During a stirring spring conference speech on Saturday, Ukip leader Nigel Farage attacked the ‘political class’ who let down working people through mass immigration taking jobs from unskilled workers.
In a swipe at David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband, none of whom had real jobs before entering Parliament, he said: ‘We have really had enough of them. They really do all look the same... they all go to the same schools, the same Oxbridge colleges.’
As for Tory Party members, in his memoir Flying Free he dismisses them as ‘estate-agents’ and ‘racists’. So it’s fair to assume that he has a higher opinion of his own party’s members? Not so.
Outspoken: In Farage's memoir, Flying Free, he says his party's members include: 'Blazered buffoons and unschooled oiks who have not progressed beyond the 1950s in their attitudes towards other cultures'In the book, published in 2011, he says they include: ‘Blazered buffoons and unschooled oiks who have not progressed beyond the 1950s in their attitudes towards other cultures.’
He goes on: ‘A party is a broad church and must be able to accommodate eccentrics, obsessives, romantics and down- right nutters.’
So where does the chain- smoking, beer-swilling Farage draw the line when it comes to welcoming supporters to his banner?
More... We'll fight EVERY seat at next General Election, vows UKIP leader Nigel Farage as he dashes hopes of a Tory pact Ed Miliband admits that the biggest obstacle for Labour at the next election is the public's lack of trust in politicians New immigrants told: You must pay to see a GP – and can’t have a council home‘Although I was a libertarian to my fingertips, and would have welcomed the chance to fight for the nation’s cross-dressers, swingers, naturists, prostitutes, adult nappy-wearers, consensual cannibals and the like who would no doubt have flocked to our fold, they might have been a distraction from the main agenda.’
However, Farage does have one role model. ‘I approve of Jesus. He seems a decent sort who liked his wine and the company of riff-raff.’
Hacked Off hypocrite Hacked Off: Hugh Grant never used to be so vengeful according to his interview on Desert Island Discs Actor Hugh Grant, the driving force behind the anti-newspaper brigade Hacked Off, never used to be so vengeful. The blogger Guido Fawkes unearthed part of his interview on Desert Island Discs when he said: ‘You can’t really moan. Sometimes you think it would be nice if the tabloids didn’t dig up every skeleton and lie and smear and all those things, but on the other hand when they lie and smear and poke fun at other celebrities it gives me enormous delight. So I can’t be too hypocritical.’ Oh yes he can.Great news for the Labour faithful. The party has teamed up with Majestic Wine to offer its members ‘five per cent off all online purchases’. So Veuve Clicquot la Grande Dame Rose 1995, which normally retails at £280 a bottle, is now a mere £266. Nice to know that champagne socialism is alive and well.With impeccable timing, the Cyprus tourist board has launched a campaign on commercial radio extolling the virtues of the island. ‘Cyprus, just a heartbeat away,’ it drones. Heartbeat? More like heart attack if the Germans pull the financial plug. Look who's all a-TwitterThe Respect MP George Galloway is demanding Government sanctions against Twitter, the social media networking outlet.
In a Commons motion he says: ‘Twitter is a U.S.-based enterprise whose primary motivation is to maximise its profits; Twitter is now used for a variety of criminal activities including sending malicious communications; Twitter refuses to co-operate with the UK authorities and the police in trying to detect the source of criminal communications “unless it is a matter of life and death” to be determined by Twitter.’
So how many tweets has Galloway sent since tabling last week’s motion? 106.
Nick Clegg may have sounded tough in his immigration speech the other day when he said it was not bigoted to support controls, but I sense his party activists don’t believe a word of it.
A poll on the Lib Dem Voice website yesterday revealed that 72 per cent of the party’s members see no problem in Bulgarians and Romanians pouring into Britain when the restrictions are lifted in January.
Quote of the week: The admirable Deputy Speaker Lindsay Hoyle (what a breath of fresh air compared with the Pipsqueak John Bercow) refereeing the Budget debate, said: ‘I cannot understand why an Opposition party does not want to hear its leader speak.’ I can.
Lord Mandelson, speaking last week at the CBI annual dinner, said: ‘I can’t remember who the member of the Government was who claimed we had abolished boom and bust. Well, we abolished boom.’ And he was by Gordon Brown’s side in the Cabinet when he did just that.
One penny off the price of a pint of beer. Falkirk MP Eric Joyce must be happy.
