[UK] BNP telling members 'to breed' after election disaster

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They've made other blunders as well - for instance, having a local candidate announced as standing when he actually withdrew his candidacy after an argument with local officials.

From what I'm aware of, Farage has been asked about this a number of times before yet has failed to act on it, saying that he isn't responsible for the website. In many respects, the party still is not very professional. It's better than it was five years ago, but it still has problems. Farage regained the leadership with a promise to "professionalise the party", yet it still hasn't happened yet. Branch attendance and organisation in many areas ranges from average to frankly woeful in planning.

There are lots of good people in UKIP (Farage included), but I wish the party would get its arse into gear and sort it's problems out.

Last edited by Tequila on 05 May 2013, 11:30 am, edited 2 times in total.

In Austria, it pretty much didn't happen, which is why the Nazi-ambivalent Freedom Party of Austria is the third largest party in the country.

Nigel Farrage gives me the impression of seeing it all as a bit of a joke ie as if winning or losing doesn't really bother him at all; he's just doing it for fun

Where is his party funding coming from exactly?

It could almost be seen as a party set up specifically by the government to give the electorate the illusion of more democratic choice

I don't trust the fact he was initially a Tory or that he was a commodities trader

he's just too smug and unphased by everything tbh - it's unnatural

I can well believe it

nobody in europe ever claimed that. In fact in Europe our knuckle dragging nutcase politicians are more organised, dangerous and extreme, sometimes getting elected into office (Jörg Haider of Austria for example). If Europe didn't have such crazies we wouldn't have such a proud anti fascist tradition that is associated with it. I think the problem us Euros have with American crazies is that when they do raise their heads, they are met with less or no opposition.

France and Britain were right there and in a better position to stop Hitler. Why didn't the French deploy troops against the Germans when the German's entered the Rheinland? Why did Neville Chamberlain go on his knees to Germany to give von Ribbentropp and Hitler a blow job?

Britain and France were THERE. The U.S. was 3000 miles away across an ocean.

ruveyn

Talking about UKIP... I was actually considering voting for their candidate last Thursday, but I couldn't find any information about what their policies were, even when I looked on the website. They must have actually leafleted a nearby ward though, because they came 65 votes behind the winning Labour candidate, and would have won if the Conservatives hadn't split the vote...

I never said any of us acted brilliantly - all countries made mistakes and were focused on self-interest rather than the common good

This is a considerable problem that UKIP has - organisation is often woeful and often the candidates are on their own. I did the very best I could for the rural candidate I thought had a chance, and myself and one to two other people - besides the candidate - threw everything we could at it, but it wasn't enough. The winning side were just far more powerful. They seemed like very decent people though, and I admired their passion.

I'm sorry to hear that. There was a 2013 Local Elections Manifesto (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=Local%20Manifesto%202014&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CC8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ukip.org%2Fmedia%2Fpolicies%2FLocalManifesto2013.pdf&ei=TrKGUf2zO-Oh0QWKwIEw&usg=AFQjCNGr6YNXjvbhPexOCKN1QROi1z-Q4w&sig2=ZVU0zhbq4mEJuhs_M8bdow) for the whole of England, but you'd have to get in touch with the candidate or the local branch to ask their policies.

Also bear in mind that many candidates are 'paper candidates'. I was asked to be a paper candidate where I live, but I declined because, in the extreme unlikelihood that I'd actually have won, I wouldn't want to be a County Councillor. (The Tory here won by around 70% of the vote, but the actual turnout here was low - under 25%, and therefore definitely towards the lower end of the turnout. By contrast, the seat that I was helping to contest had one of the highest turnouts in Lancashire - nearly 40%.)

UKIP have very finite resources at branch level, and there is an extreme shortage of people actually wanting to come forward and help in many areas. Most are paper candidates, and there are far too few volunteers to go round. For example, in the urban council I was aiding, there were ten constituencies. We only had enough volunteers to seriously put enough effort into leafleting two properly. The main parties were able to bombard their electorate with flyer after flyer, whereas we about managed to get out a single round. (I did 2-3 hours leafleting each day with another person in the part of the district I was covering.)

Nigel Farrage has said that he "would join the Tories" if they sack Cameron.

Talk about mixed messages.

Just goes to show their hearts aren't with the people. They are another bosses party of careerists and opportunists.

He's playing them up like puppets (saying one thing, then saying another). He says this, then he later says that he didn't come into politics to do deals with others.

He's interested solely in getting out of the EU. That's his motivation.

Meanwhile, it would be an awful pity if there were to be a by-election where I live...

The difference is the US we have a corporate sponsored two-party system that shuts out fringe parties. Instead the fringe elements join the Republican Party, which has become the only ideological party.

Lolwut? The Democrat party isn't an ideological party? You don't happen to live in Colorado do you...?

The trouble in America with the two party system is that everyone to the right of an arbitrary line joins the Republicans, and everyone to the left of it joins the Democrats, so each party has to contain all the radical elements of their respective positions...

Anyway, back to the UK... which ward in Lancashire were you helping to contest, Tequila?

Why do you ask?

In a way, something like that can be good, but much, much less starkly than that. There's a difference between not having too much splitting going on, and also stifling innovation and allowing different policies to be heard.