UKIP Uncovered
What motivates the leaders of the United Kingdom Independence Party?


Tuesday, November 28, 2006 

UKIP and Mario Scaramella


As this site seems to be getting more than its regular number of hits we presume the main interest is in our earlier link regarding Mario Scaramella which may be found here, or the Russian 'spy' poisoning where the most detailed explanation we have traced may be reached from here.

posted by Martin |6:45 PM


Friday, November 24, 2006 

Gerrard Batten MEP and UKIP (continued)

In the transcript of Monday's Channel 4 news item quoted and linked below Gerrard Batten begins by referring to Professor Scaramella by his christian name, Mario, implying that this was not a casual first time conversation. So who is this Mario Scaramella involved with the now deceased Russian spy?

Not very much can be found on the web except for this intriguing reference on a blog titled "Logrus Amazing Stories" which is well written, wide ranging and seemingly well informed as may be seen from this link to http://marelles.blogspot.com/. I quote from the particular posting of 21st November titled 'Another Good Guy Goes Down' linked here, which begins in the Lebanon but later continues:

"I mentioned the character of Mario Scaramella. First, I would feel extremely nervous in his situation. Most of the people who seem to have information about the murder of Anna Politkovskaya or at least the involvment of the Russian services in it are disappearing. Violently... Who is next on the list? But it is also interesting to know who is "il professore Scaramella". I had the curiosity to search around. Mario Scaramella was until recently the head of the ECPP. The Environmental Crime Prevention Program is presented by Scaramella as a UN agency, but it is in fact an intergovernmental program. It regroups about 25 countries, the most active ones being Italy, Angola and the Samoa. Though its seat is in Washington, most of its activities take place in Naples. Scaramella presents also himself as a professor of the University of San Jose California, as well as an (unidentified) Colombian university. Unfortunately, there is no mention of his name on any website belonging to the famous American university. So who is Mister Scaramella?

He appears a couple of times in the Italian press (Il Corriere della Serra, as well as the weekly newspaper Espresso). He was a consultant in the Mitrokhin Parliamentary Commission, intended to study the consequences of the publication of the Mitrokhin Archives in Italy. In this position, he claimed that he could locate the nuclear mines that a "November" class submarine would have dropped in 1970 in the Naples gulf. The sub in question, the K8, was actually lost in the Bay of Biscaye the same year, and 20 of its torpedoes were indeed never found. For this, he said that he had the help of Russian officers who were responsible for the 1970 operation. Nobody knows really why and in which quality he was a consultant for Sismi in this Commission. As far as I know, his public references are limited to the use of satellite imagery for the monitoring of environmental crimes.

It's in this other quality that Scaramella was involved in another curious affair. He led an investigation on the illegal dumping of waste by a camorra clan in a lake of the Herculanum area. After this succesfull investigation, he went with two police agents to a suspected villa. There, the trio was actually shot at by camorrists. After returning fire, they managed to arrest one and to discover an important weapon cache in the villa. This episode led itself to many questions about what a simple consultant was doing there, in the company of armed agents in civilian cloths...

I have no other information on Mario Scaramella, but I think it is a somewhat colorful character. And a strange contact for Alexander Litvinenko in his research for the murderers of Anna Politkovskaya..."

In the view of this blog a stranger still character to be on first name terms with UKIP's MEP for the London Region. So what more can we find out about Mr Batten? My memory from the hours of researching the motivations of UKIP put him as a founding party member who has I believe claimed he himself chose the party name. He was initially against UKIP sending MEPs to Brussels and became less active later, returning to stand himself. He has been a long term NEC member. The information he provides the party may be read from here. He once wrote a brief report on the Euro and more recently an item on the cost to Britain of EU membership.

This report on a speech by Mr Batten last April, concerning the KGB, provides further background on this but as it is from a website of which I have never before heard it should perhaps be treated with some suspicion. The speech was indeed made but the rest of the report, if true, does show that Mr Batten has become involved in very murky matters far removed from the question of Britain's place in the EU.

posted by Martin |8:27 AM


Tuesday, November 21, 2006 

Russian 'spy' poisoning and UKIP's Gerrard Batten

In all my time of UKIP watching and reporting, one of the more shadowy and low profile figures has been Gerrard Batten MEP for the London region.

What a surprise therefore to see him popping up on Channel 4 news last evening to talk authoritatively on the evening's hot topic of the poisoning of the Russian in London. Does this indicate that Lord Tebbit was near the mark when he claimed in The Spectator that UKIP had some strange connections with the security services.

View the news item for the rest of this week from the link to the player access page here.

On viewing the broadcast again, it seemed worthwhile to provide the full transcript of the Channel 4 Gerrard Batten segment here, as it seems so unrelated with UKIP or the EU:

GB: " What Mario told me was that (er) he had actually been tipped off by one of his contacts another ex KGB man that his life was in danger that Litvinenko's life was in danger and two other named people. So what Mario told me was that he actually came over to discuss this with Alexander Litvinenko, it wasn't primarily about handing over the names of the supposed murderers of Anna Politkovskaya but it was about this death threat."

Why a London Region UKIP MEP would have such interest or knowledge of such matters is beyond me!

posted by Martin |6:00 PM


Wednesday, November 15, 2006 

Blair and Cameron at State Opening of Parliament

Photograph, comment and eye-opening links on this black day for our democracy are on my blog Ironies Too, linked from here.

posted by Martin |5:55 PM


Tuesday, November 14, 2006 

Farage on Tory Internet TV

Click here to view the interview, from which the one surprise is that the commitment not to stand against Better Off Out members only extends to sitting MPs.

posted by Martin |4:59 PM


Saturday, November 11, 2006 

UKIP to ape Conservative Home

Subscribing insiders only will have a chance to debate UKIP policies along the lines of the successful Conservative Home blog.

Other UKIP run forum have fallen victim to the inability of UKIP's leadership to debate or accept outside input, we will watch with interest!

Visit the portal from this link.

posted by Martin |6:54 PM


Thursday, November 09, 2006 

West Dorset Branch resigns from UKIP

The letter of resignation signed by all branch officials and other members was as follows:

From
UNITED KINGDOM INDEPENDENCE PARTY
WEST DORSET CONSTITUENCY ASSOCIATION
Norman Close,
Bridport,
Dorset,

Date:1st November, 2006.

To:
Dr. J.Whittaker,
UKIP Office,
29 Winckler Square,
PRESTON,
Lancs. PR1 3JJ.

Dear Dr. Whittaker,
It is with deep regret, and a lot of heart searching, that the undermentioned members of the UK Independence Party, West Dorset Constituency Association committee, tender their resignations.

In the 2004 EU Elections, UKIP came second in West Dorset, elected two MEPs, and beat the Lib/Dems into third place. We felt we were on a roll. Our moment had come when the United Kingdom was waking up. We then had to put up with the ignominy of watching our leaders scrapping with Robert Kilroy Silk in public, resulting in many good party workers leaving UKIP and following RKS into Veritas. That, we feel, was the beginning of the end.

Our leaders squandered the goodwill that members of the party had worked hard to build up during the Euro Election. They did nothing to take the party forward, and we were left rudderless at the one time in the party’s existence when it could have become a serious contender for Westminster.

The MEPs have secured for themselves lucrative jobs, but what has happened to the cash they were going to inject into the Party? Instead, UKIP is relying on money from the very Commission we are supposed to despise and want to destroy. We would remind these MEPs that the public voted for the Party, not for them personally.

The leadership campaign was a disgrace. Lies and scurrilous accusations were made. These were not counteracted by the leadership, and now it is over, there have been no apologies and no offers of the hand of friendship. The questions about the Ashford Call centre have not been
answered, and the new Treasurer has stated that he won’t be looking at the accounts prior to his takeover. Nigel Farage has now declared that UKIP will not stand against any BOO candidates.

We had high hopes that when a new leader was elected things would change for the better, and the Party would move forward. It is now obvious that Nigel Farage, and other MEPs do not want the UK Independence Party to be a Party at all. They merely want a pressure group for the Conservatives.

This view is substantiated by the news from the recent Conference.

We can see no valid reason to work for a Party that is obviously not going to achieve anything we want, and does not offer the voters a true opposition to the three main parties.

Yours sincerely,

..........................................

posted by Martin |9:46 AM


Friday, November 03, 2006 

Google
www Ukip Uncovered


Honorary President: The Rt Hon. the Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven, LG, OM, FRS
Vice-President: The Rt Hon. the Lord Lamont of Lerwick, Co-Chairmen: Dr Brian Hindley & Barry Legg
Director: Robert Oulds MA, Head of Research: Dr Helen Szamuely
Washington D.C. Representative: John O'Sullivan, CBE
Former Chairmen: Lord Harris of High Cross, Dr Martin Holmes, Professor Kenneth Minogue



BRUGES GROUP CONFERENCE












BETTER OFF OUT!
OKAY, WHAT NEXT?

Bruges Group Conference
Developing policies for a post-EU Britain

Saturday, 18th November 2006
10:30am – 6:15pm

PROGRAM AND SPEAKERS

10:30am: Registration and Coffee

11.00am – 1pm: WHY BRITAIN MUST LEAVE THE EU

  • Nigel Farage MEP is the Leader of the UK Independence Party and is a member of the European Parliament. He will speak on the topic of, Why Britain must leave the European Union.
  • Mark Wallace is the Campaign Manager of the Freedom Association. Mark Wallace will discuss the Better Off Out! campaign.
  • Barry Legg was the Conservative Party’s Chief Executive and is a former MP. Barry Legg is a businessman and Co-Chairman of the Bruges Group; he will speak on, The EU: A Denial of Opportunity.

1pm – 2pm: Lunch

2pm – 4pm: A NEW POLICY AGENDA FOR BRITAIN

  • Philip Davies MP is a Conservative representing Shipley. He is a strong advocate of withdrawal from the EU. Philip Davies will talk on, Why we would be financially better off out of the EU.
  • Christopher Booker is the co-author of the Great Deception: The Secret History of the European Union and the Bruges Group paper Britain and Europe: The Culture of Deceit.
  • John Midgley is the co-founded of the Campaign Against Political Correctness. John will speak on, A Britain Without Political Correctness.

4.00pm - 4.15pm: Refreshments

4.15pm – 6.15pm: OUT OF THE EU INTO THE WORLD

  • Daniel Hannan MEP is a Conservative MEP and a leader writer for many newspapers and journals. Daniel Hannan will speak on, Human Rights and Civil Liberties.
  • Matthew Elliot is the Chief Executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance and co-author of the Bumper Book of Government Waste. He will discuss, Making Britain competitive again: A new tax agenda for the UK.
  • Ronald Stewart-Brown is the founder of the Trade Policy Research Centre. He will speak on, Britain: a global trading nation and leaving the Single-Market.
  • Dr Helen Szamuely is the co-author of the Bruges Group paper Alien Thoughts: Reflections on Identity. She will speak on, Britishness and national identity once we are out of the EU.

Venue: Great Hall, King’s College London, The Strand, London

Admission: £20 (payable on the door or in advance)
Includes lunch, wine, tea, coffee, cheese, biscuits, refreshments and nibbles


Click here for a form to pre-book your place


Map for the Great Hall, King's College, London


Click here for more information



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For further information and tickets contact:

Robert Oulds
Director
The Bruges Group
232 Linen Hall, 162-168 Regent Street, London W1B 5TB
UK

Tel: +44(0) 20 7287 4414
Mobile: 0774 002 9787
E-mail: info@brugesgroup.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

posted by Martin | 7:00 PM


Wednesday, November 01, 2006  

Cameron on Black Wednesday

Courtesy of Conservative Home, recall the moment from here. Or try the following URL:

http://conservativehome.blogs.com/torydiary/images/camerononblackwednesday.gif

posted by Martin | 6:35 PM
Copyright © 2006 Martin Cole.
archives
contact us
my other blogs
nigel farage
landmark links
fired treasurer
glw incitement
booker/jamieson
glw & farage
a complaint
a neutered nec
graham booth
derek clark
mark croucher
michael harvey
roger knapman
mike nattrass
links
blogs
press
broadcasters
google
buy my book
technorati
Copyright © 2003/6 Martin Cole.