devilskitchen

The first problem, as I pointed out a while ago, is that a good few of his allegations were libellous. I believe that a number of legal letters have been drafted.

The second problem is that this forum is checked by journos looking for stories. The UKIP press office have had to fend off a number of reporters looking for salacious stories deriving specifically from this letter (including News of the Screws reporters asking about NF and Annabelle Fuller's "relationship"). I know this as I have been in the office a few times over the last few weeks when this has happened.

These are damaging and, I believe, a waste of resources; the press office are doing their very best to try to promote UKIP (and, yes, I know that this is not a dedicated UKIP BB but try to understand my position) and the iniquities of the EU and they shouldn't need to keep answering calls about a relationship that doesn't exist (believe me, I know).

If you want to resign, then do so privatim et seriatim as honour would dictate, otherwise you are simply and deliberately wrecking an opportunity for the rest of us. Some of us do believe in UKIP as the best hope for withdrawing this country from the god-awful mess that the EU has imposed on us. Even if UKIP become dominant enough to force the Tories to rethink their strategy on the EU (they won't: remember who signed us up to the EEC and the Maastricht Treaty?) then that would be something.

However, making an attempt to split the EU-nihilist vote even further is actively damaging. You think that UKIP is not respected? Have you heard or seen anything from Veritas (how many people have said to me that they are put off joining UKIP because of "the Kilroy-Silk image"? Answer: quite a few) or any of the others? Then why damage this party if you seriously believe in EU withdrawal?

Let's face it: UKIP is going to have to play the long game anyway. I do not think that we will make massive gains in the next General Election simply because many people are desperate to get NuLabour out (my father included). Should Cameron et alios be just as bad as NuLabour (as I believe they will), then the GE after that will be UKIP's real opportunity. We have a long way to go and all of this squabbling simply takes us back to first base.

Lastly, the letter was not only very similar to RS's but also so badly written that people might well think that it was designed by a committee. Of chimps. If I was unable to write my own language, I wouldn't be anxious to advertise the fact.

I haven't met Marcus, but I feel fairly sure that, if I ever did, I would find a raving egomaniac with the mental age and ingrained petulance of a teenage girl.

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Unio Europaea delenda est

eublues

Just to mention it's not just UKIP people that get carried away when writing resignation letters. Here is an offering from a Conservative candidate:


Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Resignation

It is with deep sadness that I resign as the Conservative’s Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the City of Chester.

For the last three years I have dedicated myself to Chester and to working for the people of Chester, so that they could get the representation in Parliament that they deserve. My commitment to the city and to the Conservative Party has been unfaltering, but I am not prepared to tolerate the infighting that the Conservatives are so well known for.

I must stress that the vast majority of the local members have been truly wonderful to me and Trudy and our two girls and it has been a real pleasure knowing them. Many members have contacted us over the last couple of weeks encouraging me to stay in Chester, and their words have been truly appreciated.

I will take considerable credit for turning Chester from what Labour regarded as a safe seat, into one of the most marginal parliamentary seats in the country. I have also played a central role in turning the Conservatives from the smallest party on the City Council to the largest. It was mentioned on Friday 1st December that one of my faults is that I have probably campaigned too hard!!!!!!! It saddens me to see that the local Conservative Association has self destructed and undone so much of the good work that has been achieved during the last three years.

Ten days ago, a meeting was held between me, two of the Association Officers and regional representatives to discuss my future. The conclusion from that meeting was that there was no case against me with regards to de-selection. It was agreed that all parties had made mistakes, so we would regroup and focus on winning elections as one team. However, others within the local Conservative power-base were clearly not happy with that decision and appeared determined to force me out. I must point out that there has not been a single occasion this year when the Officers of the Association have called me to a meeting over concerns with my performance as a PPC and I am not aware of any complaint ever having been made to Central Office.

I was prepared to stand my corner and fight for my continuation as Chester’s PPC, but when the campaign was turned against my wife and attempts made to contact my ex-wife of 15 years to try and dig up some dirt, I realised that I was wrong to believe that a sense of decency would prevail. I realised it was time to go.

I remain totally committed to the Conservative Party and believe that David Cameron’s agenda is the right agenda – his major challenge though is to change the attitudes of some of the people running his Associations. I have witnessed sexist bullying, heard racist comments and been told by the local Chairman that he didn’t support work that I was doing to help families with disabled children because he thought that ‘disabled kids shouldn’t be fed from the day they are born.’ I believe that such abhorrent prejudices have no place in the Conservative Party and I refuse to work with people who have such opinions: I cannot say anymore about these as a formal investigation is already underway.

Chester Conservatives are only four seats away from taking control of the City Council, but I hope the electorate will question whether the Conservatives are fit to run the City. Most of Chester’s Conservative Councillors are decent, honourable people who are there for the right reasons, but some are more interested in the power than they are the City or its residents.

I have several commitments to Chester and I shall continue to honour those. A friend and I were about to announce one of the biggest challenges that members of the Party has ever undertaken in a bid to raise awareness of, and funds for, local charities. We intend to continue that commitment to Chester and we will announce more in the New Year.

I thank everyone who has supported me over the last three years and apologise to anyone who feels let down – this has not been an easy decision to make.

Paul Offer

mkpdavies

He sure knows how to blow his own trumpet!

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My ignore list

Labour, Lib Dems

C_steam

You were doing so well, right up to:-

Pots and kettles spring to mind.

kernow

C_steam

The problem with there being only one game in town is that you need to be 100% sure that the dice ain't loaded, the deck is not marked and the dealer is not crooked.

some of us aren't so sure.

michael mcgough

If you don't buy a ticket yo won,t win the raffle.UKIP is the only party selling tickets to exit the EU.

mkpdavies

Not strictly true, but the problem with the only other party of note that wants out, has the star prize of getting out with some major strings. Indeed it would be like winning a pound, only to lose a million.

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http://wokinglibertarians.blogspot.com/
http://lpuk.org

My ignore list

Labour, Lib Dems

SGK

Just saw this, allow me a delayed reply:

The 'ugly facts are plastered all over your post. You don't agree with the original letter posted Marcus and so laid into him; you didn't address any of his points in a civilised manner. If you're not happy with the way your post is viewed you should consider how you write it. The proof is in the pudding, speaking of which:

Your comment is totally detached from mine; it's not what I said at all. You took a comment from me and twisted it to your own ends in order to insult me. So you have also proved that your 'debating' style was not a one off and I was completely right in my assessment. :roll:

SGK

As much as I agree that libel should not be published, even on a forum, surely your claim that his allegations are libellous is only an allegation. Without having re-read the entire thread, I don't remember many posts pointing out which bits of the letter are actually inacurate. In fact, very few posts have addressed the details in the letter.
Shouldn't, then, we all wait for these legal letters to hit before acting on allegations?

But the letter is already 'out there' and it is not necessarily this forum that's the cause. If the allegations are false, they can be defended. If UKIP had its house in order, there would be no cracks to ram the wedge into.

But if you know that, why are you acting as if you don't? This forum is not here for the benefit of UKIP, simple as that. Some of us are not members. Some of us believe UKIP is damaging the anti-EU cause. Why should the forum determine to fight UKIP's corner no matter what?

But for right or wrong (mainly wrong) this is politics in the UK. If you don't want to mix this sort of thing with the 'get out of the EU' argument then there shouldn't be a political party dedicated to it. UKIP needs to be whiter than white or the press will be onto them, just as they are with any scandal story.

Sorry, utter rubbish. A person who has openly and loudly petitioned for something has the right to openly and loudly raise his voice against if he feels it is right to do so. I don't know which rule book you're looking at, but it's clearly not one everyone has access to.

And some of us are increasingly of the opinion that it isn't. Can you, and the other people who keep repeating that UKIP is 'the only game', understand that?

How about the idea that UKIP, by setting itself up as the adversary of the Conservative party, is actually pushing some Con MPs and members away from the anti-EU stance by association?

Yet the letter you damn should actually be an indication to you that there are things going wrong. You ask the question, but I don't believe you are looking for an answer. It sounds a bit rhetorical to me.

As has been pointed out, these last bits do you no credit and actually suggest that you are part of the problem that caused the resignation in the first place. The hatred that pours out of the party is enough to put a lot of people off and give it the reputation as an extremist party. Check out the ukiphome website for some anti-tory vitriol, for example.
How is the party going to get people 'on side' when it attacks anything that moves?