UKIP’s annual conference, to be held in Nottingham on 4-5 October will mark a new departure for Britain’s fastest-shrinking political party. For the first time this will be a joint conference, held with Robin Tilbrook’s far-right English Democrats.
Now, that may not be altogether surprising; the two organisations are already locked into a formal election pact known as the Patriots Alliance which is officially registered with the Electoral Commission. However, only two Patriots Alliance candidates featured in the July general election, both ED members and one in a constituency where UKIP had promised not to run against Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and didn’t want to be seen to be too obviously breaching that commitment.But at the same time the EDs ran no less than four candidates (below) jointly with the neo-Nazi Patriotic Alternative. Tilbrook, who is not short of a few bob, put up the funding for this curious tie up – one organisation considerably to the right of the EDs and one which has historically been to its left.
UKIP’s membership still has a large component of more traditional anti-EU, anti-immigration members who might not take kindly to such a dramatic drift to the right, even if it was heralded last year when the party NEC lifted its long-standing ban on former members of nazi groups joining up. Chairman Ben Walker said at the time it was to open the door to more ‘like-minded’ people.
A move closer to the EDs, which the upcoming joint conference represents, is a move closer to a group which, as recently as this year’s election, was happy to jump into bed with avowed neo-Nazis.
New non-elected leader Nick Tenconi may well feel comfortable in such company, but there are quite a few members who might not see it in quite the same way.
It will also be intersting to see what role the batshit preacher Calvin Robinson plays in proceedings. Announced only recently as UKIP’s lead spokesperson on everything, he has since revealed that he will be shuffling off elsewhere – we know not where but it will be outsde the UK – leaving him in post for an even shorter period of time than the hapless Lois Perry who resigned during the election campaign only weeks after being elected leader.
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