Rod honeymoon with Ukip a short one.

It seems UKIP members are a bit more Independent  than we may have thought.

According to the wasting Mule Richards who only just joined thhe party was completely rejected as a Ukip candidate for next years European Elections.

Mr Richards, who had hoped to stand for the anti-EU party in Wales, said he was left shocked when told he had come eighth out of eight would-be candidates in an assessment exercise undertaken by Ukip officials.

He seems to have believed that the Ukip leader had more or less assured his nomination

He told the Mule

: “I was very interested in standing as a candidate and contacted Nigel Farage last year. He encouraged me to stand and understood that because of my work as an independent political pundit for the BBC it had been difficult for me to join Ukip up until then.
“He told me that would be no problem and arranged for me to meet the chairman of Ukip, Steve Crowther. I met him in Bristol in February and he also encouraged me.
“A couple of weeks ago I took part in a hustings meeting at the Bear Hotel in Cowbridge, where all the candidates spoke. I was also interviewed by the party panel and did an isometric test.
“I’m not being immodest (modesty was never his forte) when I say I have a lot of public speaking experience, and have also been an MP and a Government Minister. I think I performed well on the day.
“I was shocked when I had a phone call from Steve Crowther last Friday and was told I had come eighth out of eight. He told me a lot of people in the party were against me because I had only recently joined – but both he and Nigel Farage had said earlier that wouldn’t be a problem.
“Raising the issue with him in the first place was designed to avoid something like this happening.”
Expressing his dismay at the party leader, Mr Richards added: “When I rang him last Friday he sent me a text saying ‘Will call in a bit’, but I haven’t heard from him since

Western Mail 15 August 20013 (my quotes in black)

 So no comeback for Rod Richards here.

But it  may shows woryring strength of Ukip that they can reject a high profile (if contentious )candidate.


It may be one of the shortest Party memberships ever where next for Rod  the English Democrays?

I'm still having computer problems so my Blog will still be less frequent than normal.