Sadiq Khan’s stooges failed in an attempt to slap down Peter Whittle AM in yesterday’s Mayor’s Question Time, after Whittle launched a passionate defence of London’s historical statues in the face of Sadiq’s new heritage revision committee. Labour AM’s launched an attempt to remove Whittle from the chamber on the grounds that he said the Labour Party “doesn’t really like patriotism very much”. Whittle refused to apologise for his comment, which Guido suspects is a lot milder than the country’s general view of the Labour Party…
He would have been ejected had Tory AM Gareth Bacon not intervened to suggest Whittle could withdraw his comment rather than apologise for it, which he did. The full exchange is chilling and well worth a watch. Even though Sadiq may have banned fireworks on New Year’s Eve, there were plenty in his Mayoral Question Time exchanges…
- Is the government’s “moderate” approach to easing the lockdown right?
- Is America’s immune system failing? Are the riots playing out across the US a mass outburst of lockdown rage?
- What impact will Covid-19 have on globalisation and immigration?
- And is the lockdown lulling us into a dystopian lifestyle?
Join host Mark Littlewood and a stellar cast of journalists, commentators and think tankers – including Isabel Oakeshott, Freddy Gray of the Spectator USA, the Telegraph’s Madeline Grant and Peter Whittle of the New Culture Forum – as they discuss all this and more.
Also joining LIVE WITH LITTLEWOOD will be Sam Bowman of the International Center for Law and Economics, author and comedian Dominic Frisby, the Cato Institute’s Johan Norberg – plus the IEA’s Emma Revell and Christopher Snowdon.
JOIN IN THE DEBATE LIVE at 6pm – here or on YouTube.
The Farageist candidate Henry Bolton is the surprise winner. Anne-Marie Waters in second. Peter Whittle in fifth! Shock result…
UKIP will announce the winner of their leadership election this evening at their party conference. Most people think it has boiled down to a two-horse race, overnight betting has seen Peter Whittle become favourite (4/5) and Anne-Marie Waters move out to second favourite (5/4). Has something leaked from the Electoral Reform Society’s counting room?
This is an existential vote for UKIP, former leader Nigel Farage says the party is finished if anti-Islam Waters wins. Most of the MEPs say they will go independent and party officials tell Guido they will quit as well. We’ll know if the party is over in a few hours...
I’m just getting ready… pic.twitter.com/Yqbt74tCAH
— george garbow (@forgefarbow) September 24, 2017
If Anne Marie Waters wins Nigel Farage says UKIP is finished and there is no future for UKIP if it is led by her. With most of the votes in and the count due on Friday her noisy supporters on social media are convincing themselves she will win. The bookies agree. Calling UKIP sources who are usually in the know it is clear no one really knows. Did her recently joined UKIP supporters register in time to vote? Do most ‘Kippers pay any attention to social media?
Guido has a hunch that Peter Whittle will win. Arron Banks’ Leave.EU has backed David Kurten. There is a surprisingly long list of candidates. The threat by the UKIP MEPs to resign en masse if Anne Marie Waters wins will surely have been noticed by ordinary members. If Anti-Sharia Anne Marie wins the UKIP rebrand at their conference this weekend will be colourful…
With Farage not running, a battle for UKIP’s soul is underway between the more classical liberal / libertarian old guard and populist anti-Islam elements who are accused of trying to infiltrate the party. As ever Guido gives you your runners and riders…
- Peter Whittle: The bookies’ favourite, Whittle withdrew from last November’s contest to endorse Paul Nuttall, becoming his deputy. Likeable and a strong media performer (former TV producer and wonk). Whittle stands in opposition to the party’s more extreme new entrants and advocates for traditional Kipper identity: “I’ve always seen UKIP as a cultural movement“. The obvious successor…
- Anne Marie Waters: Priced in at 4/1 as the second-favourite, Waters is a former hard-left Labour Party candidate turned hard-right founder of Sharia Watch UK. She was blocked from standing as a UKIP candidate at the general election (under UKIP’s leadership rules this could become an obstacle if she is deemed as not being in “good standing” for the past two years). She set up PEGIDA’s UK branch with Tommy Robinson, who introduced her at her leadership launch last month. Waters has called Islam “a killing machine“; Nuttall has condemned her and the party will split if she wins. Rumours that Waters is flooding UKIP with new members have been exaggerated. Will UKIP block her from standing?
- David Kurten: London Assembly member Kurten impressed on the general election campaign and was clearly on top of his education brief. Well placed sources describe him as “talented“; he has made clear his intentions to further professionalise the party. First black leader of a UK political party?
- David Coburn: Flamboyant Scottish MEP who says he is standing “to stop entryists, dilettantes and single issue loonies“. Pro-Farage and slammed Nuttall’s campaign, criticising him for being “extremely ill-advised“. A colourful outside bet…
- Ben Walker: The first candidate to declare a leadership bid, 38 year-old Bristol councillor Walker says he wants to return the party to the “grassroots” and claims the number one obstacle the party faces is “itself“. He described the 2017 manifesto as “a shambles“. Advocates a name change and total re-brand…
- Chris Wells: Thanet Council leader who proposes re-focusing the party from Brexit to adult social care; said he wouldn’t stand if Farage did, and yet to rule himself out. Chances surely hurt by UKIP’s slump in South Thanet…
- Bill Etheridge: UKIP MEP Etheridge had been tipped but told a local paper on Friday that he is unlikely to put himself forward for fear of splitting the moderate anti-Waters vote. He said: “Whoever is the best person to maintain Nigel Farage’s legacy will be the person I back. The true libertarians in the party will have to unite behind them to defeat the common threat.” All but ruled himself out…
- John Rees-Evans: Faragist Rees-Evans, who came third in November’s race, once claimed a “homosexual donkey” tried to rape his horse. Apart from that, he is best-known for advocating direct democracy within the party, and boasts more than 70,000 twitter followers. Said to own a survivalist compound in Bulgaria where he has a shooting range (although he said this was an “exaggeration“) . Popular but a long shot?
