EXCLUSIVE – EFDD UKIP Racism Update - The Unholy Sacrifice Of Sarinder Joshua Duroch

Not only do Ukip fail to deal with Racism and Hate from their own supporters, they fail to act - indeed, they cover-up - when one of their own employees and candidates is the victim.

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According to comments published in POLITICO, UKIP have refused to back their British Indian staffer, Sarinder Joshua Duroch, after he reported racist and xenophobic incidents to his superiors.

Despite evidence and statements provided, UKIP’s Brussels press team, (all named in the official investigation), released a statement to say that the incident “never happened” - which is strange given the same news story admits that show UKIP/EFDD declined to investigate the incident and passed it back to the European Parliament to deal with.

Sarinder Joshua Duroch

The statement comes after several attempts to force their member of staff to withdraw the complaint, using a variety of means including outright intimidation.

Has Sarinder Joshua Duroch been sacrificed on the altar of European Group funding to maintain UKIP’s vital financial lifeline from the taxpayer?

We continue to investigate…

“Are you a Muslim?” was one of the very first questions asked of Sarinder Joshua Duroch when he arrived at the European Parliament in January 2015, a line of questioning that became uncomfortably familiar for the father of two over the course of his time with the party.

Just months earlier Duroch had been one of Nigel Farage’s high profile ethnic minority activists, used by the party during the 2014 European elections in an effort to show UKIP were an ‘inclusive party’ that spoke for the whole spectrum of modern Britain.

Farage flanked by ethnic minority supporters / candidates during 2014 EU election. Winston McKenzie and Amjad Bashir MEP have since been forced out. Is Sarinder Joshua Duroch (highlighted) next?

As his stock rose and his reputation as a prolific public speaker grew, the party also utilised him as a key spokesperson in the Scottish Independence referendum later that year. For UKIP, Duroch came with a bonus, not only did they have a born and raised Glaswegian to promote their polices; he also had a visible ethnic appearance.

“UKIP used Sarinder to put a brown face on their ideology. It was expedient for them to have a well-spoken and educated Scotsman of Indian descent talking about maintaining the Union and leaving the EU. The truth is they just wanted the legitimacy he gave them with minority groups; now they don’t need him they refuse to support him, because UKIP are and always have been, a racist party.” – Member of the Duroch family.

Duroch campaigned for UKIP in several elections
and was known as a prolific public speaker.

But inside UKIP, an ethnic minority background means that an individual must establish their ‘credentials’ before being accepted. And it was probably for that reason MEP Stuart Agnew, at their very first meeting, decided to lightly interrogate the third generation British Indian.

Upon establishing that Duroch was not in fact a Muslim, but rather a Roman Catholic who had converted from the Sikh religion several years earlier, the ‘geographic element’ came into play.

Learning that the Catholic Scotsman had been living in Kent for the better part of twenty years was all too much for Agnew. “This is too much, have you got any more surprises?” he declared.

Duroch’s book on Enoch Powell
and multi-culturalism brought him
to attention of UKIP’s top table.

Sarinder Joshua Duroch had been ‘handpicked’ for European Parliament duty by MEP Steven Woolfe, and after arriving in Brussels in the cold winter after an exhausting EU recruitment programme lasting many months, Duroch was side-lined from the outset.

“I think a lot of the guys around the Brussels office were surprised to see an ethnic minority member of staff, especially one with a strong personality and Scottish identity arrive in their midst,” says one of Duroch’s colleagues. “The truth is there was an element there that perceive themselves as the ‘cream of UKIP’, and they were never comfortable with him. They didn’t trust an ‘Asian’ joining their exclusive club."

Despite being recruited as an expert researcher who had published a book examining multi-culturalism, former English teacher, Duroch found himself ‘relegated’ to the budgets committee of the European Parliament. Sources say he excelled at the tasks and built a close working relationship with UKIP MEP Jonathan Arnott.

“Great guy” Sarinder Joshua Duroch with
North East MEP, Jonathon Arnott, October 2015.

“Arnott and Duroch did a good job. Most other [political] groups have an entire team on budgets, but they worked well and did a lot of good work, given how closely they worked together we found it astounding that Arnott refused to support Duroch when the racism storm blew up, given that he was aware of it,” explains another of Duroch’s colleagues.

Working in the core of UKIP’s European operation, Duroch came into close contact with the far right elements that make up the ‘Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy’ group.

Over the course of a year, Duroch along with other colleagues, allegedly observed multiple instances of racism and witnessed xenophobic statements (see our previous article). The situation came to a head when Duroch was allegedly called “untermensch” by Carl Joel Ankar, a Swedish assistant also working for the EFDD. (The word was used by the Nazis to describe undesirables fit for extermination.)

Following internal protocol, Duroch, accompanied by colleagues, brought these matters to the attention of EFDD Secretary General, Pierre Vaugier. However, sources confirm that when Duroch complained about Mr Ankar the morning after the incident allegedly took place the Secretary General refused to act upon it.

Official documentation from the case seen by SLATUKIP clearly indicates that after officially being passed the evidence files by EU in December, The EFDD Secretary General once again declined to deal with the case and passed it back to the European Parliament authorities.

However, days later Vaugier himself was reported for allegedly “harassing” Duroch about the investigation in a hallway, leading to an escalation in the severity of the case.

“Vaugier told Duroch that as the incident happened outside of the Parliament he was unable to act, and his advice was to “change political groups or leave UKIP” if Josh felt he couldn’t reconcile with the statements made by other members of the team,” says a EFDD staffer.

“EFDD management didn’t want to touch it, I believe it was because they knew it would compromise the millions in funding. One sympathetic manager did support Josh though, and told him to go to the press as she was “disgusted” by the Swedish statement. A few days later the Daily Mail were in contact, we never found out who briefed them.”

A press storm erupted across Europe after Swedish media found out about the case, EFDD declined to comment on the story while Carl Joel Ankar, who has previously been investigated by the European Parliament for racist and anti-Semitic statements, immediately denied the incident ever occurred, before expanding his story to that of a “misunderstanding” while making threats to take legal action.

Mr Ankar continues to deny the alleged remark was ever made. Unlike Sarinder Joshua Duroch, Ankar has been fully backed by his party, The Sweden Democrats, from the onset.

“They’ve tried everything to get him to withdraw the complaint,” reveals a source close to the Duroch family.

“UKIP were desperate because the Swedes threatened to pull out of the group and join the ENF, they [UKIP] would have done anything to keep the group alive, and that included intimidation and threats."

“A senior MEP even phoned Josh over Christmas and begged him to withdraw the complaint, he offered him a choice of jobs within the group, but when that didn’t work he tried emotional blackmail, asking him how he would feel if all the staff lost their jobs as a result of his stand. It was very full on.”

Aside from the POLITICO comment there has been no official response to the allegations from UKIP or EFDD. Internal European Parliament sources say that Duroch, while essentially branded a ‘liar’ by his own colleagues was already in the process of signing a long term European Parliament contract AFTER the incident became public, having previously passed an internal staffing ‘competition’ with "excellent results and a perfect record of service".

“The Swedes totally had UKIP over a barrel,” comments a European Parliament insider. “Their MEPs put the British on notice and told them they didn’t care how it was done, just make the problem go away or they would join Le Pen’s ENF. UKIP were terrified of the group collapsing and the loss of funding so they rolled over and threw Duroch to the wolves. The whole Parliament knows about it.”

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We doubt this story will either end soon or have a happy ending. Our inside sources will keep us informed of developments, and perhaps soon Sarinder Joshua Duroch might talk to us directly about his experiences within Ukip as an ethnic employee and candidate.

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