Mike Wendling on Carl of Akkad

Here's BBC Trending's Mike Wendling on recent UKIP candidate Carl Benjamin, as featured in a piece in Scotland's The Herald:

“He’s cultivated a fan base, he’s cultivated quite a passionate fan base, but he’s not alt-right. He’s explicitly said that he doesn’t believe in the alt-right.  

“On the other hand he’s obviously very offensive. He claims to be for free speech but it’s more specific than that, it’s not really about free speech it’s about the freedom to offend people.

“If you have a message that gets so many people riled up then surely you can convert that into a political message if you do it the right way. But maybe that is the problem, maybe it’s simply a fact that the actual campaign is not as compelling as your YouTube videos.

“The significance is that they are people with large YouTube followings, who come from fairly provocative, offensive, or extreme right positions and they have not been able to translate that into a political movement.” 

[Mr Wendling added he has not conveyed] “any sort of philosophy” [during his campaign]. “All he’s known for is a rape joke.”  

“There’s always been a disconnect between developing a large social media presence and turning that into a mainstream electoral success. 

“The jury is definitely still out on the actual influence of social media.” 

"When Did You Stop Beating Your Wife?"

Another transcript for your delectation, this time from last night's News at Six and News at Ten on BBC One. 

I think Ukip will have found Fiona Bruce's autocue introduction perfectly acceptable.

John Pienaar's report, however, regardless of its accuracy, was certainly 'unhelpful' to Ukip - to put it mildly.

As was John's choice of questions to put to Gerard Batten and broadcast on BBC One - especially the "And you find the idea of being a racist party, or extremist, offensive?" question. (A classic "When Did You Stop Beating Your Wife?" type of question).

After replying to it, Mr Batten brought the interview to an abrupt close. 

And the vox pops, however representative they really were (and we viewers aren't able to know that), fell into the 'anti', 'don't know' and 'pro' camps, so were clearly 'balanced' - except that the young woman slamming Ukip for being 'racist' was firm and coherent, the 'don't know' man helped the Ukip/Brexit Party squabbles seem ridiculous. and the 'pro' man (a late middle-aged white man) was just quoted saying "Brilliant. A lot better than, er, what's, what's, what's running the country now, innit?", like something out of Little Britain. 

And John's finally editorial banged the nails of irrelavance even further into the coffin he'd pre-prepared for Mr Batten's Ukip.

Here's the transcript:

Newsreader: Ukip's leader Gerard Batten says his is the only political party that offers a clear policy to take the UK out of the European Union. As he launched Ukip's campaign for the European elections on 23rd May, Mr Batten said Brexit was being betrayed and a second referendum would mean the effective end of democracy. John Pienaar reports from Middlesborough:

John Pienaar: More than just a one-man band? Well, there's a new leader since Nigel Farage left to start a rival group - and Ukip's new themes at their European campaign launch? Much like the old ones, exactly what their target audience want to hear. 

Gerard Batten: We're here because Brexit is being betrayed. 

If playing the patriotic card guaranteed success, this would be a landslide for Gerard Batten's party. 

Gerard Batten: Now, some of our more sensitive MPs don't like being called appeasers, collaborators, quislings and traitors. But if the cap fits, then wear it. 

Ukip had 24 MEPs. Defections, desertions helped reduce them to four. Some called their party 'extremist'. Mr Batten called Islam a 'death cult' and took on a hugely controversial adviser. 

Gerard Batten: This election isn't about Tommy Robinson, or anybody else who isn't a member of the party...John Pienaar: (interrupting) It is about your identity. Gerard Batten: This election is about the European elections and whether people want to remain in the European Union or leave, and what I've said to the crowd today, and you've heard it all, if they want to leave the European Union then Ukip is the authentic party of Leave. John Pienaar: And you find the idea of being a racist party, or extremist, offensive? Gerard Batten: You know very well that this party isn't racist. You know very well that I'm not. You know very well that Nigel Farage is saying things for political benefit, but I'm not frightened to speak out on things which I think are important and affect the future of this country. Thank you.

Ukip has a job of convincing to do with many voters: 

Female Vox Pop 1: If you have racist policies, or policies that we would consider to be racist, then you're still a racist party.  

Male Vox Pop 2: Is that the Nigel Farage bus or party, or are there two? John Pienaar (to Vox Pop 2): Ukip, the party Nigel Farage left. Vox Pop 2: Right, but he's started another party now, has he?. John Pienaar (to Vox Pop 2): He's started another party now. Vox Pop 2: Yeah, so I am just confused.  

Male Vox Pop 3: Brilliant. A lot better than, er, what's, what's, what's running the country now, innit?

The UK Independence Party will likely be weakened by the loss of Nigel Farage, whether they'll admit it or not. A figurehead, a symbol can mobilise a mood - of anger, of hope, of both. These elections will help determine whether Ukip can still gain from broken loyalties to the big parties, or whether they will be discarded and left behind. For a while, politics seemed almost easy for Ukip. Since the vote to leave, life's got much harder. John Pienaar, BBC News, Middlesbrough. 

I don't give a shit?

I haven’t been watching or listening to much Beeb lately, but sadly I did catch two of the most astonishing examples of BBCism over the last day or two. 

Number one was the Politics Live assault on Gerard Batten. The other was Nick Robinson’s bizarre interview with Ukip’s Stuart Agnew on the Today Programme. 

I’m not an avid Batten fan, but he has risen in my estimation due to his calm demeanour in the face of the outrageous treatment he’s been subjected to by people like Jo Coburn and various other media hacks - mostly women I think it’s safe to say.

No wonder he declined to appear on the Today Programme as Nick Robinson pointed out rather petulantly this a.m.

Jo Coburn wore a scowl of utter contempt as she interrogated him, not at all like her bemused and light-heartedly exasperated countenance when tussling with gorgeous George the other day, despite his downright rudeness.

The most remarkable feature of the press conference with Ukip, as well as interviews with Ukip people, is the total absence of any substantive argument forthcoming, from any interlocutor.  To a man (woman) it’s simply enough to bleat “the rape tweet” and “anti-Islam”.

What with Jo Coburn’s crass questioning and Lisa Nandy’s sanctimonious indignation about the ‘rape tweet’,  the interview was a total fiasco. What a waste of time. Lisa Nandy, whom I normally regard as one of the current Labour Party’s most reasonable (least unreasonable)  members, stubbornly refused to move past the “rape tweet” issue. Batten warned her that Benjamin was suing people for lying about the ‘rape tweet’,  which she took as a threat. 

Jo Coburn commanding Batten to provide an example of something Benjamin might say that would ‘cross the line’ was utterly ridiculous.

However, as far as I’m concerned Carl Benjamin has already crossed the line with his Holocaust remark. His PC-busting efforts are pretty indefensible as soon as one views them as anything other than the deliberate devices to get himself noticed he claims they are.

Personally, I do have a problem with the whole ‘rape’ fiasco because it’s almost as though he believed he was insulting Jess Phillips when he said he wouldn’t even rape her; as if she should be flattered by someone’s desire to rape her and insulted by his non-desire to do so. “Cos you’re (not) worth it,” so to speak. It’s as if he considers rape as, say, a possible last-resort resolution of unrequited sexual desire, rather than motivated by hate, anger, power and sadism, as it’s more commonly understood to be.  ("We had to resort to rape, as Dunkula quipped))

Of course the other offensive remark he made, which doesn’t seem to bother the media half as much as the rape thing, is the ‘I don’t give a shit” about the Holocaust. The fact that the media has shown no interest in that one is doubly disturbing.

.@UKIP candidate Carl Benjamin:

“Jewish people, unfortunately for them, have got to drop the identity politics. I’m sorry about the Holocaust but I don’t give a s***. I’m sorry.” https://t.co/GKxvtxNbhZ

— Jewish News (@JewishNewsUK) April 28, 2019

The context seems to have been that he was criticising identity politics, which he hates - and who doesn’t despise an exploitative “asaJew?” - but by saying “Jews this” and “Jews that” - even if he’s kind of damning “the Jews” with faint praise - (they work hard, they’re clever, and they obviously haven’t been ‘held back’ etc etc) well, that in itself is “identity” based stuff in a nutshell. So saying he’s sorry about the Holocaust (oh, and thanks for the benevolence) but then to follow it with ‘I don’t give a shit’ is something else; and he hasn't convinced me that he only said it to ‘get himself noticed’ in the ‘innocent face’ way of his. Especially if you consider the rabid antisemitism that this remark has drawn out, online. And that’s from his fans and defenders.

We have an epidemic of antisemitism, which is coming from all directions. People should be far more vigilant. Seriously.

Nick Robinson excelled himself on the Today programme. Making some sort of weird whataboutery point involving Christianity. That was one of the most inappropriate responses to Ukip’s politically incorrect anti-Islamness that I’ve ever heard. Nil points, Nick. The complaint about Gerard Batten having the temerity to decline an invitation to come along and be harangued about Carl Benjamin’s infamous rape tweet was the icing on a very stale and unappetising cake.

Transcript: 'Today', 1 May 2019, Nick Robinson v Stuart Agnew

Ukip's Stuart Agnew MEP (and friends)

Nick Robinson: 'Tell them again'. That is the slogan of Ukip in the European election campaign. The party insists that they and not Nigel Farage's new Brexit Party are the true defenders of Brexit. Now, Ukip's leader Gerard Batten refuses to appear on the Today programme. One of his MEPs, Stuart Agnew, though has agreed to join us and he's on the line from Norwich. Good morning to you Mr. Agnew.

Stuart Agnew: Yes, hello.

Nick Robinson: What is the point of Ukip without Mr. Farage?

Stuart Agnew: Because we are a political party with and membership and with a set of policies. We are not a one-man band.

Nick Robinson: But there are only four of you left, Ukip MEPs. There are 14 who've joined him in the Brexit Party. You are way behind in the opinion polls. You've lost already, haven't you?

Stuart Agnew: No. A lot of those 14 have not secured places on the Brexit Party's list. I think that's very interesting. Several of them went across to Nigel assuming they'd get high places on the list and they're simply not on the list at all. 

Nick Robinson: So you say the difference is that his is not a real party, it's a one-man band. But what about policy though? Is it your claim that Ukip is, for example, more Islamophobic, more worried about what you call the Islamification of Britain, that he is?

Stuart Agnew: We're extremely concerned about it. It is a very, very serious matter. And the Brexit Party doesn't have policies. It is not a membership-based organisation. 

Nick Robinson: But you are rather obsessed with Nigel Farage, aren't you? Yesterday Ukip released a video of Mr. Farage with some things that he'd said about Islam saying that the Brexit Party had an anti-Islam agenda. I'm not sure whether you regarded that as a statement of praise or a statement of criticism of Mr. Farage.

Stuart Agnew: I didn't actually hear it so I can't really comment on it...

Nick Robinson: (interrupting) But do you say...

Stuart Agnew: Hang on, just hang on... 

Nick Robinson: (interrupting) No, I'm just asking you your views.

Stuart Agnew: A lot of the MEP's who left us to join Nigel did so because they are unhappy about our stance on Islam.

Nick Robinson: Yes, and I'm not clear whether you think it is a good thing that say that you are more in inverted commas 'anti-Islam', after all your leader has called it a 'death cult'...

Stuart Agnew: (interrupting) And wasn't he right to do that?....

Nick Robinson: And he's called for the...

Stuart Agnew: (interrupting) Wasn't he right to do that?...

Nick Robinson: Let me just finish the question.

Stuart Agnew: No, I'm going to come in here. You used that phrase. He said the word 'death cult. The Sultan of Brunei justified that. The Sultan of Brunei's said, "From now on in this country, in the name of Islam, homosexuals are to be stoned to death"... 

Nick Robinson: (interrupting) There are people, there are Christians, are there not Mr. Agnew, in certain parts of the world who might share that view? So to describe the whole of a religion or to describe all of their followers as members of a death cult is not merely offensive, it is wrong.

Stuart Agnew: Well, it's pointing out what happens... 

Nick Robinson: (interrupting) No, no, no, it isn't pointing out what happens...

Stuart Agnew: (interrupting) Stoning people to death happens.

Nick Robinson: ...it's slurring an entire religion and all of its adherents because you don't like the views of some of its adherents.

Stuart Agnew: Well, why didn't they come out...

Nick Robinson: (interrupting) Who's 'they'? 

Stuart Agnew: ...en masse in this country and say "we thoroughly condemn this"...

Nick Robinson: (interrupting) Who is 'they', Mr. Agnew? 

Stuart Agnew: The Muslim population of this country. Why didn't they condemn what the Sultan...

Nick Robinson: (interrupting)  Should Christians go on the street, Mr. Agnew? Do you think we should have organised Christian marches against anti-gay policies throughout Africa? Do you think the Archbishop of Canterbury ought to come out and do that?

Stuart Agnew:  No, I don't.

Nick Robinson: But why not? Why is it different for Christians?

Stuart Agnew:  Because we are not a proselytising religion. We don't force ourselves on other religions. And also...

Nick Robinson: (interrupting) I don't imagine it feels very different for homosexuals...

Stuart Agnew: (interrupting) Hang on!...

Nick Robinson: ...in many parts of the world.

Stuart Agnew: We adhere to the law. We, as Christians, adhere to the law. We are not trying to create a second legal system in this country, a parallel legal system. That in itself is very worrying. And it's gone further in Germany than it has here. And we look at that and we worry. 

Nick Robinson: You worry. I just want to go back to the question which I think you thought I was asking you something I wasn't. Let me just be clear. Are you saying that Ukip is more anti-Islam than Nigel Farage? And if so, are you saying that's a good thing?

Stuart Agnew: I'm saying that we are more concerned about Islam. That's why he left us. And that's the answer.

Nick Robinson: It's the answer about what Ukip now is. It's not essentially a Brexit party...

Stuart Agnew: (interrupting) It is...

Nick Robinson: ...it's an Islamophobic party?

Stuart Agnew: ...first and foremost a Brexit party. And what is more, Gerard Batten was a founder member of Ukip. He is somebody who sees things a long way out. He alone in Ukip two years ago said we should not go down the Article 50 route, it is a trap, it is leaving on their terms. And I said, I'm guilty of saying it,  'Oh come on Gerard! We've signed the Article 50, we're bound to leave." And he was right. 

Nick Robinson: Stuart Agnew, thank you very much indeed. And do have a word with Mr. Batten. It might be nice to talk to him on the programme sometime, but he currently refuses to.

Questions

As it would take too long to transcribe in full, and as Sue has posted the full video of the interview above, here are just Jo Coburn's questions to Ukip leader Gerard Batten from Tuesday's Politics Live:

1. Welcome to Gerard Batten, leader of Ukip. We've been talking to all the parties about the local and European elections, people will probably know what your position is as far as Brexit is concerned but what is the point of anybody voting Ukip in the locals? 
2. Alright. Well, we've looked at some of the policies that you're putting forward in the local elections and perhaps one of the most eye-catching is "Ukip believes that access to local services should be prioritised for veterans and local people with a proven link to their local area". What's the problem you're trying to solve here? 
3. (interrupting) But they are prioritised, Gerard Batten. Councils already look at whether a homeless person has a local connection to the area when deciding whether or not they have to house them, so this links based on living or working in the area, close family in the area or other special reasons. They also require a proven link to the local area to be established before putting somebody on a list for social housing. So I ask you again, what problem are you trying to solve? 
4. But those are the people you think are being excluded from services at the moment and your policy is designed to help? There doesn't seem to be anything that you've said so far that differs from what is being done in practice by councils. There may be exceptions of course but policy-wise there's nothing different. 
5. (interrupting) They ARE given priority according to the LGA. 
6. So it's about people coming from abroad. It isn't borne out in fact. Gerard Batten. If you look at what the Local Government Association says when it comes to veterans for example, "all councils have signed the voluntary Armed Forces Covenant and are committed to honouring their obligations to those who have served their country." You are putting up a straw man here. 
7. But, as I say, they ARE prioritised. Councils state very clearly on all of their literature that they prioritise people with a local link, they prioritise people who have lived in the area for a certain amount of time, and they prioritise veterans. Armed Forces Covenant states it. So it IS for you just about excluding people who are immigrants? 
8. Right, so you are going to do something markedly different. How will you enforce it? 
9. Let's have a look at the European elections. It all looked very different in 2014. Your former leader Nigel Farage is now leading the Brexit Party and getting an awful lot of attention. Ten former Ukip MEPs now sit for that Brexit Party. Why? 
10. (interrupting) They didn't actually. I've looked at the dates. At least five or six of them have gone since you became leader. 
11. (interrupting) Still, but why have they left Ukip, the ones since you became leader? 
12. Well, just to cite at least three of them - and they've only left on the 15th of April, well into your leadership, and they've actually specifically said it's your leadership and the direction you've taken the party that is the reason they've left and joined the Brexit Party, Jill Seymour, Jane Collins and Margot Parker. 
13. That's not what Jane Collins said - well, let's take it in good faith for the moment. We've heard what YOU have to say is the reason - SHE has said it's down to one of the candidates on your list who's been pretty controversial, we've talked about Carl Benjamin, but her quote is "To have people like him on the list for the party is something I find disgusting and to hear Gerard Batten on national TV yesterday defending this man's use of rape as satire made me sick to my stomach". 
14. (interrupting) But what do you say to THAT? 
15. (interrupting) You don't know that, do you?. 
16. (interrupting) Well, alright, hang on, what about Mike Hookem? He's still there. He is a candidate, and he's made the following statement on Facebook: "I was greatly disturbed to hear members of my party trying to pass off offensive comments on rape as free speech and satire", which is what you have done. "In my opinion, these comments are neither and I condemn them without reserve". So, putting aside the argument that you are saying that they weren't at the top of the list, this is somebody still in the party who is a candidate and he thinks it's disgraceful. 
17. (interrupting) Is it responsible for a political candidate to talk in those terms? 
18. Let's talk about some of the other things he's said because in one video that I've seen he uses the "N-word". Is that funny? 
19. (interrupting) Yes, but is it funny? Because you've said...You've defended him on the basis of satire, he's a comedian, he's a funny guy. Is it funny to use the "N-word" in any circumstances? 
20. (interrupting) I'm asking you the question, is it funny? 
21. (interrupting) Right, you don't think it's funny? You don't think it's satirical?  
22. That's fine but is there anything he can say that is still acceptable to you? Is there any line he can't cross? 
23. (interrupting) What is it? 
24. (interrupting) Well, what is it? I mean, if he said something satirical, in YOUR view, offensive about veterans or the poppy, would that be defendable? 
25. I'm trying to ask you where your line is, because there's obviously got to be a line where you don't think there is a line to be drawn. You say it's free speech to talk about rape or use the "N-word" in whatever circumstances, so I'm trying to ascertain with you, is there a line beyond which a candidate for Ukip can't cross? 
26. What is it? 
27. (interrupting) You've talked about veterans and you feel strongly about veterans, and you feel very strongly about veterans. If someone said something, if Carl Benjamin said something equivalent to using the "N-word" about veterans and the poppy, would you defend him? 
28. (interrupting) Ah, that IS offensive? That you wouldn't defend?
29. I have to ask you, Gerard Batten, why are you defending him? What's the benefit to Ukip? I mean, is he worth it, this guy? You've lost good MEPs, as far as your party is concerned. 
30. Is it worth it? Is HE worth it? 
31. (interrupting) I'll come to that. You think that will translate into votes, do you?

Someone's been on the happy pills again

So it turns out that Tommy Robinson is intending to stand as an independent against Gerard Batten's UKIP up 'ere in't North West. (Didn't see that coming!). The BBC reported his announcement along with Hope No Hats' call for voters to come out and oppose him. To my astonishment though, the BBC let slip in that piece that Tommy Robinson's "real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon". Who knew? Everyone's been keeping very quiet about that!

Hatchets

hatchet (n.) 

c. 1300 (mid-12c. in surnames), "small axe with a short handle," designed to be used by one hand, from Old French hachete "small combat-axe, hatchet," diminutive of hache "axe, battle-axe, pickaxe," possibly from Frankish *happja or some other Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *hapjo- (source also of Old High German happa "sickle, scythe"). 

This is perhaps from PIE root *kop- "to beat, strike" (source also of Greek kopis "knife," koptein "to strike, smite," komma "piece cut off;" Lithuanian kaplys "hatchet," kapti, kapiu "to hew, fell;" Old Church Slavonic skopiti "castrate," Russian kopat' "to hack, hew, dig;" Albanian kep "to hew"). 

Hatchet-face in reference to one with sharp and prominent features is from 1650s. In Middle English, hatch itself was used in a sense "battle-axe." In 14c., hang up (one's) hatchet meant "stop what one is doing." 

Phrase bury the hatchet "lay aside instruments of war, forget injuries and make peace" (1754) is from a Native American peacemaking custom described from 1680. 

Hatchet-man was originally California slang for "hired Chinese assassin" (1880), later extended figuratively to journalists who attacked the reputation of a public figure (1944). 

Who knows if BBC hatchet-woman Kate Whannel is hatchet-faced but UKIP are unlikely to want to bury the hatchet with the BBC after her hatchet-job on the party for the BBC News website. 

Now, UKIP have certainly inflicted many, many wounds on themselves over the years because of their interminable infighting, and this piece chronicles pretty much every last example of that since the 2014 European elections. 

But is this BBC piece just a blood-soaked chronicle of true events?

Or is it more like BBC campaigning against Gerard Batten's present-day UKIP in the lead-up to those increasingly likely new European elections and trying to crush it once and for all? 

Of the article's 42 paragraphs, 5 bullet points, 6 sub-headlines (Post-referendum infighting: Expulsion, defections and a retirement; The Bolton era: 'Countless leaks, briefings and character assassinations'; Batten takes over: 'Increasingly out of kilter'; Tommy Robinson hired: 'A catastrophic error'; Where have they gone?; Who is left?) and 9 images with captions (including Gerard Batten's controversial reign has seen a drove of resignations), pretty much every single one of which is used to pile on the agony for UKIP. 

In fairness though, BBC hatchet-woman Kate does grant three paragraphs to the defence right at the very end - which was jolly nice of her.

So what's your reaction to the BBC piece? Is it to think 'What a carry on!' as far as UKIP is concerned? Or to think ' What a carve-up!' as far as the BBC is concerned? (Or both?)

Transcript: 'Newsnight', 9 April 2019, Katie Razzall report

Katie Razzall

Emily Maitlis: For months, we have heard little from Ukip, the party who were victorious last time European Elections were fought. Like the other major parties, it too has seen splits and divisions. It has lost support and, perhaps most crucially, it lost Nigel Farage, the man who made it what it was. He's started his own Brexit Party called - you guessed it - the Brexit Party. So how will it fare against Ukip, and how much of the Leave vote could either - or both - of these parties hoover up if we do contest those European elections? Here's Katie Razzall. And a warning, her piece does contain some flashing images from the start. 

Katie Razzall: For many it was Ukip under Nigel Farage that brought us the referendum and Brexit itself. Now his old party has a different leader and some new friends:

Tommy Robinson: If you are looking for an answer, it certainly is not the establishment. In my own personal opinion, it's Gerard Batten. 

Farage has left. He's set up a new party, the Brexit Party. With many Leave voters now feeling betrayed by the main parties, who might they trust to represent their views? Ukip, or the man who encapsulated it? The recent Welsh by-election may offer an insight. The Ukip candidate was determined to make Newport West all about Brexit. His party didn't make the double-figure gains it used to at its height. But its vote did go up more than 6%. 

Neil Hamilton AM: After the referendum I think a lot of people thought Ukip's job was done. It's now perfectly evident that Ukip's job was not completed by getting the referendum result. So it tells us that Ukip's show is back on the rails and we will make progress from there. 

This is why many people including Nigel Farage, think Ukip has changed. Tommy Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, sponsored Ukip's Make Brexit Happen rally in London on the day Britain was due to leave the EU. Ukip's leader Gerard Batten has appointed the controversial former founder of the English Defence League as an adviser. Mr Batten appears focused on an anti-Islam agenda. MEPs have left the party as a result. So too have two Ukip representatives in the Welsh Assembly.   

Caroline Jones AM: The party changed beyond all recognition. I saw marches in London with Gerard Batten and so on which I was quite uncomfortable with. I have some Muslim friends and so on and I felt that it was becoming more like the BNP under his leadership. So I really wanted to distance myself.  

Neil Hamilton AM: Well, there has been no lurch anywhere, left or right, and Ukip is in the same position that it has always been. Our policy has not changed...
Katie Razzall: (interrupting Neil Hamilton) You associate with the likes of Tommy Robinson.
Neil Hamilton AM: Well, Tommy Robinson is not a member of Ukip and can't be a member of Ukip because our party rules proscribe him on account of the organisation...
Katie Razzall: (interrupting Neil Hamilton): He sponsors rallies on behalf of Ukip.
Neil Hamilton AM: If I can just finish the answer. Our party rules proscribe him from membership by virtue of his past associations. 

But back to the European elections. In Wales, if Newport West is anything to go by, Labour is for now holding on to enough of its Brexiter votes. But what of Conservative areas where Leave won out in 2016? Ukip's fortunes in Wiltshire mirror what's gone on across much of the country. Party support peaked here as pressure mounted ahead of the referendum. But once the country had voted to leave, it fell off dramatically and in 2017 at the last general election, voters returned to the two main parties. It's fertile ground for a resurgent Ukip, you might think. Patrick Duffy was chairman of South West Wiltshire Conservatives until very recently. He is disgusted by what he sees as his party's betrayal over Brexit and is thinking of leaving: 

Patrick Duffy: I'd very seriously consider my position in the party, if this goes the wrong way. I will feel not only very let down by what the party has done but by I'm afraid what I see is our failure to have negotiated it properly from the outset. If none of them are able to deliver the results of the referendum, I will be looking for a party who can deliver the result of the referendum. And if that means going down the route of supporting a party who have a single aim, then that is something I would certainly consider doing.
Katie Razzall: (to Patrick Duffy) So would that be the Brexit Party or would that be Ukip?
Patrick Duffy: Given the choice of the two, it would probably be the Brexit Party.
Katie Razzall: (to Patrick Duffy) Why is that?
Patrick Duffy: I think for me there is now too much association with Ukip that for me, I feel uncomfortable with. 

This is how Leave voters told YouGov they would vote in one recent poll if there were a general election. It suggests about half would vote Conservative and 14% Labour. But this single poll indicates a quarter of Brexiters claim they would now opt for either Ukip or Farage's Brexit Party. 

Chris Curtis, YouGov: Who is going to become the dominant force? At the moment in voting intention polls they are fairly level. Is one of them going to take the lead? Are they going to become the dominant voice of those who want a harder Brexit? And if so, are they going to able to avoid the other party from splitting their vote share? And I think if they can do that, if they can pull that off successfully, if there is a dominant force that comes out of that, I think they are highly likely to end up winning the European Parliament elections. 

So which hard Brexit faction, if any, will win out? Nigel Farage has made a career out of being an insurgent. And his old party has alienated some of its former supporters. But unlike the Brexit Party, Ukip has name recognition and membership that is used to fighting elections, and that can count for a lot.

Never saw this coming...

The sun will rise in the morning and set in the evening as Planet Earth turns on its axis and orbits our local star. 

Such things are predictable. 

But surely even more predictable is the likelihood that in the run-up to May's local elections - or May's increasingly likely European elections - the left-illiberal journalists at Newsnight would try wielding their hatchets against parties they dislike. 

As so often in the past, this time it looks as if they've got UKIP in their cross hairs. UKIP leader Gerard Batten tweeted this earlier today:

Gerard also attached a couple of emails from a Newsnight producer, Jake Morris, to the lady in question:

Wonder who'll get this 'gig' for Newsnight? It would be nice if it was John Sweeney, so that people could use that meme from The Shining of Jack Nicklaus, the golf-playing actor, smashing his way though UKIP's door and - with madness in his eyes - crying 'Here's Sweeney!'.

Transcript, BBC News Channel, 5th April 2019, 7.10 pm: Gerald Batten v Martine Croxall

Martine Croxall

Martine Croxall: Let's speak to the UKIP leader Gerard Batten, who's in our Westminster studio. Mr. Batten, good evening. Thanks very much for joining us.  How likely is it that you will want to stand in the European elections and field candidates for UKIP? 

Gerard Batten: Well, we thought that this was going to happen for months, so we've been preparing for months because I've always...you know, I've predicted every stage of this for the last couple of years, of where we were going to be, and reluctantly we knew it was going to be betrayed and reluctantly we've had to prepare for European elections. So. we've already gone through 190 candidates in a selection process. We've whittled that down to 73. We've selected our candidates. They now just have to be positioned on the list, and we'll be doing that within the next few days. So we're ready to go. We're raising the money. We've had our campaign planned. So we intend to fight that election on a platform of unilateral unconditional withdrawal, no compromise, no surrender, and we are going to represent the 17.4 million people who voted to leave. And a lot more now, I think, have come round to that point of view. 

Martine Croxall: Well, some polls suggest the opposite. But, as we know, polls can tell us different things depending on what we ask. But you talk about 'betrayal'.  The Prime Minister has said though she is doing all she can to get the UK out of the EU with a deal as fast as possible. So it might not be necessary to stand in these elections. Why would you bother if we're likely to come out sooner rather than later? 

Gerard Batten: Well, I've had to prepare - it was my responsibility - because we can't suddenly find we're in the European  election and we've made no preparations, so we're ready to go. It is difficult to see how anything is going to happen now because Parliament has consistently voted against any deal - and I didn't like the deals anyway. They voted against them. They voted against no deal. And now Mrs May, in her inimitable style, has gone and handed the ball back to the European Union and said basically if there's no further agreement reached in Parliament then we'll have to go forward into the European elections. And ,of course, what the European Union wants is, although I'm sure it doesn't want a lot of UKIP MEPs back, but it would rather have UKIP MEPs back in the parliament than have the UK out of the European Union. So I think that's just something they're prepared to live with. So I think it's likely...

Martine Croxall: (interrupting) What should viewers...what should voters...make of your choice to share a platform with Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who likes to be known as Tommy Robinson? For a lot of people his views on race, immigration and Islam are repellent. 

Gerard Batten: He's not got any views on race. Because Tommy Robinson, if you... Why don't you have Tommy Robinson on one of your programmes and ask him his real points of view? We had a rally last week, which was basically sponsored by Tommy Robinson and his news service, Tommy Robinson News, which we wouldn't have been able to hold otherwise because we couldn't have spared the money to pay for it. You make these accusations about Tommy Robinson, which I'm rather tired of, to be honest, because I think if you want to call him names...

Martine Croxall: (interrupting) What about his tweets? Have you not read his...I mean, have you not read his tweets? 

Gerard Batten: ...if you want to call him names...

Martine Croxall: It's not calling him names. It's describing...

Gerard Batten: ...why don't you have him on your programme and ask him the question?...

Martine Croxall: ...it's describing some of the things he says on the platforms that he, at times, has shared with you and it's also looking at the way he uses social media. He is offensive. 

Gerard Batten: Well, he's never said anything racist. I wouldn't be on a platform with him if he had. He talks about Islamic ideology, and he's helped to write a book about that, and that is fair enough to have a critique of an ideology. That doesn't make somebody a bad person or justify the names he gets called. And as I've said, all these people that keep asking me about Tommy Robinson, why don't you have him on your show and ask him yourself? 

Martine Croxall: Well, it's perfectly legitimate to ask you about Tommy Robinson, or Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, as his real name is, because you choose to appear in public with him and I have just been... Before I decided to interview you, before this interview took place, I went back and looked at some of the reports about him. I went back and looked at some of his tweets. They are so offensive, that I wouldn't read them out on television. 

Gerard Batten: Well, I've been on platforms with Labour MPs, Conservative MPs, people of all kinds over the years, and I don't go into every detail of what they may or may not have said in the past....

Martine Croxall: (interrupting) But they're not...but Labour MPs and Conservative MPs, all the people that you name, haven't got his track record, have they? And the kind of language that he uses about people from Pakistan, about people who are Muslim, is not the kind of language that you get from those other people that you're talking about. It's not a fair comparison. 

Gerard Batten: You're now saying things but you're not prepared to read out what the tweets are...

Martine Croxall: (interrupting) Only because they're offensive.

Gerard Batten: I haven't read all of his tweets...Well, that's your opinion. I don't know what they are saying because I haven't seen them. I've met Tommy a few times...

Martine Croxall: (interrupting) Isn't that worrying? A leader of a party who wants to have people elected to the European Parliament if the elections go ahead is prepared to share a platform with someone who is widely reported to hold these views and yet you don't bother looking at them yourself? 

Gerard Batten: It's only been widely reported by people like you who won't interview him yourself. 

Martine Croxall: Because he has extreme views which have to be handled with care. 

Gerard Batten: So you're the censor now that says...People have views that you don't approve of, so therefore you don't have to interview them. 

Martine Croxall: (interrupting) No, it's not...the head of editorial policy makes...the head of editorial policy...

Gerard Batten: I get this on every programme I go on. Basically what you are...you represent a Remainer organisation of the media and the easiest way to have a go at what I represent is to bring him in and talk about him when you will talk to him personally yourself. 

Martine Croxall: (Pause) Many people believe the BBC...to...to...have...to...to...er...have been more on the Leave side of the campaign. We seem to upset people on both sides. Our head of editorial policy makes the decision about whether we interview people like Tommy Robinson, not me. How many seats do you think you will get if these elections go ahead? 

Gerard Batten: Well, we came top of the poll last time with 24 seats. Since we are the authentic party of Brexit, and we will be standing for an absolutely clean exit from the European Union, I would expect to do very well. I never make predictions. I've been leader of this party for 13 months. I under-promise and over-deliver, and that is the way I intend to go on. 

Martine Croxall: Gerard Batten, thank you very much. 

A Mad World, My Masters

Dom at a different rally

In the mad mood the country's in at the moment, yesterday found the BBC's Dominic Casciani, of all people, coming under sustained fire from certain (largely leftist) quarters for calling Tommy Robinson "an anti-Islam activist" rather than "a far-right activist" or "a fascist". 

The most common accusation was that by using such language the BBC was "normalising"Tommy Robinson and the far-right, with the more conspiratorial end of this Twitter faction smelling a deliberate BBC editorial decision to so do. 

There are plenty of demands for an apology. 

Such folly is par for the cause these days, but the idea that Dominic Casciani - Dominic Casciani!!! - was trying to do Tommy Robinson a favour and "legitimising hate speech and bigotry" is so utterly barking that every single person who made such a Twitter complaint should seriously consider moving to Barking, buying a kennel, setting up home inside and chewing on bones for the rest of their lives whilst listening to Ozzy Osbourne's Bark at the Moon on a loop forever . 

Oddly, earlier that day BBC Dominic had been busy mocking UKIP leader Gerald Batten on Twitter for spreading fake news: 

Gerard Batten: There are reports that water cannon may be deployed tomorrow in London, & that some of the police may try to aggregate and provoke Brexiteers. There is always the danger of provocateurs planted to cause trouble. I hope it is not true but I call on everyone present to be peaceful.

Dominic Casciani: Here are some facts rather than “reports”: Water cannons bought by Boris Johnson (as London’s Mayor) were banned by then Home Secretary Theresa May in 2015. Then they were sold off. Water cannons have never been used in disturbances in the UK other than NI.

Here are more facts than you cpuld ever want about the unauthorised Boris Johnson water cannons & why they were banned and sold off: Boris Johnson's unused water cannon sold for scrap at £300k loss

And here is the source link setting out government policy on why water cannons are not authorised: Home Secretary's oral statement on water cannon 

Incidentally, tonight's PM on Radio 4 had a very odd feature - a brief (one-and-a-half-minute) sequence of vox pop interviews by Dom C with Leave supporters outside Parliament, ending with one woman demanding that her friend being interviewed ask him where he came from. When he said "BBC", the crowd groaned in disapproval and the woman began chanting 'Fake news!' and 'Shame on you!' and a chorus of 'O Tommy, Tommy' went up. At which point the piece ended. Checking Twitter, I see a lot of clucking going on about it:

Rory Cellan-Jones, BBC: Disturbing clip on PM just now when Brexit demonstrators chant “fake news” after Dominic Casciani reveals he’s from the BBC. #trumpian. [Actually it was only one of the women who chanted that. The rest were singing about Tommy Robinson].
Dominic Casciani: I’m afraid this sentiment is emerging more and more in tense situations where some (but by no means all) Brexit supporters believe our coverage is lies and part of a conspiracy of elites.
Paul Waugh. Huff Post: So depressing to hear on PM Brexit protesters ask Dominic Casciani 'where you from?' When told BBC they shout "fake news! Shame on you!'.Those Remainers and Leavers, Tories and Labour MPs, who have perpetuated this Trumpish narrative, should be ashamed of themselves.
Dominic Casciani: There’s an anti news media sentiment building that makes many journalists feel unsafe. It’s influenced by online sharing and we’re not across it. When I and colleagues tried to find out why people came to Parly, most were decent and wanted to have their say. Some were hostile. Two examples: A woman was telling me there was a secret Lisbon Treaty annexe to merge the EU with N Africa. Why were the lying treasonous media “covering up” this Franco-German plot... She couldn’t point to evidence but she wouldn’t have it the plot was an online friction. Another woman (who didn’t shout at me) said the BBC was concealing child abuse up and down the land. This seemed to be linked to the Jimmy Savile mess, but now applied to an elite conspiracy to subjugate ordinary people.
Wesley Mallin, BBC: I’ve also had this. It takes a huge amount of effort to remain polite and professional. Like all conspiracy theorists I tend to ask them to explain the mechanism by which journalists are told to cover up this or that and they usually dry up.
Dominic Casciani: I give them my card and invite them to the newsroom for a cup of tea. I’m a bit disappointed no one has ever accepted the offer!

It's such a mad world that I'm tempted to add a video of the ever-perfect Perfect Day by Lou Reed, to cheer everyone up. I especially like its famous outro.: You're going to reap just what you sow. You're going to reap just what you sow. You're going to reap just what you sow. You're going to reap just what you sow...But instead I'll go with Ozzy:

"A 'fake news' scandal that will shock the nation"

The leader of UKIP, Gerard Batten, is tweeting about his policy advisor Tommy Robinson (aka Stephen Yaxley-Lennon - h/t the BBC). Apparently the latter is going to expose Panorama: 

Here's a clip of what's apparently coming - and is that John Sweeney I see looking like a rabbit caught in the headlights at the end? (I do believe it is!)

Exclusive Footage of the moment Tommy Robinson let's the @BBCPanorama know it's all over for them.

Karma is a B**ch!!! #OhTommyTommy #23rdFeb #BBCManchester pic.twitter.com/CohYf4dnyd

— Danny Tommo (@DanielT64518410) February 9, 2019

Gerard Batten v Nigel Farage

Transcript of BBC Radio 4, ‘The World at One’, Interview with Gerard Batten, 23 November 2018, 1.34pm

MARK MARDELL: Gerard Batten is the leader of UKIP who made that appointment. Earlier, I spoke to him and asked him what he thought of Tommy Robinson.

GERARD BATTEN: What do I think of him? Well, I mean, I think he's very courageous. He's very brave in what he does. He stands up for these victims of industrialised sexual abuse, and by and large, I think he does positive things.

MM: He once said, "I'd personally send out every adult male Muslim that's come into the EU over the past 12 months back tomorrow if I could". Do you agree with that?

GB: I don't know where he said. I've never seen that quote. I certainly wouldn't agree with him, and I don't think he'd take that view now. Lots of people say things in their youth which they then regret and retract from later. As I say, I've no idea whether that quote is true or not. I'll have to ask him about that. But that's certainly not his view now.

MM: He once stood in front of a Manchester suburb and said, "Inside these are enemy combatants. In these houses, in these houses. are enemy combatants who want to kill you, maim you and destroy you." 

GB: Well, if he was referring to some of the terrorists who live in those places they certainly know that to be true, don't we, because we've had so many instances of it? That is not to say, and I'm sure he didn't mean that and I certainly would never cast that aspersion that that is true of all Muslims, not at all.

MM: You know his background, and what does his appointment signal about the party. the party you lead?

GB: Well, I'm asked Tommy to be a personal special adviser. He is not a member of the party, doesn't need to be, and he is going to help me organise this Brexit Betrayal Rally on 9 December...

MM: (interrupting) But what signal does it send?

GB: What it signals to a lot of people out there is that they can come and support us. We want, I want, to build a mass movement that appeals to ordinary working class people. Membership has been going up under my leadership, money has been coming in. We want to send a signal out that we want ordinary decent working class people who are fed up with what's happening in this country over Brexit,, over other things, and to come and join us and help us...

MM: (interrupting) The sort of people who in the past supported the English Defence League? Those sort of people?

GB: Well, we all know that in our party we have prescribed list and you cannot become a member of our party if you were formerly a BNP on National Front or EDL -  although the EDL never had members, so it would be a bit difficult to prove who they were. We vet people who come in...

MM: (interrupting) Do you want the sort of people who supported their policies, their ideas, to join you?

GB: I want people who are patriotic, who believe in this country, who want to leave the European Union and who want to live under their own constitution, their own laws and their own political system...

MM: (interrupting)  Are racists welcome?

GB: No, they're not, and they never have been and they never will be.

MM: You see, Nigel Farage said this morning that it goes against everything that he tried to do in the party, that he wants to talk about Islam, wants to talk about immigration, but it's a non-racist party, and what you've done blows a hole in all of that.

GB: No, it doesn't, and I'm amazed that Nigel is so concerned about this party now. He's done nothing to support UKIP in the last two years...

MM: (interrupting) But deal with the point.

GB: He has said that he will give 100% of his effort to Leave Means Leave, which is a cross-party organisation...

MM: (interrupting) Yes, but deal with his point.

GB: ... which leaves 0% for UKIP. And this is not taking the party in a wrong direction because he knows me, and he's known me for 26 years, he knows what kind of person I am.

MM: Something has happened, hasn't it? I mean, one of the MEP's who's quit the party recently said that you become 'a vehicle of hate'.

GB: Oh, that's nonsense. And who was that by the way?

MM: Bill Etheridge.

GB: Well, yeah, I wouldn't rate Bill's opinions about very much very highly I must say...

MM: (interrupting) Well, he was a UKIP MEP.

GB: Well, he wasn't one of my spokesman because I didn't rate him highly enough to give him that job.

MM: You've welcomed in an anti-feminist online activist who repeatedly used the N-word. Do you welcome...? 

GB: Well, you're probably referring to our internet warrior people that have come on recently. Add we believe in free speech. If he said that he's not using it against those people. He's re-quoting something I guess. And we actually believe in free speech. That doesn't mean to say that we don't approach...that we approve of everything that people say because we don't. But a lot of people out there feel that free speech is being eroded and that people have a right to say things within the law.

MM: Have you taken the party in a new direction, further towards what some people would label the extremes?

GB: Well, no. I'm taking the party in a new direction, which is I want to make it a mass movement. I want us to be the party that represents ordinary working people, the unemployed who'd like a job if they could get one, and small business owners. I want a party for ordinary people.

Nigel Farage v Justin Webb

Transcript of BBC Radio 4, ‘Today’, Interview with Nigel Farage, 23 November 2018, 7.10am

JUSTIN WEBB: The news that the UKIP leader, Gerard Batten has appointed Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who uses the name Tommy Robinson as his advisor on rape gangs and prison reform is being greeted by some with a shrug – a sense that that was anyway the direction that UKIP was travelling in, but by others with either outrage, because Tommy Robinson is regarded by them as a thug, or with concern about UKIP’s ability to influence people in the mainstream of British politics. Among those who've expressed concerns in the past about UKIP flirting with the far-right is the former leader Nigel Farage and Mr Farage is on the line. Morning to you. 

NIGEL FARAGE: Good morning. 

JW: What do you say to Gerard Batten about this appointment?

NF: Well I'm appalled. I mean the NEC of the party voted overwhelmingly last week not to have a ballot of members to let the man potentially join the party, but Gerard Batten’s got this sort of fixation with Tommy Robinson and discussing Islam and dragging UKIP into a direction of effectively being a sort of street activist party, right at the moment when we have a betrayal of Brexit going on by both the Conservative and Labour parties, where UKIP’s potential reach out amongst the electorate is the highest it's ever been. This narrows it down. It goes against all the things I did as leader, to say we will talk about immigration, we will talk about the extreme forms of Islam, but we'll do it as a non-racist, non-sectarian party. This blows a hole in all of that. 

JW: Does it blow a hole to the extent that it kills UKIP?

NF: Well I haven't given up yet. I will be writing to the National Executive Committee of the party today, urging that we have a vote of no confidence in Gerard Batten as leader, that we get rid of him. I'll be meeting the UKIP MEPs, those that haven't already resigned, in Brussels on Wednesday next week. We’re going to have one last go at getting rid of somebody who as leader is dragging us in a shameful direction. And even worse . . . 

JW: (interrupting) And if he stays on, let me just ask you this, if he stays on will you resign?

NF: Well, why should I? I mean I've been, you know, I was a founder member of it. I've been there right from the very start. 

JW: Well, I suppose because I mean the answer to that would be because it has moved in the direction you've just described . . . 

NF: Well . . . 

JW: . . .  and doesn't represent you anymore?

NF: Well, it’s moving in that direction because the leader’s taking it there. He doesn't have the support of the party to do this. Even a poll of party members shows that his issues are very low down on our list of priorities. So no, I'm going to fight try and save it, but if it continues in this direction electorally it is finished. 

JW: Of course, there are people who’ll be listening and saying, ‘Come on, this is just hypocrisy from Nigel Farage because he started UKIP down this path,’ and people remember that Breaking Point poster during the referendum campaign et cetera et cetera, the use of ‘the other’, the use of a fear of strangers to whip up support . . . 

NF: (speaking over) Well . . . 

JW: . . . actually that was you. And the difference between you and Ukip might be now that they don't do it so subtly but you still did it?

NF: No I wanted to talk about real issues, issues that politicians are afraid of, issues about uncontrolled mass immigration, illegal immigration, the growth of terrorism across Europe, the huge mistakes that the EU made people coming across the Mediterranean . . . 

JW: (speaking over) But you had posters with Syrian refugees, you were never really (word unclear due to speaking over)

NF: (speaking over) How do  you know they were Syrian refugees? And why were they refugees when almost every single one of them was a young male between 18 and 30 years old? Hardly any of them would ever have qualified as refugees. And I wanted to have these conversations, but to do so from a political party that did it from a non-racist . . . 

JW: (speaking over) But that’s the point, isn’t it? It’s the conversation that leads to this and it leads to appointment of Tommy Robinson?

NF: (speaking over) Well if you don’t have this . . . if you don't have this conversation, you don't get parties like UKIP doing well, you don't get referendums happening in the country and then the far right does exist. If I've got one real achievement in British politics is that I did pretty much single-handedly kill off the BNP. 

JW: Hmm. You said at the beginning that you didn't approve of what Gerard Batten was doing, you want him to step down as leader, does that mean you're going to step up again?

NF: Oh that . . . this is not about me. This is about UKIP being a sane electoral vehicle and even worse than that. What Batten and Robinson are now planning is a Brexit march in London on the 9th of December. They've decided they want to put Tommy Robertson up there as a big player in the Brexit debate too and that's . . .  and that is far more important than UKIP. That will damage the Leave cause in this country. So from every single aspect it's time we got rid of Gerard Batten and reclaimed the party. 

JW: Do you . . . a final one on Brexit, do you fear another referendum? Because you've sort of flirted with the idea of having one, haven’t you?

NF: Well, I’ve said, over a year ago, that we have to face up to the possibility that it could happen, and that's because our parliamentary system can't cope with Brexit. Most of our MPs don't agree with Brexit. And I would say it's now 50/50 whether we're going to get a suspension of Article 50 that could well lead to it. 

JW: (speaking over) And do you fear it?

NF: I don’t fear it, but I think for our democracy it would be a dreadful thing. But if it, if it happens, if we have to fight that battle again, we'll win it again. 

JW: Nigel Farage, thank you.