Ukip founder Alan Sked: 'The party has become a Frankenstein's monster'
Ukip founder Alan Sked: 'The party has become a Frankenstein's monster'
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/...5/sked-008.jpg
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The founder of Ukip is trying to prove to me that, when he was in charge, the party wasn't racist. He's also trying to demonstrate that his Ukip wouldn't have had its snout in the European parliament's expenses trough, unlike its 2014 incarnation. "I had one here not so long ago," says Alan Sked, professor of international history at the London School of Economics, as he searches for a membership application form as evidence.
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But, first, where is that piece of paper? "You see," Sked says as he hunts, "up until 1997 I managed to keep Ukip a liberal – with a small 'l' – centre, moderate party. Our membership application form from the time – ah, here it is! – shows how much it has changed."
He hands me the form. It makes for fascinating reading. In 1993, along with backing British withdrawal from the EU, prospective members had to be sympathetic to the following: "It is a non-sectarian, non-racist party with no prejudices against foreigners or lawful minorities of any kind. It does not recognise the legitimacy of the European parliament and will send representatives only to the British parliament in Westminster."
"They got rid of all that after I left," says Sked, who resigned the leadership shortly after the 1997 general election. He claims that the tolerant, liberal and democratic party he founded was taken over by rightwingers and that, outgunned and outmanoeuvred by Farage and other leading figures after that election, he had no alternative but to quit.
"They took out the bit about no prejudices against lawful minorities and, as soon as I disappeared, they all decided they wanted to go to the European parliament and take their expenses."
But those changes alone don't make 2014 Ukip racist, do they? "The de facto leader of Ukip since 1999 has been a racist political failure," Sked counters. He means, of course, Nigel Farage. But even if Farage's recent statements about not wanting to live next door to Romanians suggest he is xenophobic, is there any proof he was racist when he and Sked worked together in the mid-1990s? Sked laughs at the question and recalls an incident from 1997 when the two men were arguing over the kind of candidates that Ukip should have standing at the looming general election. "He wanted ex-National Front candidates to run and I said, 'I'm not sure about that,' and he said, 'There's no need to worry about the ****** (N word) vote. The nig-nogs will never vote for us.'"
Now, there's no proof Farage did make these claims and it's essentially Alan Skeds word against Farage, Farage of course denies this (as it would be political suicide to admit it), although I can't understand why Sked would make something like this up, he doesn't serve to gain anything from it whilst Farage has every reason to lie. Rather interesting how the founder of Ukip now hates it and everything it stands for.
The article is well worth a read anyway - http://www.theguardian.com/politics/...ster?CMP=fb_gu
