kernow

And you would be quite right in your thinking!

Hartlepool

I heard definately Gordon Broon and maybe Millyband.

steve fowler

i'll get the cricket bat then!.

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RULE BRITANNIA BRITANNIA RULES THE WAVES, BRITONS NEVER EVER SHALL BE SLAVE'S.

Never give in - never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.
Winston Churchill.

When Labour won the 1997 General Election, Enoch Powell told his wife that the electorate had voted to break up the United Kingdom.

ukiprule

Is this serious

TomPhil

Unfortunately I doubt it. Getting an MP to leave the safety of one of the big parties to join is an entirely different thing to getting an independent to accept the support of a party.

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"A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government."

In Labour we trusted and now we are busted... again. It's the economy, stupid.

Independent UKIP

I broadly agree with you but there is always the slim possibility of someone retiring at the next election (or suffering from boundary changes or whatever) who has been too much of a rebel to have any hope of a peerage thinking what the heck, let's just go and do it - 10p tax, 42 days, ID cards, EU constitution etc being too much for their conscience. Gwyneth Dunwoody, for example, prior to her recent and very regrettable death was more than willing to lose the Labour whip over IIRC the reorganisation of local government in Cheshire despite her lifelong association with Labour.

Britannist

Yes - her passing last week was very sad news. British politics lost a a great Parliamentarian and eurosceptic who was not afraid to stand up to the Government.

Do you have any more information regarding the above quote, Independent UKIP, please (i.e. regarding the Cheshire Local Government reorganisation)?

Independent UKIP

Thanks for picking up on that Britannist. This is one the worst places on the net to make hearsay remarks about British politics and not have to back it up with the facts! That is a reason why this is an extremely good forum!

As a result of further research I think my suggestion that Mrs Dunwoody, "was more than willing to lose the Labour whip" is not supported by the evidence available so I withdraw that suggestion. I do however think the evidence suggests that she was willing to lose the Labour whip over the issue and that is what I contend.

House of Commons Hansard Debates for 18 Dec 2007 (pt 0006)

is a speech by Mrs Dunwoody condemning the reorganisation of Cheshire local authorities from 18th December.

House of Commons Hansard Debates for 18 Dec 2007 (pt 0011)

is a speech by the Labour MP Mike Hall on the same day. The speech includes the following (the friend being Mrs Dunwoody), I have seen nothing which questions a single world that Mr Hall said above.

House of Commons Hansard Debates for 26 Feb 2008 (pt 0026)

is another speech by Mrs Dunwoody condemning the reorganisation of Cheshire local authorities from 26th Feb 2008.

Mrs Dunwoody was indeed a great loss to parliament and the nation. I'm sure the liblabcon candidates will all be nobodies compared to her. I hope and trust if UKIP has a candidate he/she will be a person of substance worthy of following her as an MP.

Britannist

There will never be another Gwyneth Dunwoody MP.

Parliament and British politics will not be the same without her.

She was an MP for longer than most had been following politics (I believe that she was the last of those who entered the Commons for the first time in 1966).

One of the best compliments anyone could ever pay her was a reporter on Sky Television News who said upon hearing that she had passed on: "She was regarded by Blair and some of those around him as a troublemaker on certain issues."

When that lot call a politician a "troublemaker" you know the person they are criticising is in the right.

Happy days for Gwyneth in her Crewe-Nantwich constituency (photographs of hardworking eurosceptic Gwyneth attending functions in the Cheshire seat she loyally represented for many years):

Gwyneth Dunwoody

Tributes to The Late and much-missed Mrs. Gwyneth Dunwoody the longest-serving lady in the House of Commons – the woman many regarded as Labour’s version of Conservative Ann Widdecombe (another straight-talking and hardworking MP):

Tribute to Gwyneth Dunwoody, Memorial | Lasting tribute

Britannist

More on The Late Mrs. Gwyneth Dunwoody MP at:

"Great Sadness as veteran eurosceptic Labour MP dies - By-Election now due"