The anti-European British protest party, UK Independence Party (Ukip), has struggled to try and prove that it is not the political descendent of the racist National Front or British National Party. Its troubled leader Nigel Farage has worked hard at his image, but it is disgusting that he inadequately described his candidate Kerry Smith as a “rough diamond” after Smith called a woman with a Chinese name as “chinky”. Farage should have disowned him completely.
And Smith was not a solo case. Andre Lampitt who had starred in Ukip’s 2014 party election broadcast has just attacked Islam as “evil”; and the Ukip candidate in Enfield tweeted that Lenny Henry (a black comedian) should emigrate to a “black country”. It is deeply wrong that rather than expel all racists from their membership, Ukip is instead putting out guidelines on using social media to try to cover up their prejudice and Islamophobia. It is also a desperate comment on Conservative leader David Cameron’s lack of courage that instead of challenging Ukip’s disgusting ideology, he is dragging Conservatives to the right to take over some Ukip positions.
