| "UKIP offered Tories election deal in return for EU vote " |
Posted on 28th November 2009 @ 08:29:12 |
George Ashcroft
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COMMENT: Since it emerged out of the Anti-Federalist League following the ratification of the Masstrict Treaty in 1991, UKIP has always seen itself as "the Tory Party Mk2". These latest revelations from UKIP's new leader come as no surprise and reveal what most seasoned UKIP watchers have always known: that UKIP is a one-trick pony.
A back-room deal with the Tories? And then what? UKIP ceases to be, leaving the door, not simply ajar, but wide open to the BNP and other nasty populist groups to fill the vaccuum that undoubtedly exists on the rightward flank of British political opinion. Great. UKIP think that they would win any referendum on British membership of the EU. I do not believe that to be so.
But even if it were, what kind of country would we be under this scenario? Would Britain really be a better place with the political mainstream in utter turmoil and with a resurgent "Fascist" right post-UKIP? The kind of back-room politics espoused by Lord Pearson is almost as dangerous as the BNP itself and has shown UKIP up for what it is: totally unfit for office.
"UKIP offered Tories election deal in return for EU vote
The UK Independence Party says it offered not to fight the next general election if the Tories agreed to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
New UKIP leader Lord Pearson of Rannoch told the Times he offered a deal after its strong European elections showing.
The ex-Tory peer said he had offered to "disband" UKIP, but a spokesman later said the deal would only have involved calling off its election campaign.
The Conservatives said any mention of a deal had been rejected "straight away".
Lord Pearson was chosen as UKIP's new leader on Friday, replacing Nigel Farage, who stood down to focus on running for Parliament at the next general election.
'So angry'
The peer told the Times that he had taken the proposed deal to Lord Strathclyde, the Conservative leader in the Lords, after UKIP beat Labour into third place in this year's European elections.
He said he was acting on behalf of Mr Farage and told Lord Strathclyde to relay the offer to Tory leader David Cameron.
"We made that offer but we didn't get an answer," he told the newspaper. "I'm so angry with them now."
The Times said both Mr Farage and Lord Strathclyde had confirmed the meeting did take place.
Earlier this month, the Conservatives said ratification of the Lisbon Treaty by the Czech Republic - the last EU country to do so - meant their campaign for a referendum had come to an end.
The decision prompted UKIP, as well as Eurosceptics in Mr Cameron's own party, to accuse him of reneging on a "cast-iron" guarantee made in 2007 to hold a vote.
But Mr Cameron said that to press ahead with a referendum post-ratification would be "simply to have one for the sake of it".
Shadow Europe minister Mark Francois said of Lord Pearson's comments: "We don't make policy on the basis of secret deals with other parties; we decide our policies on the basis of what is right for the country.
"As we have said, a made-up referendum after ratification would be pointless."
Lord Pearson gained nearly half of the approximately 9,900 votes cast by UKIP members in the leadership contest.
Following his victory, he said the Lisbon Treaty was "the last nail in the coffin of our democracy" and his objective at the next election would be to force a hung Parliament and a "realignment" in British politics.
UKIP does not have any MPs but has 13 MEPs and among its key aims is pulling the UK out of the European Union."
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