Unrepentant 'bongo bongo land' UKIP MEP says he'll apologise to country's ambassador

[-:Undertaker:-]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/poli...mbassador.html

Unrepentant 'bongo bongo land’ Ukip MEP says he'll 'apologise to country's ambassador'

Godfrey Bloom, a UK Independence Party MEP who referred to “bongo bongo land”, has responded to claims that his comments were offensive by repeating his original remarks and claiming that he is prepared to apologise to the ambassador of the fictional country.

Mr Bloom was filmed at a meeting of supporters in the West Midlands saying those who received aid spent the money on "Ray-Ban sunglasses, apartments in Paris, Ferraris and all the rest of it".

The video, obtained by the Guardian, also shows Mr Bloom railing against the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for ruling that full life sentences could not be handed down.

A Ukip spokesperson has claimed that his comments are being discussed at the “highest levels” of the party.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Bloom was unrepentant.

Asked what he would do if he was criticised by the Ukip leadership Mr Bloom said: “I’d say righto, sorry, sorry everybody. If I’ve offended anybody in bongo bongo land I shall write to the ambassador at the Court of St James and apologise to him personally.”

After laughing Mr Bloom added: “My job is to upset the Guardian and the BBC. I love it. I love it.”

Today presenter James Naughtie replied: “You’re not upsetting anyone here. It’s quite entertaining in fact.”

In the footage of his July speech at the meeting in Wordsley, near Stourbridge, Mr Bloom says: "How we can possibly be giving a billion pounds a month when we're in this sort of debt to bongo bongo land is completely beyond me.”

He claimed aid was being squandered on luxury items, and said that while Britain is in need of new planes, it is Pakistan which gets a squadron of F18s where we send taxpayer’s money.

Later in the speech, but in the same video, he says that because of an ECHR ruling "you can torture people to death but you jolly well can't give them a full life sentence because that's against their human rights.

"We can't hang them because we're now a member of the European Union and it's embedded in the treaty of Rome. It's a personal thing, but I'd hang the ------- myself.

"Especially for some of these, especially for the guy who hacked the soldier to death. I do hope they would ask me to throw the rope over the beam because I'd be delighted to do so."

Mr Bloom, who pointed out he has a Polish wife and Kashmiri staff, said that his comments were not racist.

Asked by the BBC where “bongo bongo” land is, Mr Bloom referred to “Ruritania” – a fictional country in Europe that formed the setting for three novels by Anthony Hope.

“Well I don’t know,” Mr Bloom said. “The BBC and the Guardian have got themselves in quite a state about it. I don’t know where Ruritania is either – there is no such place of course is there? Like the third world. Where is the third world?”

He added: “When a country has a trillion pounds of debt and we’re cutting our hospitals, our police force and we’re destroying our defence services, that the money should stay at home and people who want to give money to worthwhile charities…what I would argue is that is for the individual citizens. It’s not for the likes of David Cameron to pick our pockets and send money to charities of his choice.”

Rushanara Ali, a shadow development minister, said Mr Bloom had "objectional views about an entire continent".

She also said that he had made an "offensive set of remarks" about aid spending.

How refreshing to hear a politician speak plain common language with a bit of humour thrown in - one of the reasons why people are so turned off by politics is because it's so dull and boring, stuffed full of people with no opinions and who back off from airing opinions that are deemed controversial by the BBC or Guardian newspaper. Let's have a referendum each on cutting all foreign aid and restoring the death penalty - I would give pretty good odds that my side of the argument would win both.

In any case, i'm glad his comments have been picked up on - because I reckon it's a vote winner.

Thoughts? agree with Bloom or not?

[Catchy]

I actually liked his talk, agree about the death sentence but I don't know how it would work when people are unfairly convicted? I take it there would just have to be very hard evidence or maybe even a confession?

[Ardemax]

I'm not sure whether calling particular countries "Bongo Bongo Land" is light humour and he probably should have worded his statement better. Sure, it makes it memorable, but perhaps for the wrong reasons.

I agree though, it's for an individual to decide whether they want to give to a charity (which in my opinion is a great thing and I certainly will when I'm able to) and not for a government to decide.