Tuesday 2 August 2011

FARAGE SHOOTS HIMSELF IN THE FOOT as Barbara Booker Shows:

FARAGE SHOOTS HIMSELF IN THE FOOT as Barbara Booker Shows:

It took just 24 hours for the back-tracking to start!

Remember:

Speroni was directly quoted by the Guardian, saying: "Breivik's ideas are in defence of western civilisation", and "I'm with Borghezio. I don't think he should resign. If [Breivik's] ideas are that we are going towards Eurabia and those sorts of things, that western Christian civilisation needs to be defended, yes, I'm in agreement".

In a statement on 28 July, UKIP said Nigel Farage had contacted Speroni, his EFD co-president, "to demand an immediate retraction and apology following his remarks and those of his fellow Northern League MEP Mario Borghezio . . . . If no retraction is forthcoming then UKIP will suspend its membership of the EFD group in which it sits alongside the Italian political party".

On 29 July, UKIP's follow up statement said Speroni had written to Farage saying that he condemns the massacre and the extreme fundamentalism in question - an addition to his earlier remarks.

Has Speroni withdrawn the statements he made in support of Borghezio?

No, he has not.

Has Speroni retracted his agreement with Breivik's ideas?

No, he has not.

Has Speroni apologised?

No, he has not.


Has Nigel Farage suspended UKIP MEPs' membership of the EFD as he said he would?


Apparently not. It seems Borghezio has been suspended by his party and UKIP says it is satisfied that this "will send a clear message that they, and we will not have any truck with such disgraceful sentiments now or in the future". Farage is convening the EFD next week to suspend Borghezio from the group.

So that's it. The book thrown at Borghezio; Speroni quietly forgotten. UKIP can trumpet that Farage has taken "prompt action", and the EFD can survive with the temporary loss of one Italian.

Note that Farage's demands for "an immediate retraction and apology" from Speroni are for home consumption only. The EFD's website doesn't mention them, or the threat to suspend UKIP MEPs' membership of the group.

An interesting aspect of this is that one of those who has condemned Borghezio's comments, calling them "terrible, unspeakable remarks", is the Lega Nord MP and cabinet minister Roberto Calderoli, the man indirectly responsible for UKIP MEPs and their allies expelling the Lega Nord from their previous Independence & Democracy group.

Calderoli was not even an MEP, yet in 2006 his party was expelled from the Ind/Dem following his provocative comments and TV appearance wearing a T-shirt bearing a copy of one of the Danish Muslim cartoons.

There has been no talk of expelling Speroni and Borghezio, whose comments have caused the current outrage; only of UKIP MEPs 'suspending' their EFD membership.

And it looks like Farage is welching on even that!

He gave Speroni an ultimatum - make an immediate full retraction and apologise, or we suspend our membership of the group.

Speroni has done neither. He's stuck two metaphorical fingers up at UKIP's leader and Farage has backed down, talking now of convening the EFD Bureau to suspend Borghezio instead.

He wouldn't need to run to the Bureau for consent if he'd kept his word and suspended UKIP's membership. He could have done that all by himself!
Enhanced by Zemanta

No comments:

Post a Comment