleted

Just a reminder, no hijacking of threads to continue the leadership bickering! Go on, make my life easier, PACK IT IN!

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Nigel Garage

You're clearly a Biscuitmanite. :wink: