Ukip: the battle for Britain. Susan McCaffery lives in Billericay, in Essex.
She's 72 and, thanks to the UK Independence Party, a member of the local town council. It's a hot Wednesday afternoon and she is talking to me in her sitting room, where there's an organ in one corner and a few piles of bumf from the Pentecostal church of which she's an enthusiastic member. Until 2007, she was also the minutes secretary of Basildon Conservative Association. "But I was just so unimpressed with their discussions, with the lack of initiative," she says. "There was no desire to go forward. "People want, in a sense, to revert back to how we were," she says. As well as the awfulness of modern politicians, immigration, the amount of money Britain pays into the EU, the alleged failings of multiculturalism, the need drastically to cut the UK's foreign aid budget and the dazzling brilliance of the late Margaret Thatcher, Ukip members mention the second world war a lot. Nigel Farage's Scottish hounding was an antidote to fawning media treatment.
Link to video: Ukip's Nigel Farage mobbed by protesters in Edinburgh Thursday's confrontation between Nigel Farage and Scottish protesters has led people to question just why Ukip is so unpopular in Scotland.
However, it is the wrong question to ask. Nigel Farage attacks 'fascist scum' protesters. UKIP's Nigel Farage explains why he hung up on BBC Scotland. Nigel Farage blasts 'anti-English' protesters. Nigel Farage bundled into police van after being barricaded inside pub where he was going to promote Scottish by-election candidate. Protesters shouting 'racist Nazi scum' storm UKIP press conferenceThey then lay siege to the pub forcing police to barricade doorsMr Farage is in Scotland campaigning for Aberdeen Donside by-election By Daily Mail Reporter Published: 17:37 GMT, 16 May 2013 | Updated: 09:41 GMT, 17 May 2013 Nigel Farage had to be locked in a pub for his own safety yesterday after being surrounded by a hostile crowd as he launched a by-election campaign.
Farage and his entourage were first heckled as they attempted to hold a press conference in The Canons’ Gait in Edinburgh by protesters shouting ‘racist scumbag’ and ‘scum’. The flustered UKIP leader was asked to leave and went outside where he tried to carry on making a speech. Scroll down for video. Women who wear trousers are 'deliberately making themselves unattractive', says UKIP's new donor as cash-strapped party issues plea for funds. Greek tycoon Demetri Marchessini gave UKIP £10,000 - a fifth of all cash donations this yearHe claims if a woman chooses not to wear a skirt it is ‘hostile behaviour’ and 'flies against the normal human desire to please'UKIP received only £47,000 in cash in the run-up to local electionsParty treasurer writes to supporters asking for money, staff and policies By Matt Chorley, MailOnline Political Editor Published: 09:04 GMT, 17 May 2013 | Updated: 09:50 GMT, 17 May 2013 Greek shipping tycoon Demetri Marchessini, pictured wearing trousers at his home in London A wealthy new backer of the UK Independence Party claims women who wear trousers are 'deliberately’ making themselves unattractive to men.
Greek tycoon Demetri Marchessini, who believes not wearing a skirt is ‘hostile behaviour’, gave UKIP £10,000 this year - a fifth of all its cash donations. But the parlous state of the party’s finances has forced officials to issue a begging letter to supporters for money – and policies. Johnny Milano's chilling photos of the American Nazis' annual National Socialist Movement convention in Atlanta. Johnny Milano was given unprecedented access to the National Socialist Movement convention His collection of images reveals Nazi and KKK members preparing for a hate-filled rally About 100 anti-fascists gathered to meet the group, and allegedly smashed Nazi members car windows By Daily Mail Reporter PUBLISHED: 18:42 GMT, 13 May 2013 | UPDATED: 09:29 GMT, 14 May 2013 Chilling images showing the mundane preparations ahead of a hate-filled Nazi rally have been captured by a photographer given unprecedented access.
Photographer Johnny Milano was allowed to shoot behind the scenes at the National Socialist Movement convention in Atlanta, Georgia, after months of negotiations with Nazi leaders. The disturbing photographs show white supremacists ironing their swastikas and getting tattoos as they kill time in their hotel rooms. Immigrants? We sent out search parties to get them to come... and made it hard for Britons to get work, says Mandelson.
Former minister admits Labour deliberately engineered mass immigrationBetween 1997 and 2010 net migration to Britain totalled 2.2million By Tim Shipman Published: 00:10 GMT, 14 May 2013 | Updated: 18:14 GMT, 14 May 2013 'We were sending out search parties for people': Former Labour Cabinet Minister Peter Mandelson has admitted that his party actively encouraged immigration to the UK while in government Labour sent out ‘search parties’ for immigrants to get them to come to the UK, Lord Mandelson has admitted.
In a stunning confirmation that the Blair and Brown governments deliberately engineered mass immigration, the former Cabinet Minister and spin doctor said New Labour sought out foreign workers. He also conceded that the influx of arrivals meant the party’s traditional supporters are now unable to find work. What if Ukip's rise is more than a blip? What will the average Westminster politician think when he or she sees this fascinating, potentially watershed poll, and begins to digest what might happen if it represents not a blip, but the shape of things to come?
As often happens, perhaps the best thing is to step outside the usual terms of debate and quote Bob Dylan. Specifically, Ballad of a Thin Man, released as the world was tilting in all kinds of directions in 1965: "Something is happening here, but you don't know what it is/Do you, Mr Jones? " Clearly, we are in the midst of a popular revolt against the political class.
In Scotland, it has put a rocket under the SNP, who largely trade from the centre-left. In England, the de facto nationalist party is Ukip, proudly pitched on the populist right. That their rise is an almost uniquely English story is self-evident: they currently score 23% in England, but only 2% and 6% respectively in Scotland and Wales.
Underneath all this, many more aspects of British politics are in flux. 'I cannot stand Jewish people': Lawyer almost loses her career over office rant about queue-jumping man at medical centre. Danielle Morris, 34, made the remark to a colleague during a conversationMother-of-two complained a Jewish man jumped queue at medical centre She made comments in presence of a Jewish cashier at her law practiceThis prompted two legal tribunals and a huge legal bill for Morris.
It's time to face up to the problem of sexual abuse in the white community. Every day across Britain, it seems, there's a new and horrific revelation of sexual abuse: last week we had the guilty plea of veteran TV presenter Stuart Hall, who confessed to 14 cases of indecent assault against 13 girls, the youngest only nine years old.
Days earlier the possible scale of child abuse in north Wales children's homes was revealed. We now know there were 140 allegations of historical abuse between 1963 and 1992. A total of 84 suspected offenders have been named, and it's claimed the abuse took place across 18 children's homes. But after the shock has subsided and we have time to reflect on these revolting crimes, the main question in most reasonable people's minds must surely be: what is it about white people that makes them do this? Jimmy Savile is alleged to have abused 300 young people, and in his case and in north Wales, the abuse could not have happened without a wide range of co-conspirators either grooming children or ensuring the truth never got out. How rise of 'white flight' is creating a segregated UK: Study reveals white Britons are 'retreating' from areas dominated by ethnic minorities.
Census figures show white Britons are leaving areas where they are minorityThink-tank says survey reveals 'spiral of white British demographic decline'Ex-Human Rights Commission chair says findings should make us 'anxious'Nearly half of ethnic minorities live where whites make up less than 50%Just 800 of 8,850 council wards where population is 98 per cent white By Jason Groves, Political Correspondent.
Kenyan Mau Mau victims in talks with UK government over settlement. Kenyan Mau Mau war veterans celebrate the UK high court ruling of 5 October 2012 allowing them to proceed with compensation claims against the British government.
Link to video: Mau Mau torture case: Kenyans win ruling against UK government The British government is negotiating payments to thousands of Kenyans who were detained and severely mistreated during the 1950s Mau Mau insurgency in what would be the first compensation settlement resulting from official crimes committed under imperial rule. In a development that could pave the way for many other claims from around the world, government lawyers embarked upon the historic talks after suffering a series of defeats in their attempts to prevent elderly survivors of the prison camps from seeking redress through the British courts. The Foreign Office knows that compensation payments to Mau Mau veterans are likely to trigger claims from other former colonies. Official papers from the time confirm that prisoners suffered appalling abuses.
Stupidity of Cameron's priorities: gay marriage, foreign aid and wind farms. No wonder Tory voters feel closer to me. By Simon Walters Published: 21:29 GMT, 4 May 2013 | Updated: 22:44 GMT, 4 May 2013 For a man who regards Brussels as the biggest threat to Britain’s freedom since the Second World War, the choice of beer for Nigel Farage was obvious when we met at the Westminster Arms on Friday: Spitfire. Nigel Farage: a man I would gladly have a pint with.
‘A pint and a fag and packet of crisps, which I’d tear down the seam and spread on the table while Nigel told some story against himself.' Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty The smaller British politics gets, the more it feels that you might as well judge a politician by that key question: could you honestly bear to have a pint with them? I could bear to have a pint with Nigel Farage. Not anyone else in his party, you understand. But a pint and a fag with Farage, and probably a packet of salt and vinegar crisps, which I'd tear down the seam and spread out on the table while Nigel told some story against himself. Photos with Hitler, Nazi salutes, Jimmy Savile masks and blaming Jews for the Holocaust: UKIP gaffes keep on coming but Nigel Farage says: 'These things happen!' UK Independence Party under pressure over candidates in local electionsLeader Nigel Farage admits some have caused him 'embarrassment'But others have been 'unfairly traduced', he claimsPolice receive complaint about candidate's Nazi salute photo One candidate is pictured wearing Jimmy Savile mask while another mocked up a group photo standing with Adolf HitlerFarage insists 'you can't blame me for everything' after UKIP bus parks in disabled bay on the campaign trailEx-Tory chairman Lord Tebbit urges tactical voters to back UKIPPoll of council areas puts Tories on 31%, Labour 24% and UKIP 22%
Adolf Hitler: his part in my downfall. Left to right: Dick, Hitler, Dick, Dick. Ukip in fresh Nazi row after candidate Photoshops Hitler image. Ukip has stumbled into a fresh row about Nazism after a candidate posted a doctored image of himself on Twitter standing next to Adolf Hitler. The party apologised for the Photoshopped image and said that Dick Delingpole, a candidate in Worcester who is the brother of the writer and climate change sceptic James, had a "very deep sense of humour". Ukip's manifesto offers the world. Let's take a closer look.
'An estimate from Philip Hollobone MP that Romanian and Bulgarian immigration could treble to 425,000 within two years is particularly high.' Photograph: Martin Argles for the Guardian Making an honest manifesto for local government elections, especially in the current climate, is a particularly difficult task. With the coalition imposing both a council tax freeze and substantial cuts in central government funding on councils across the country, the largest part of elected councillors' role is simply deciding where the axe is to fall, with no ability to change the size of the cuts needed – and no ability to change national policy.
Tories struggle to maintain coherent stance over Ukip threat. Local elections 2013: it's going to be a bad night for the Conservatives. The mood in the Conservative party on Thursday night will be determined at least as much by how well Ukip does in the local elections as by how badly the Tories do. One in three babies in England now has a parent who was born abroad. Next EU influx won't be like the Poles, says Cameron ahead of relaxation of border controls later this year. Ukip, Sushil Patel and the candidate who temporarily wasn't. UKIP candidate Alex Wood caught on camera apparently making a Nazi salute. Ken Clarke: Some Ukip voters are racists. The UKIP leader and the 'Facebook racist': Nigel Farage pictured shaking hands with party candidate who 'supports English Defence League'
Ukip leader boasts of his £2m in expenses. The following correction was printed in the Observer's For the record column, Sunday May 31 2009 In the article below we said incorrectly that a debate between Farage and former Europe minister Denis MacShane was "discreetly taped" by the hosts, the Foreign Press Association. The FPA openly records all its briefings and in most cases puts them on its website after the event. The leader of the UK Independence party (Ukip), which wants to lead Britain out of the EU, has taken £2m of taxpayers' money in expenses and allowances as a member of the European Parliament, on top of his £64,000 a year salary. Nigel Farage, who is calling on voters to punish "greedy Labour, Conservative and Lib Dem MPs" at the European elections on 4 June, boasted of his personal expenses haul at a meeting with foreign journalists in London last week. Some Ukip candidates could be BNP members, says leader Nigel Farage. Tory councillor resigns after remarks on London pupils' nationalities.
Anglican school that is 75% Muslim drops hymns. Anglican school where 75% of the pupils are Muslim drops Christian hymns from assemblies. Doreen Lawrence: 'There won't be a black prime minister in my lifetime' Simply the creepiest letter Margaret Thatcher ever got. Margaret Thatcher - MPs and peers pay tribute: Politics live blog. Margaret Thatcher funeral: Over 700 armed forces personnel will take part with Falklands heroes playing key role. David Cameron: Margaret Thatcher ‘saved our country’ - video. No 10 struggles to back up Cameron's immigration speech claims. Anthea Pokroy photographs hundreds of flame-haired subjects for project celebrating redheads' 'romantic' colouring.
University College London bans Islamic group iERA for segregating men and women at debate. What does the Queen's sitting room tell us about her?
Tory right boosted as Labour lead drops to 8 points in Guardian/ICM poll.