UKIP an alternative option?
The United Kingdom independence party was formed by Dr Alan Sked from an earlier Euro sceptic party known as the Anti Federalist League (formed 1991) that opposed the Treaty of Maastricht in 1992, UKIP appeared on the coattails of the AFL in 1993.
Europe was an issue which has always created divisions in the Conservative party, which was the ruling party at the time of the foundation of UKIP, and several anti Europe Conservatives went to UKIP after the pound was unceremoniously knocked out of the European exchange rate mechanism, which was a system started in 1979 designed to bring European currencies in line with each other in order to create a single currency (which was the Euro which became the European currency in 1999).
UKIP first ran for election in the 1997 election, but were overshadowed by other Euro sceptic parties. After the 1997 election Sked resigned from UKIP saying some of its members were “Racist and have been infected by the far right”. When the leader of the biggest Euro sceptic party died, UKIP received a membership boost, a millionaire called Michael Holmes won the leadership election and in 1999 UKIP gained three MEPs, one of which was Nigel Farage.
Not long After UKIP gained its first MEPs, Holmes was deposed for being too pro Europe by UKIP’s national executive committee and left UKIP after legal wrangles in 2000. He was replaced by Jeffery Titford, one of the MEPs elected in 1999.
In the 2004 Euro election UKIP gained another nine MEPs bringing their total to twelve, including former Labour MP and TV presenter Robert Kilroy Silk, who challenged unsuccessfully for the leadership, he left UKIP in 2005 saying UKIP was “a joke”.
In 2006 Nigel Farage was elected UKIP leader, and the party has continued to grow and become more successful under his leadership.
So is UKIP the alternative to the mainstream neo liberal based parties? Well In order to make an analysis we should look first at a few of their leaders and donors and their political motives and backgrounds, the first UKIP leader Dr Alan Sked, a professor with the LSE, had stood for parliament before UKIP as a Liberal candidate, in 1993 Sked stood in two by elections where he shared a platform with disgraced conservative Enoch Powel, who spoke in support of Sked, who later left UKIP because racists and the far right had infected the party, an odd thing to say considering his connection to Powel, author of the racially divisive rivers of blood speech in 1968.
Michael Holmes Millionaire business man, not much is known about his previous political allegiances, but we know his deputy leader Craig Mackinlay would eventually resign from UKIP to join the Conservative party.
Robert Kilroy silk was a former Labour MP who became a UKIP MEP, he challenged unsuccessfully for the leadership, he later formed a party called VERITAS, but failed to gain re-election.
Nigel Farage is the current UKIP leader, he is a former Conservative party member and activist who left the party in 1992 and became one of the founders of UKIP in 1993.
As we have seen the leadership of UKIP is made up of former members of mainstream parties, predominately the Conservative party so it is hard to believe they are an alternative to the mainstream political parties, but what about the people who finance UKIP.
In 2009 UKIP received a donation of £100 000 from Stuart Wheeler, the Conservative parties biggest donor, the Conservatives expelled wheeler shortly after.
Paul Sykes, a property developer and former Conservative donated £1.46 million to UKIP.
Sir John Craven, a former director of international news agency Reuters, and Deutsche bank donated around £12 000.
Viscount Michael Cowdry, film producer and member of the Pearson publishing family 12th richest aristocrat and 10th biggest landowner in the UK donated £35 000
So as we can see UKIP’s leadership are from the established mainstream parties, and UKIP’s donors are former Conservatives and wealthy establishment bankers, aristocrats and media tycoons.
The fact is UKIP’s policies are pro bankers and the wealthy, flat tax rates, privatisation, the destruction of the NHS, all policies that support the establishment elite, of which Farage and UKIP are part. In spite of their attempts to pacify a predominantly left leaning public, UKIP have proudly said if Margaret Thatcher was alive she would join UKIP.
Recently UKIP gained two MPs, rebellious UKIP defenders of the people against the political establishment? Honest grass roots working class folk? Erma no, not quite, in fact both of UKIP’s MPs are former establishment Conservatives, one of them, Mark Reckless even recklessly advocating repatriation of migrants, which brings us to another UKIP controversy, is UKIP a racist party?
Let’s look at the evidence. Alan Sked has claimed Farage to be a racist attributing the quote “We will never win the n**ger vote, the n*gn*gs will never vote for us” this is however disputed. Farage is on record taking on LBC about his dislike of people speaking foreign languages in public places, even going on to say that a large percentage of children in London schools did not speak English, a misleading statement since the report did not say children did not speak English, it said the children were bi lingual, one wonders why Mr Farage thinks this as the figures include his own part German children, in the same interview he says he would not want Romanians to move next door to him, slipping up by referring to them as people traffickers. Former UKIP member Godfrey Bloom was a constant embarrassment, referring to other countries as “bongo bongo land” in one of his many out bursts, in addition to this UKIP sits in the European parliament alongside a coalition that includes fascist and racist groups.
In conclusion UKIP is not a party of the people, it is a right wing populist party, born from, lead by and financed by the establishment, corrupt conservative right wingers such as Neil “cash for questions” Hamilton, bankers and media tycoons like sir John Craven, and neoliberal financial sector spivs like Nigel Farage.
The point of UKIP appears to be to pull the UK political system further to the right, there are many reasons for this, firstly UKIP’s xenophobia and demonization of migrants and the poor has made it acceptable to persecute people and allowed groups such as the far right Britain first(who were photographed laughing and joking with UKIP candidates) and the EDL to be able to demonise the middle eastern section of the population thus gaining support for oil wars and the profitable contracts they bring, while distracting the people from the corruption of all the parties, including UKIP, as they rob us through austerity.
UKIP are not an alternative to the political system, they are not the party of the people, they are the political system, the party of the elite, don’t fall for their lies.

W Willson