Angel Fruitcakes
The Barmy Army that is the UK Independence Party (UKIP) has produced yet another headline making news story as two members in the south of England say that they have been driven out of their local UKIP branch by other members who are guided by angels.
Ukip duo resign claiming 'occultists' have infiltrated the party
MP hopeful Jake Bynes and branch chairman Graham Livings say they've been run out of party by alternative healers
By Steven Morris - The Guardian
The Ukip parliamentary candidate and his branch chairman resigned saying the party is trying to shake off 'fruitcake image'. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty
A Ukip parliamentary candidate and his branch chairman have resigned after claiming the local party is being infiltrated by what they see as "occultists".
Jake Baynes, who was to run in the Somerset cathedral city of Wells at next year's general election, said he felt he was being driven out by local members, including a couple based in nearby Glastonbury who practise alternative healing inspired and guided by angels.
Baynes, a teacher who stood at the last general election for Ukip, said: "I do think if someone is saying you are in touch with the angelic realms I have to call into question their judgment.
"Everyone's got their different beliefs. It's not for me to belittle anyone's beliefs. People have different views. But if Ukip is trying to shake off this fruitcake image thing, we're not doing a good job of it."
Graham Livings, who resigned as Ukip's Wells constituency branch chairman, said: "We've been infiltrated by the Glastonbury occult. I've heard a lot of people say locally they won't be voting for Ukip because of this. It needs to be addressed. Jake was an excellent candidate. I'm standing down in solidarity."
The couple Baynes and Livings were concerned about are Colleen and Glen Tucker, who are both masters in angelic reiki – described on their national association's website as a "profound system of healing and consciousness expansion".
Ms Tucker, who is county treasurer for Ukip, describes herself as an "angelic reiki master, soul midwife and shaman" and says she works with the Archangel Michael. She is based at the Angelic Guidance and Healing Centre in Glastonbury.
Mr Tucker, a prominent Ukip member, runs master level angelic reiki workshops.
Both said they were pleased Baynes and Livings had resigned because they felt both had lost the confidence of the local association. But they dismissed as "ludicrous" the claims that they were involved in the occult.
After the Guardian broke the news of the pair's resignation and the reasons they had given to Ms Tucker , she said she went away to look up the meaning of "occult". "It means that which is hidden," she said. "Nothing I do is hidden, nothing Glen does is hidden. It's all in the public domain. I have a website, Glen is very active on Facebook. There's nothing occult in what we do.
"I do call in archangels at times and in some of the meditations I do bring in archangels. Angels appear in all the major religions of the world."
Correspondence between Baynes and the Ukip national leadership shows the concern about so-called occultism is one of a series of problems that have arisen within the party.
There has also been tension over an insulting letter Baynes wrote to a local paper about Liberal Democrat Sir Graham Watson when he lost his seat at the European parliament earlier this year.
Mr Tucker said Baynes and Livings were confused. He said: "They obviously don't understand what Colleen and I do. They have some weird idea of what the occult involves. I think it's a way of ignoring the reality. They could have just resigned and accepted they don't have the support of the committee and the membership. They could have done it with grace."
Ukip will now have to find a new candidate. Baynes won 1,711 votes in 2010 – and may well have helped the Liberal Democrat Tessa Munt win the Somerset seat, which she took with a majority of just 800 over Conservative David Heathcoat-Amory.
More Fruitcakes (30 July 2014)
UKIP has more than its fair share of fruitcakes and loonies as this report from the BBC shows with yet another of the party's MEPs hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
In this case ex-MEP, Nikki Sinclaire, has been charged with money laundering and fraudulently claiming expenses.
Ex-MEP Nikki Sinclaire charged with money laundering and misconduct
Nikki Sinclaire lost her European Parliament seat in May this year
Former MEP Nikki Sinclaire has been charged with money laundering and misconduct in public office.
Ms Sinclaire, 45, who represented the West Midlands for UKIP, then as an independent, will appear at Birmingham Magistrates' Court on 17 September.
She is accused of making false and dishonest submissions for travelling expenses and transferring the proceeds of fraud through a bank account.
She said she "strongly refuted" the charges and would be defending herself.
The offences allegedly occurred between 1 October 2009 and 31 July 2010.'Ludicrous allegations'
Ms Sinclaire was elected as a UKIP MEP in 2009 but was expelled from the party the following year in a row over its membership of the Europe of Freedom and Democracy grouping.
She remained in the European Parliament as an independent before forming the We Demand A Referendum Now Party in 2012, but lost her seat in elections held last May.
She was originally arrested on 22 February 2012 and has since been on police bail.
Three other people were also arrested but will face no further action.
Ms Sinclaire said: "I am disappointed that the police have chosen to charge me with the above offences without questioning me on them, after a two-and-a-half-year investigation.
"The charges relate to my time as a UKIP MEP when I was under the guidance and oversight by the party in the Parliament. This will prove pivotal in resolving the matter.
"During my time as an MEP I put in more than £120,000 of my salary into the cost of my work activities.
"It was also me, who in 2010, drew the attention of the West Midlands Police, to irregularities I discovered had taken place, without my knowledge, in my UKIP office.
"I am certain I shall be found innocent of these ludicrous and unfounded accusations."
The dust has hardly settled on UKIP's success in the recent Euro elections before yet another fruitcake jumps out of the woodwork - one who will be representing Wales in Brussels and who presumably ran on the general UKIP ticket about the terrible threat that immigrant workers pose to the UK.
Yet according to this story in The Independent, Nathan Gill has been employing immigrant workers for years while insisting that his business practices were not inconsistent with his party's anti-immigration policies.
It's a crazy old world right enough and even crazier when you think that Nathan will now be heading off to Europe to make a handsome living and exceptionally generous expenses from a parliament he doesn't even believe in.
Except when it suits his interests to do otherwise - on this evidence at least.
Ukip MEP Nathan Gill employed ‘dozens’ of immigrants and ‘kept them in bunkhouses’
New MEP says it is not ‘hypocrisy’ and that he actually envies the amount of ‘spending money’ they had after being paid £200-£300 a week
Former MEP Nikki Sinclaire has been charged with money laundering and misconduct in public office.
Ms Sinclaire, 45, who represented the West Midlands for UKIP, then as an independent, will appear at Birmingham Magistrates' Court on 17 September.
She is accused of making false and dishonest submissions for travelling expenses and transferring the proceeds of fraud through a bank account.
She said she "strongly refuted" the charges and would be defending herself.
The offences allegedly occurred between 1 October 2009 and 31 July 2010.'Ludicrous allegations'
Ms Sinclaire was elected as a UKIP MEP in 2009 but was expelled from the party the following year in a row over its membership of the Europe of Freedom and Democracy grouping.
She remained in the European Parliament as an independent before forming the We Demand A Referendum Now Party in 2012, but lost her seat in elections held last May.
She was originally arrested on 22 February 2012 and has since been on police bail.
Three other people were also arrested but will face no further action.
Ms Sinclaire said: "I am disappointed that the police have chosen to charge me with the above offences without questioning me on them, after a two-and-a-half-year investigation.
"The charges relate to my time as a UKIP MEP when I was under the guidance and oversight by the party in the Parliament. This will prove pivotal in resolving the matter.
"During my time as an MEP I put in more than £120,000 of my salary into the cost of my work activities.
"It was also me, who in 2010, drew the attention of the West Midlands Police, to irregularities I discovered had taken place, without my knowledge, in my UKIP office.
"I am certain I shall be found innocent of these ludicrous and unfounded accusations."
More Fruitcakes and Loonies (6 June 2014)
The dust has hardly settled on UKIP's success in the recent Euro elections before yet another fruitcake jumps out of the woodwork - one who will be representing Wales in Brussels and who presumably ran on the general UKIP ticket about the terrible threat that immigrant workers pose to the UK.
Yet according to this story in The Independent, Nathan Gill has been employing immigrant workers for years while insisting that his business practices were not inconsistent with his party's anti-immigration policies.
It's a crazy old world right enough and even crazier when you think that Nathan will now be heading off to Europe to make a handsome living and exceptionally generous expenses from a parliament he doesn't even believe in.
Except when it suits his interests to do otherwise - on this evidence at least.
Ukip MEP Nathan Gill employed ‘dozens’ of immigrants and ‘kept them in bunkhouses’
New MEP says it is not ‘hypocrisy’ and that he actually envies the amount of ‘spending money’ they had after being paid £200-£300 a week
By ADAM WITHNALL - The Independent
A newly-elected Ukip MEP has admitted his businesses employed “dozens” of workers from eastern Europe and the Philippines who were kept in “bunkhouses” – but insists this is not inconsistent with his party’s anti-immigration policies.
Nathan Gill, elected to represent Wales in the European elections last month, ran a number of care homes and other family businesses providing services for Hull City Council and brought employees in from overseas.
He conceded “this could look bad” for a politician who campaigned on Ukip’s anti-immigration message, but insisted that the family firm had been unable to “find local workers to do the jobs”.
And he said that the party had “never said it wants to stop all immigration – it wants to limit the numbers”.
As director of the various businesses, Mr Gill oversaw the employment of dozens of people from Poland and other new EU countries and others from the Philippines.
He said that they were kept in bunkhouses as “temporary accommodation… until they could get something more permanent”.
He told the Western Mail that he actually envied the quality of life he provided them, saying: “We charged £50 a week inclusive of electricity to people who would be earning between £200 and £300 a week. I wish I had that proportion of spending money left after paying my mortgage.”
Mr Gill said it was “not at all easy to get work permits” for the Filipino employees after demonstrating “the lengths we had gone to in trying to recruit local labour”.
But he also said that he was sure there “would have been no difficulty” getting permits for the EU workers “if that had been necessary” – as it would be under Ukip policy.
He said: “My focus at the time was to employ people who would enable us to fulfil as a business the care contracts we had. I can see how this could look bad, but it’s a case of ‘damned if you do and damned if you don’t’.
“If we hadn’t employed people from overseas, we’d have been called racist. The fact that we did employ immigrants is leading to charges of hypocrisy. But Ukip has never said it wants to stop all immigration – it wants to limit the numbers.”
Twitter users did not seem convinced, with one describing it as an example of Ukip “telling us to do one thing then doing another”. Another described it as “unbelievable hypocrisy”.
A spokesperson for Welsh Labour called for Mr Gill to apologise and said: “That Nathan Gill cannot see the hypocrisy of his actions is totally unbelievable. This is hugely embarrassing for him given only two weeks after he was elected on an anti-immigration platform.”
A newly-elected Ukip MEP has admitted his businesses employed “dozens” of workers from eastern Europe and the Philippines who were kept in “bunkhouses” – but insists this is not inconsistent with his party’s anti-immigration policies.
Nathan Gill, elected to represent Wales in the European elections last month, ran a number of care homes and other family businesses providing services for Hull City Council and brought employees in from overseas.
He conceded “this could look bad” for a politician who campaigned on Ukip’s anti-immigration message, but insisted that the family firm had been unable to “find local workers to do the jobs”.
And he said that the party had “never said it wants to stop all immigration – it wants to limit the numbers”.
As director of the various businesses, Mr Gill oversaw the employment of dozens of people from Poland and other new EU countries and others from the Philippines.
He said that they were kept in bunkhouses as “temporary accommodation… until they could get something more permanent”.
He told the Western Mail that he actually envied the quality of life he provided them, saying: “We charged £50 a week inclusive of electricity to people who would be earning between £200 and £300 a week. I wish I had that proportion of spending money left after paying my mortgage.”
Mr Gill said it was “not at all easy to get work permits” for the Filipino employees after demonstrating “the lengths we had gone to in trying to recruit local labour”.
But he also said that he was sure there “would have been no difficulty” getting permits for the EU workers “if that had been necessary” – as it would be under Ukip policy.
He said: “My focus at the time was to employ people who would enable us to fulfil as a business the care contracts we had. I can see how this could look bad, but it’s a case of ‘damned if you do and damned if you don’t’.
“If we hadn’t employed people from overseas, we’d have been called racist. The fact that we did employ immigrants is leading to charges of hypocrisy. But Ukip has never said it wants to stop all immigration – it wants to limit the numbers.”
Twitter users did not seem convinced, with one describing it as an example of Ukip “telling us to do one thing then doing another”. Another described it as “unbelievable hypocrisy”.
A spokesperson for Welsh Labour called for Mr Gill to apologise and said: “That Nathan Gill cannot see the hypocrisy of his actions is totally unbelievable. This is hugely embarrassing for him given only two weeks after he was elected on an anti-immigration platform.”
