UKIP accused of being 'far right' again

Anthony Butcher · 03-05-2006, 06:33 PM

http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?id=15686

Quote:

Tony Travers, director of the LSE’s Greater London Group, said it was relatively uncommon for Labor to lose support to the BNP, partly because the trade unions and the rest of the Labor movement would unite behind the party in the face of a BNP threat.

....

There was a significant, and rising, far right presence in Britain, he said, noting that in the local elections two years ago, the BNP and UKIP had between them garnered 23 per cent of the national vote.

I think that a letter to Mr Travers might be in order to correct his misconception, and perhaps we can ask for an apology too.

a.travers@lse.ac.uk

http://www.lse.ac.uk/people/a.travers@lse.ac.uk/

Britannist · 03-05-2006, 08:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anthony Butcher

http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?id=15686

Quote:

Tony Travers, director of the LSE’s Greater London Group, said it was relatively uncommon for Labor to lose support to the BNP, partly because the trade unions and the rest of the Labor movement would unite behind the party in the face of a BNP threat.

....

There was a significant, and rising, far right presence in Britain, he said, noting that in the local elections two years ago, the BNP and UKIP had between them garnered 23 per cent of the national vote.

I think that a letter to Mr Travers might be in order to correct his misconception, and perhaps we can ask for an apology too.

a.travers@lse.ac.uk

http://www.lse.ac.uk/people/a.travers@lse.ac.uk/

Travers - from the famously leftist London School of Economics - has been popping up on the television for many years (at least the last decade) to make little soundbites. He thinks he knows it all - but I'm not impressed. And, from what I've seen of him on the television, I don't like him (regardless of his politics - which I've always thought was europhile and pro-Labour or pro-Dim Libs).

Strangely enough, it was from the LSE that a certain Mr. 'Robert Kiljoy-Sulk' graduated :shock: . And, if I'm not mistaken, isn't it the LSE from which another fan (not) of UKIP is based now (or used to be based) - the one and only Dr. Sked. Another LSE chappie who (like 'Kiljoy' and Travers) puts the modest and reasonable UKIP "on the far right".

chikrodah · 04-05-2006, 06:06 AM

Whether we like it or not, we are currently stuck with a 'Nationalist' label. That makes it very easy for people to associate us with a 'far right' label as well.

Individual letters can make a difference, but just writing to Mr. Travers without copying said letter to the local/national media and any associated websites will not make a blind bit of difference to the public perception of UKIP.

We need a leader who is ready, willing and able to pop up at a moment's notice to respond to both these issues and the breaking news with a carefully drafted soundbite in line with our core values.

That means having a leader whose only job for the duration of their term of office is to be a media darling, constantly in the public eye.

I'm looking forward to the leadership elections... :twisted:

gawain · 04-05-2006, 03:42 PM

Dear Editor

The piece by Hannah Strange (UK faces electoral threat from far right - 3 May 2006) includes a comment by Tony Travers of the London School of Economics. He claims that the UK Independence Party are, "far right" and brackets the party with the BNP. This is wrong and offensive. The UK Independence Party is a non racist and non sectarian party with broadly libertarian ideals of personal and national independence. We believe in freeing our people from state control and our country from the control of the undemocratic and bureaucratic European Union. Recent opinion polls put support for our position on Europe at around 50% of the UK population. Indeed tomorrow's Eurobarometer poll will show that even the EU accepts that only 31% of the UK population supports it.
How do you square that with the description far right? At local elections our message is one of greater degrees of independence from centralised authority and a strong direct democracy agenda that takes power out of the hands of officials and gives it to local people. Again not a traditional far right approach.
We do question unlimited free immigration and the poverty of the multiculturalist agenda, but there again so does Trevor Philips of the CRE and Archbishop John Setanu.
Maybe next time your correspondent would speak to us rather than reprinting tired and inaccurate cliches.

Yours sincerely

Nigel Farage MEP
Leader of the UK Independence Party Group
in the European Parliament

Anthony Butcher · 04-05-2006, 05:30 PM

Good response Gawain, thank you.

IceDragon · 05-05-2006, 06:16 PM

Seeing that much of the votes for the BNP come from ex New Labour voters perhaps New Labour should be considered a far right party. After all don't think that even the BNP would have killed as many Arabs or implemented the Orwellian ID card project.

Mikeuk · 05-05-2006, 07:11 PM

Why waste time bothering with some complete nonentity. Who cares what he thinks, anyway?

We should be spending more time embarrassing Cameron. Many of the 'closet racists' who voted UKIP in the European elections are members of his own party

Resigned Member · 05-05-2006, 10:40 PM

Sorry I cant agree that Gawain(who he) letter was good. It was badly laid out and had grammatical errors. I question the need for such a letter-does he think Travers is going to say'gosh I never realized any of that'. While some of these academics are not that bright I would not class Travers in the same league as the ordinary say Guardian journo who is usually pretty limited.

girlfriday · 06-05-2006, 07:41 AM

Resigned member - your reply is not exactly Oxford English Dictionary reply of the year award stuff - is it?

Come on, this is the internet, people make errors, speeling mistaks, incorrect'ly place,d, punctu-ation etceteroa.

We are not here to judge each others literary skillls, it is what we have to SAY that matters.

04-05-2006, 03:42 PM	#4 (permalink)
gawain Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 268	Letter to the editor ISN Dear Editor The piece by Hannah Strange (UK faces electoral threat from far right - 3 May 2006) includes a comment by Tony Travers of the London School of Economics. He claims that the UK Independence Party are, "far right" and brackets the party with the BNP. This is wrong and offensive. The UK Independence Party is a non racist and non sectarian party with broadly libertarian ideals of personal and national independence. We believe in freeing our people from state control and our country from the control of the undemocratic and bureaucratic European Union. Recent opinion polls put support for our position on Europe at around 50% of the UK population. Indeed tomorrow's Eurobarometer poll will show that even the EU accepts that only 31% of the UK population supports it. How do you square that with the description far right? At local elections our message is one of greater degrees of independence from centralised authority and a strong direct democracy agenda that takes power out of the hands of officials and gives it to local people. Again not a traditional far right approach. We do question unlimited free immigration and the poverty of the multiculturalist agenda, but there again so does Trevor Philips of the CRE and Archbishop John Setanu. Maybe next time your correspondent would speak to us rather than reprinting tired and inaccurate cliches. Yours sincerely Nigel Farage MEP Leader of the UK Independence Party Group in the European Parliament

05-05-2006, 10:40 PM	#8 (permalink)
Resigned Member Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 135	UKIP accused Sorry I cant agree that Gawain(who he) letter was good. It was badly laid out and had grammatical errors. I question the need for such a letter-does he think Travers is going to say'gosh I never realized any of that'. While some of these academics are not that bright I would not class Travers in the same league as the ordinary say Guardian journo who is usually pretty limited.

06-05-2006, 07:41 AM	#9 (permalink)
girlfriday Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: england Posts: 238	Errors? Resigned member - your reply is not exactly Oxford English Dictionary reply of the year award stuff - is it? Come on, this is the internet, people make errors, speeling mistaks, incorrect'ly place,d, punctu-ation etceteroa. We are not here to judge each others literary skillls, it is what we have to SAY that matters.

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04-05-2006, 06:06 AM	#3 (permalink)
chikrodah Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Midlands Posts: 1,525	Whether we like it or not, we are currently stuck with a 'Nationalist' label. That makes it very easy for people to associate us with a 'far right' label as well. Individual letters can make a difference, but just writing to Mr. Travers without copying said letter to the local/national media and any associated websites will not make a blind bit of difference to the public perception of UKIP. We need a leader who is ready, willing and able to pop up at a moment's notice to respond to both these issues and the breaking news with a carefully drafted soundbite in line with our core values. That means having a leader whose only job for the duration of their term of office is to be a media darling, constantly in the public eye. I'm looking forward to the leadership elections... :twisted:

04-05-2006, 05:30 PM	#5 (permalink)
Anthony Butcher Administrator Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Long Ashton, Bristol Posts: 9,823 Party: None	Good response Gawain, thank you.

05-05-2006, 06:16 PM	#6 (permalink)
IceDragon Senior Member Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 1,048	Seeing that much of the votes for the BNP come from ex New Labour voters perhaps New Labour should be considered a far right party. After all don't think that even the BNP would have killed as many Arabs or implemented the Orwellian ID card project.

05-05-2006, 07:11 PM	#7 (permalink)
Mikeuk Uber Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Fareham Posts: 5,650 Party: Conservatives	Why waste time bothering with some complete nonentity. Who cares what he thinks, anyway? We should be spending more time embarrassing Cameron. Many of the 'closet racists' who voted UKIP in the European elections are members of his own party