A Letter To Douglas Carswell Of #Ukip

Dear Mr Carswell,

Douglas. Dougie. Mate!

So, how are things, hmm? Good. Listen, we've been thinking.

You know all those reasons you gave for leaving the Tories and joining Ukip?

We've just reviewed... and you've achieved all of those.

• A EU Referendum? Check.
• Freedom to speak on Brexit? Check.
• A shed load of publicity? Check.
• On TV a lot more? Check.

You've done well ! Really well.

So ... isn't it time you went home, now?

You see, everyone knows you've always been a Tory, really. You've voted constantly in Parliament with them, almost always against Ukip's agenda. So nothing very much has changed in that regard.

But you gave Ukip a legitimacy that you're probably regretting right now. It probably seemed a good idea at the time. You were unknown outside Clacton. Or even in Clacton.

But since day 1, you've never really been accepted, have you? Tories hated you for being Ukip. Ukip hated you for being still a Tory. You freely accepted being the 'acceptable face' of a Party of Hate, telling yourself, every day, "It's all for Brexit".

Thing is, Ukip have now officially disowned you. They no longer need you, or want you. Nigel says he barely remembers who you are. Party members abuse you constantly. And you're are a leading light in the Brexit Group which is a rival to Ukip's own, so you don't need them either.

Now you've got what you wanted, isn't it time you put your coat on, gave Paul Nuttall the finger (metaphorically, please) and headed back?

Is there any benefit, at all, to staying?

You wouldn't lose out financially - but Nigel would. Can't you just imagine the look on his face?

In happier times

Now consider this: The one thing holding back your Brexit dream in the next 80 days is probably the uncontrolled antics of Ukip. Nigel, the long time cheerleader for EU Exit, his 'Cash Daddy' Arron Banks, and his website scrawler, Kassam at Breitbart, are all fixated on bringing you down, as well as Suzanne. Not really a happy family, are you?

Frankly, you probably stand more chance of Brexit if you cut the ties with the clowns, and announce it publicly soon.

Oh, yeah, one last thing: Suzanne phoned, she wants to go with you.

Best to the wife and kids.

SLAT

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Farage and Kassam - Crying Wolf As A Strategy MEans No-One Ever Believes You

When an individual or an organisation knowingly makes a false statement, creates a false story or refuses to retract or delete a statement which is false, or later proved to be false, all integrity is lost. And it's a commodity not so easily regained.

The media, generally, do not have the trust of the people due to high number of false, exaggerated or selective stories that appear daily.

But it also applies to individuals. We had two particular examples this week.

Nigel Farage, after his party failed not only to win Oldham but to even come close, made various allegations of Postal Voter Fraud. 

These were made not to the Police, or Local Election Officials, or even to the Electoral Commission, but on Social Media and in exclusives for The Daily Express and Breitbart. This was followed by criticisms of the Postal Vote system (but without specific allegations) on BBC Breakfast TV.

When asked by the presenter 'what evidence he had', Farage evaded the question.

Although internal Ukip Officials stated that Farage 'overstepped the mark' in making these allegations, other Ukip Officials (Victoria Ayling, Nathan Gill, Paul Nuttall, Bill Etheridge) on Social Media hinted at the same irregularities.

Farage backed this up by intentionally misquoting statements from Guardian journalist Helen Pidd, especially this one.

It then emerged that the 'impeccable source' Farage quoted was a second-hand overheard comment by an unknown, unnamed man at the Oldham count.

Brave, indeed, for Ukip to cry foul, with the justified focus on Ukip's 'Fake Labour Leaflet', which itself should be the subject of an investigation. In fact, in terms of Electoral Fraud, the case of Great Yarmouth comes to mind. The guilty party there? Ukip.

Farage even claimed that 'Democracy Is Dead'. A surpising statement from one who's Party Leadership, after his resignation, was not voted on, but 'nodded through' in a closed-door session of the Ukip NEC, at which he was present, with no records being kept. Clearly Democracy died a long time ago within Ukip.

The problem here is that Farage has form for 'Crying Wolf'. His party's identical 'Fraud' outcry after South Thanet was debunked.

And when you make such ludicrous statements as blaming X for Y (replace 'X' with Gays, Muslims or Leftys, replace 'Y' with Traffic, Weather or the Price of Beer as you see fit) then can you really be that surprised when people ignore you?

On Social Media after the Paris attacks, most Ukip accounts followed the 'Nigel Was Right' line. He may well have been. But when you make a hundred idiotic statements, nobody will lend any credence if and when on a rare occassion you get close to the truth.

There may well be issues with the Postal Vote System. There clearly was in Tower Hamlets. There may well, indeed, be specific issues at Oldham. We'll not know about these until they are investigated, which will only happen if and when UKIP make a formal complaint.

But until then, we shall judge these 'Fraud Allegations' by the character and history of the man making them.

---

The second example was of a Raheem Kassam tweet.

Kassam, as you will no doubt be aware is the 'Editor' of Breitbart, a Far Right Blog, staffed mainly by Ukip, funded by the US Tea Party, which masquerades as a 'News' Site. The 'News' it selectively reports is predominantly about Migrants, Muslims, and Europe and Ukip.

So, no agenda there, then.

Kassam tweeted about '49 votes in Oldham coming from one address'. It was, he claimed later, 'a joke' and of course the story had no basis in fact. So far, so reasonable. Humour is a fine thing. However various official Ukip accounts (including that of failed Oldham Candidate John Bickley) retweeted this (as if it was true) without Kassam's subsequent 'retraction'. When it was suggested to Kassam that he should delete it, he refused.

Why? Because he knew that it was being retweeted, out of context as 'true', and would nicely reinforce the "Postal Vote Fraud" story to those who were unable to think for themselves or unwilling to check for themselves.

Integrity. It's a rare thing, so easily lost.

The integrity of Breitbart ... well, to be honest, for a Far Right Blog, it's clear that journalistic integrity was never their aim, simply political misinformation. What little they might have had, well, they seem unconcerned by it's loss.

The Integrity of Ukip - and their cause of Exit from the EU - is damaged by Farage and others like him spouting their knee-jerk nonsense.

However you consider Brexit (and as a team, we are split on this) you cannot deny that despite Ukip's claim to be the Party that forced the Tories to a Referendum, right now the greatest block to the cause of Brexit is Ukip themselves, and Farage in particular.

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