IS DOUGLAS CARSWELL A PLANT?
Douglas Carswell’s attitude to the £3.2 million which UKIP is entitled to under the so-called 'Short Money' rules is, on the face of it, inexplicable.
It could be that he is deliberately using his position to damage UKIP but another possible explanation is the old adage “there is no fool like a clever fool”.
Douglas Carswell appears to be ideologically a Thatcherite ultra who objects to taxpayers’ money being spent on almost anything but in particular on politics. In some ways this might be considered to be commendable, but is obviously a profoundly impractical idea when he represents a party like UKIP which must seriously need that money. I gather UKIP may have spent something in the order of £10 million on the General Election compared to the much bigger Conservative Party, with far greater brand awareness and electoral credibility, which apparently has spent over £60 million.
The Short Money payments would also be extremely useful for UKIP to be used as part of the organisation and preparation for the In/Out EU Referendum. In short the decision to reject it caused by Carswell’s intransigence can only be described as obtuse.
It is however interesting that Douglas Carswell had a track record of being a thorn in David Cameron’s side. Also when he went over to UKIP and caused a by-election, it was interesting that the Conservatives didn’t put in a big hitter against David Carswell, but instead put in a virtually unknown actor, who, despite their polling research on the English nationalist sentiments of many residents of Clacton, didn’t raise the English nationalist issue at all, either in the by-election or in the General Election. Could it be that the leaders of the Conservative Party wanted the highly disruptive, egotistical, ideological obsessive Carswell disrupting the ranks of their enemy? It would surely have been feasible to encourage him to jump and with “plausible deniability” to enable him to get re-elected.
In case it might be said that 'surely nobody would be that devious?' I am aware of cases where outside of politics exactly that has been done where people who are trouble are given excellent references for them to go and work for competitors. In one particularly repellent case, a teacher, who had been caught, as it was put, “interfering with small boys” whilst working for a State school, in the days of the Greater London Education Authority, being given an excellent reference to get him out and to get him working in the private sector, with a view to damaging the private sector’s reputation once he was caught there!
Whether it is so or not however having Douglas Carswell in UKIP has certainly been an un-mixed blessing for the Europhile Conservative Party’s leadership!
The only point it gives me significant reservations about this theory is the fact that David Cameron himself doesn’t appear to be sufficiently clued up and or, indeed, sufficiently Machiavellian to have done such a thing. Could it however be significant that this all happened whilst that Wizard of Oz, Lynton Crosby, was in town?
Who cares a f--k about Douglas Carswell?
ReplyDeleteSorted! Spot on Robin!
ReplyDeleteGiven the post election bad press Carswell was receiving,I would not be surprised the recent attack on Carswell by thugs of the hard left was more than a coincidence? Such was the perfect timing of the hugely publicised attack, I suspect the Wizard may have made a long distant call from Oz, suggesting perhaps ways of distracting the increasingly suspicious UKip voters? Nothing secures Ukip credentials better than a few slaps to the head from the thugs from the EXTREMIST Left. UKips (useful at times) Nemesis!
Perhaps the English Democrats should see if they can raise their profile by designating May the 1st next year "Independence Day" building up to a march from the Scottish border to London on the May the 1st in 2017 to mark the signing of the Act of Union with Scotland on May the 1st in 1707 which abolished the English Parliament, and to call for English independence and the restoration of an English parliament.
ReplyDeleteIt looks certain that 2017 will be the year of the in-out EU referendum. This march could be a good contribution to the 'no' (to staying in) campaign
DeleteThe English Democrats must concentrate on breaking Labour's hegemony across the North. The EDs have to copy the SNP who have shown how to do it by getting alongside folk and addressing their concerns..
ReplyDelete"What a modern political party should look like:
ReplyDeleteOf the decisions Cameron has taken since his re-election, the one that should frighten Labour the most is the appointment of Robert Halfon, MP for Harlow, to work on a review of Tory structures. Halfon’s ambition is to rebrand the Tories as the modern “workers’ party”. He envisages a kind of trade union for self-starters – a political lubricant on the wheels of social mobility – northern England and some older voters are still suspicious of Tories bearing gifts.
In the Tory high command it was George Osborne (the architect of the 'Northern Power-House') who spotted Halfon as a smart practicianer of “blue collar conservatism”, co-opting his campaigns on emblematic cost-of-living issues such as petrol duties and hospital parking charges. One of the chancellor’s political gifts is the self-knowledge to identify gaps in his own experience and to plug them with astute appointments. Halfon's mandate will reach beyond policy to inform the way Tory candidates are selected, with an emphasis on diversity of class as much as ethnicity."
Acting on information, the Border Force stopped 4 Polish trucks carrying 68 illegal entrants to the UK. That must be a very small proportion of the tip of an iceberg given the government's relaxed attitude to the matter, reducing drastically the number of enforcement officers employed and the lack of routine searches at points of entry.
ReplyDeleteOsborne's Northern power house and blue collar conservatism are clearly aimed at getting the Tories a foothold in the North.
ReplyDeleteRed Ukip was a similar exercise. It increased Ukip's share of the vote across the country, but it cost it its target seats in the South by frightening its traditional conservative supporters back into the arms of the Tories.
Red Ukip was a grave tactical error by Ukip's high command which could prove fatal to the party.
Ukip's natural territory is the blue South as the EDs' is the North.
Is Douglas Carswell a plant? The photograph at the top does look a bit like a cactus!
ReplyDeleteClive,
W-s-M.
Untill the electoral system of First Past The Post has been changed to one of PR neither UKIP, the English Democrats or any other party will make serious advances. Politics in Britain is an undemocratic cartel/'stich-up' between Labour and Tory and that is just the way these undemocratic fascists like it. I would urge your members and supporters to join groups like the Electoral Reform Society: www.electoral-reform.org.uk and unlock democracy: www.unlockdemocracy.org. In particular, I would urge you to join the ERS as this organization is dominated by PC 'right-on' lefties which is why they favour the Single Transferable Vote method of PR (as used in Ireland) rather than the more proportional Additional Member System (as used in Holyrood and Germany). If there were to be another referendum and there were several PR options, we would need to choose the Additional Member System as it is that one which would most help 'Right-wing' and 'nationalist' parties.
ReplyDeleteGeographic imbalances are increasing at a worrying rate, with an increasing imbalance between London, and the rest of England.
ReplyDeleteThe English Democrats must seek to rebalance the UK for the benefit of people in the North and the Midlands. Investment in so-called “national” (British) projects in London, should be subject to normal consequential funding for the North of England, in particular, should see a significant increase in infrastructure expenditure.
Rather than the development of High Speed Rail from London to the Midlands, the EDs should seek a commitment to deliver High Speed Rail between the cities of the north of England. High Speed Rail should be constructed from the north down and not from the south up.
The EDs should seek the creation of a Northern Cities fund to ensure that adequate resources are available to supportthe growth of major urban centres in the North.
While a strong London is good for the UK, also having a strong Nottingham, Newcastle and Leeds is even better. The current UK government has conceded the principle of a sovereign wealth fund by proposing a natural resource fund for the benefit of the North of England. The fund should be established when economic circumstances allow and should come under the ownership and
management of the devolved English Parliament and Government.
All these comments are good but they only serve to emphasize the divide and rule concept Robin brings up in the headline. EU Ref. Scot.Nats. and local scrabbling for funds will all dissipate energies whilst our leaders luxuriate in the pampered protectionism of the Civil Service -and mega expenses to buffer their course through our English future.
ReplyDeleteNothing will change till people march on London as in the 'Good old days' when people had conviction and the balls to do something radical about them.
OK! - Monday, so it's a grumpy day ;)
May the 1st, 'Freedom Day' - march on London. (Act of Union signed May the 1st in 1707)
DeleteHigh Street chemist Boots has announced it will cut 700 jobs as part of a restructuring.
ReplyDeleteThe jobs to be cut will be non-store based. They will affect Boots' UK-based offices in Nottingham.
The move follows the company's merger with US giant Walgreens, which took effect at the end of last year.
Boots said the cuts would "simplify support operations" and that it would attempt to redeploy, retrain and offer redundancy to those affected.
Company president Simon Roberts said: "Together with my leadership team, I believe this plan will make Boots even better for our customers and drive sustainable future growth.
"We also remain fully committed to our presence in Nottingham, which has been the home of Boots since the very beginning.
"We have not taken these decisions lightly, and understand the impact that today's announcement may have on our colleagues.
"We are fully committed to doing everything we can to support all our people as we transform Boots and strive to be even better for our customers and patients."
Boots has 2,511 stores in the UK.
At the time of the sale to Walgreens, there were fears that the American company would shift control of the merged business to the US, effectively killing off a British high street icon.
However, the Italian executive chairman, Stefano Pessina, who co-owns Boots with an American-based private equity business, insisted it would survive the merger.
American food company Kraft said something similar about Cadbury's chocolates, now moved to Poland and made to an American formula.
The English Democrats' Nottingham branch needs to get behind the redundant office staff in the town who are losing their jobs.
Here in our small market town the chemists were taken over by Boots. The staff can only work part-time and the service is awful. I knew about the Italian venture capitalist owning Boots and now lives in Monaco but I did not know about Walgreens.
DeleteThe Quaker Cadburys who did so much for their workers must by rolling in their graves but so must the Boots family.
Don't look to the likes of the Eton Boys to do anything about this though. Our local RC priest is Polish and wrote in the parish mag about the need for peace. I told him we all want peace but those ruling us don't as all they want to do is make money through arms sales and bankrolling wars. And Cameron is all behind them.
The English Democrats need to model themselves on the Peronists of Argentina - neither left nor right, but on the side of the working people of England against globalisation.
ReplyDeleteYes. what is the English Democrats line regarding TTIP? how about some real politics and less about Westminster village gossip?
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