1918 – 2018 ….… November saw some fine, moving tributes to mark the centenary of the end of World War One; The Great War or ’The War To End All Wars’. Much of the media coverage was praiseworthy, but tended to dwell (understandably) on the horrors of the war. What was often missing was a deeper understanding of why the war had to be fought.
The root cause of the war was an irreconcilable clash of imperial ambitions; between Britain and Germany, both at sea and in overseas empires; between the German and Russian Empire’s expansionism in Eastern Europe and that of the Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empires in the Balkans. The war was started and prolonged by a failure of diplomacy on all sides, but once begun it had to be fought to the end by the Allies to prevent Europe from being dominated by Imperial Germany; its largest and most powerful state. In so doing they gained freedom for a host of new nations in Eastern Europe, born in the aftermath of the Allied victory in 1918. Ironically, just as the EU dream of Jean Monnet was in its infancy, the newly freed peoples of Central and Eastern Europe were already voting with their feet for national self-determination.
Britain’s decision to go to war in 1914 was to uphold the integrity of Belgium, of which we were the guarantor; a small country threatened by a larger, more powerful neighbour. The war was essentially a fight for national survival and freedom and it would not have been won without the innate patriotism, courage and sacrifice of people in all the nations that Imperial Germany tried to conquer and subject. The Second World War proved this point even more conclusively. Our brave ancestors understood what their duty then was all about; to protect their family, their nation, their freedom. It is not so different today.
It isn’t hard to see why such conclusions are uncomfortable for the current generation of ‘bien-pensant’ leftist ‘liberals’ who dominate the media airwaves today. Much of the current rise in national feeling that they fear so much, is simply a long overdue reaction against yet another European Imperial project.
No Deal ? No Problem ! ….. On 12th December, Conservative MPs voted (not for the first time) to put Party before Country. Yet Mrs May’s ‘vote of confidence’ resolved nothing. We’re still stuck with a pathetic Prime Minister desperately clinging to an EU dictated deal (‘Remain In Chains’) as if it were the only option. No doubt intense pressure is being applied by the party whips; she may yet succeed in grinding down enough Tory ‘Leave’ MPs to get her ‘Withdrawal Deal’ voted through before the deadline of 29th March.
The ‘Brexit’ shambles at Westminster leaves open the opportunity for a ‘No Deal’ (‘World Trade) Brexit in March. The public are sick and tired, not of ‘Brexit’ itself, but of the endless prevarication over it at Westminster. To most people, a ‘No Deal Brexit’ in March, no strings attached, looks by far the most attractive option (Conservative Home Survey, 30th Dec). So it’s up to all UKIP members to be proactive in getting this message across. Write to your MP and to your local paper or community magazine in the next few days; let them know in no uncertain terms that they will lose their seat at the next election if they renege on their election manifesto and back Mrs May’s plan.
The EU’s latest report confirms what we all know: it is they not us, who will be the losers in any ‘No Deal’ Brexit in March. The long-term benefits to us will far outweigh any short-term difficulties. We would immediately be able to lower tariffs and negotiate new trade deals. We would immediately recover full legislative, regulatory and border control. There would be no need to pay the EU a £39bn ‘exit fee’. The existing Free Trade Agreement with the Irish Republic would remain intact. Northern Ireland would not be a hostage of the EU in future trade negotiations.
If May’s government really believes in Britain, the time is ripe to get on the front foot with the EU and proclaim the benefits of a ‘No Deal’ Brexit. It’s still not too late for them to set out some basic principles, so admirably described by former Australian PM, Tony Abbot.
Firstly, they should be ensuring that plans are in place in all government departments for a ‘No Deal’ Brexit in March. Secondly, they should make a unilateral offer to the EU to allow tariff-free access to our markets for an initial 12 months after the end of March. These two measures alone would dispel most of the Project Fear rubbish about the UK ‘crashing out’. They would resolve at a stroke, the Irish border impasse and create the space for negotiations on a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with the EU once we have left. Thirdly, they should declare that visa-free movement of people from the EU to the UK can continue after March 2019 but (the Irish Republic apart), automatic rights of EU citizens to work and reside in the UK will not. Instead, a system of work permits for EU nationals will gradually be phased in. If Msr Barnier wants to charge UK visitors to the EU £6, we withdraw the above and introduce full visa controls until the EU can prove that its own external borders are secure.
Over the last 18 months May has shifted her stance from ‘No Deal is Better Than A Bad Deal’, to ‘Any Deal is Better Than No Deal’. It should by now, be clear to all at Westminster that the EU is not going to grant the UK a ‘Withdrawal Deal’ that respects the outcome of the EU Referendum. ‘No Deal’ is the best deal of all.
EUSFUL IDIOTS (No.4) …… SIR JOHN MAJOR
‘I think the high tide of centralism, federalism I have called it, in Europe has reached its zenith and is now declining ….. The way in which it will develop in the future will not be as a centralist monolith, and we are not interested in developing it as a centralist monolith‘ (from an interview given in January 1995)
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Branch News ……..
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Local Council Elections ….. We need as many candidates as possible for the elections this May to the new unitary Councils. These are the wards within the Mid-Dorset & North Poole constituency:
Poole: (1) Broadstone & Merley; (2) Canford Heath Dorset: (1) Wimborne Minster & Colehill West; (2) Colehill; (3) Wareham (4) Lytchett Minster & Upton (5) Lytchett Matravers (6) Bere Regis (7) Corfe Mullen.
You do not have to live in the ward to stand, but you must be on the electoral role or have a business address within the unitary authority for which you are standing. You must also complete UKIP candidate vetting online at myukip/org/candidates. If you want to know more about what being a Councillor entails, please contact the Branch Chairman (01202-602427).
Saturday, 3rd Nov. …. With help from our friends in UKIP Poole, we had successful EFDD and UKIP stalls in Poole High Street. We did the EFDD stall first, handing out the free EFDD ‘Brexit’ shopping bags. These were very popular and greatly appreciated – many people were pleased to have something highly visible to express their support for ‘Leave’. We gave out 100 bags within an hour; about half the shoppers in the precinct were walking up and down with them !
After a quick coffee break, we converted the stall to a UKIP one. This too went very well, with hardly any negativity from the public. Most were pleased to see UKIP there and many people came up and asked some good questions. A lot of people were pleased to have some people they could talk to, without being ‘judged’. Some passers-by were keen to share their suggestions (few of them printable) on what should be done with Mrs May and her Cabinet. By 12.30 we had almost emptied our Branch supply of UKIP literature and booklets. Particularly popular were the free ‘Outpost’ newspapers. David Kurten’s pamphlet on ‘Cultural Marxism’ also attracted a lot of interest, especially from some of the younger people and those from Eastern European countries. Our thanks to all those who gave up their time to help and support us
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Tales From Europe ……..
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GERMANY ……. The AfD (Alternative For Germany) are seeking 40 EU Parliamentary candidates for a nationwide list … Their campaign will be against ever-closer union and eastwards EU expansion. Political observers estimate the AfD taking 13 to 18 seats.
Counter to the notion that the AfD is ‘racist’, one of the unsuccessful candidates for their list was Achille Demagbo, a Benin-born AfD member. In his presentation, he stated that he was “proud to be an African”, but added that “Germany shouldn’t be flooded with too many Africans, because there are simply too many of them”. The AfD’s current MEP, Prof Dr Jörg Meuthen was selected unopposed as their No.1 candidate. As Co-Leader and the party’s national spokesman, he is a well-known and proven performer on the public stage, with a professorship in political economy and finance. As MEP in the EFDD grouping with UKIP, he has made contacts with other nations and acts as the link to populist movements in Austria, Hungary and Italy (‘Silent Pilot’, UKIP Daily, Nov 25th)
CYPRUS …… ‘A report from the Cypriot Ministry of Foreign Affairs claims that more than 550 Greek Orthodox churches, chapels and monasteries in Turkish-occupied Northern Cyprus, have been pillaged, deliberately vandalised or demolished. Many Christian places of worship have been converted into mosques, depots of the Turkish army, stockyards or haybarns. The religious heritage of the occupied areas has been the target of the occupation regime as part of its policy to eradicate the Greek cultural character of the area. Moreover important cultural monuments and places of worship continue to be completely inaccessible because they are located within the military zones of the Turkish occupation army ….’ (Uzay Bulut, Gatestone Institute, 15th Nov)
ROMANIA ….. ‘The EU doesn’t always come bringing gifts and shepherds in the mountains fear their way of life will change forever. ‘The most important thing here is the human / wildlife interaction; that is how shepherds maintain their way of life’ says Zarnesti guide, Dan Marin. ‘The big teeth of the EU are more dangerous than those of the wolves …’ EU officials scramble up mountains to inspect ancient shepherd camps, where people have found shelter and made cheese for centuries, then declare that they must have new washing and milking facilities installed. ‘But they don’t even have electricity up in the mountains. The EU doesn’t say how to improve facilities, they just say if you don’t change, we’ll close you down …’ . The EU also wants to put a stop to the shepherds migration, when up to 10,000 sheep are walked to the Danube, then return in a 3-year cycle: ‘The EU made a bizarre condition that the shepherds must have GPS satellite navigation, when they have managed without for over 2000 years, walking as far as Albania, Bulgaria and Greece’ EU officials have also been heading deep into the countryside, fining 96 year-old ladies for ‘growing drugs’, when in fact they are planting hemp for its fibres’ (‘Transylvania’, Bradt Travel Guides, 2016 ed)
FRANCE … ‘Even by French standards, the protests of the ‘Yellow Vests’ during the weekend of Dec.1st were startling. Burning cars and vast plumes of grey smoke seemed to engulf the Arc De Triomphe as if Paris were at war …. For more than two weeks, the ’Yellow Vests’ have disrupted France, paralysing highways, blocking fuel stations and causing shortages across the country ….. Unlike previous protests in France, which have divided opinion, these have widespread public support; 72% according to a Harris poll on Dec 1st ….. There are images online of police removing their helmets and firefighters turning their backs on political authority to show their support for the protestors …. Macron has made no secret of his wish to be seen as a global ‘leader’ for green policies and his fuel tax rises (since repealed) were intended to help bring down France’s carbon emissions ….. He forgets that fuel prices really matter to those outside the big cities, where four fifths of commuters drive to work …. The additional costs of living have come at a bad time for ordinary French people working outside Paris. Lower middle-class families are not poor enough to receive welfare benefits, but have seen their income flat-line while the cost of living and taxes have risen. ’People have this feeling that the Paris technocrats are doing complicated things to screw them …..’ (David Brown, Gatestone Institute, 10th Dec)
NETHERLANDS …. ‘Police have arrested the leader of the Dutch ‘Yellow Vests’ for ‘incitement via social media’, shortly before planned nationwide protests this weekend. Members of the movement argue that the man has only ever been peaceful and that the arrest is an attempt to intimidate other protestors from joining … Dutch citizens will again take to the streets this weekend in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Maastricht, Groningen and The Hague, in protest against political correctness, open borders and the left-liberal policies of Prime Minister, Mark Rutte’ (Infowars, 16th Dec)
BELGIUM …. ‘Prime Minister, Charles Michel has resigned after losing a vote of no confidence amid a political crisis over the controversial UN Migration Pact .…. He was forced to resign after the Flemish Nationalist Party (N-VA) withdrew their support over his decision to adopt the UN Global Compact on Migration …..’ (Daily Express, 19th Dec)
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Stories You Won’t Hear on the BBC ……
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‘The Committee of Public Accounts has accused the BBC of failing to fully untangle ‘the mess of clarifying the employment status’ caused by the use of staff employed on personal service contracts. The criticism came as it emerged in an Audit Office report that 800 presenters are facing questions about their tax affairs; about 100 freelance staff are also under investigation…..’ (The Sun, 15th November)
‘Irish Premier Leo Varadkar, needs reminding that 8 years ago, the UK gave Dublin a £3.2bn loan to help bailout the Irish economy; money that we had to borrow. It still hasn’t been repaid fully. In addition, RBS and Lloyds put around £16bn into rescuing their Irish subsidiaries, writing off debts they’d recklessly lent to property speculators during the so-called ’Celtic Tiger’ boom years. That too, came from UK taxpayers as part of the ‘bank bailout’ package. In all, the UK committed something like £20bn to saving the Irish economy. Although Dublin pays interest on the £3.2bn direct loan from Westminster, much of the money will never be recovered…..’ (Littlejohn, Daily Mail, 1st June 2018)
‘Veterans For Britain have condemned the ‘EU Withdrawal Agreement’ as ‘a total capitulation’. Colonel Richard Kemp, who commanded British forces in Afghanistan, said: ‘This deal is a bigger military surrender than Singapore in 1942, because it affects all of the UK’s defence capability. The text is finally an admission that the UK will be a rule-taker in defence. The government denied this for 18 months, but we knew they were misleading us. This text means a transfer of military sovereignty to the EU Commission….’ (Daily Express, 16th November)
Migration Watch: a study shows that high levels of net migration have driven the soaring demand for rental properties over the past decade. Young people are paying the price through ever higher rentals, which in turn makes it harder for them to save for a deposit. As supply has failed to keep pace with demand, rents in England have risen by 23% over the last decade … Its even worse in London, where rents have increased by 36% and in some areas 70% of the main householder’s income. Over the same period, homes headed by someone born abroad accounted for more than 80% of the total growth of households in London’s rented sector. Across England, out of the net increase of just over 1.2 mn in the number of new households, more than 1.1 mn had a foreign born head. Chairman, Lord Green of Deddington said: ‘The time has come for firm measures to address the demand for housing as well as its supply, and deal with one of the main drivers of demand …‘ (Daily Mail, 21st December 2018)
‘Financial records produced by George Soros’s organisation ‘The Open Society’ reveals that in 2012 it spent $601,753 hiring Tony Blair and his aides to help the leader of Guinea ‘manage and execute his reform agenda effectively’ The cash was paid to Blair’s personal charity, the Africa Governance Initiative. In return, Soros’s chum and Guinea President Alpha Conde, received much invaluable advice, including how to handle PR in the wake of violent clashes during which government forces shot dead nine opposition activists and injured hundreds more …’ (Guy Adams, Daily Mail, February 18th 2018)
Speaking at Countryfile Live at Blenheim Palace, former Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman said he doesn’t like the way the Brexit ‘negotiations’ are going: ‘I think we’ve made a complete pig’s ear of it. If you were going into negotiations the first thing you would do is get clear in your mind what it is that you want. But that didn’t happen …… I think we’ve made a real mess so far and I hope that we can pull ourselves through it’. He was however, optimistic about Brexit: ’I am a patriot, I believe in this country. We’ve been through some difficult things in the past and we could have a bumpy two or three years. But at the end of it, I believe that we will emerge fine.’ (Daily Mail, 4th Aug)
‘Economists for Free Trade have criticised the Treasury predictions of ‘Project Fear’. IMF statistics show that 15 of the 22 largest exporters to the EU trade under WTO rules and increased their exports to the EU by 135% between 1993 and 2015. The other 7 had bilateral trade agreements and increased their trade by 107%. In the same period, the 12 original EU members increased their intra-EU trade by 70% while the UK increased its trade with the EU by only 25%. UK goods exports to the 111 countries with which it trades under WTO rules have grown by an average of 3% a year; 3x faster than the UK’s trade with the EU.’ (Daily Express, August 23rd)
‘Britain is giving increasing amounts of foreign aid to booming China and oil-rich Nigeria, accounts from the Department for International Development (DfID) have shown. Despite vows to stop financing the world’s 2nd largest economy, £46.9mn was given to China last year; up £2.6mn on 2016. £319.6mn was given to Nigeria last year (up 20%), whose space programme has spent millions on three satellites and plans to send a man into space by 2030. Three years ago it was reported that the country paid 24,000 salaries to non-existent government workers. Meanwhile Britain also gave £92.6mn to India (which also has a space programme), in spite of a government ’pledge’ to end aid to wealthy India in 2012‘ (Daily Mail, 28th July)
‘The EU’s palpable desire to punish Britain for leaving vindicates the Brexit project. Its position, now, is that there’s only one ‘deal’ on offer, whereby the UK retains all of the burdens of EU membership but with no say in setting the rules. The EU seems to think that Britain will go along with this because it’s terrified of no deal. Or, to put it another way, terrified of the prospect of its own independence. But even after two years of fear-mongering and vacillation, it’s not too late for robust leadership to deliver the Brexit that people voted for.
‘As a former prime minister of Australia and a lifelong friend of your country, I would say this: Britain has nothing to lose except the shackles that the EU imposes on it. After the courage shown by its citizens in the referendum, it would be a tragedy if political leaders go wobbly now. Britain’s future has always been global, rather than just with Europe. Like so many of Britain’s admirers, I want to see this great country seize this chance and make the most of it.”
(Tony Abbot, Australian Prime Minister, 2013 – 15)
Don’t forget to check the monthly Dorset Digest (via e-mail) locally, as well as checking our branch website www.ukipmiddorset.org
e-mail: john.butler@ukipmiddorset.org All items in this newsletter are personal views only and do not necessarily represent the views of the UK Independence Party Mid-Dorset & North Poole
