UKIP sleazeballs attempt to manipulate HOPE not hate

It's no great secret that even by UKIP's standards their Norfolk outfit is a bit more right wing and a lot more ready to flirt with racism than is the norm for the anti-EU party.

From the start UKIP's local operation has made its dislike of HOPE not hate and other antifascist campaigns clear as crystal.

We witnessed their behaviour towards HnH campaigners outside Norwich City Hall hustings last Thursday, their refusal to take leaflets, and their aggressive attitudes when their Norwich North candidate Glenn Tingle was asked the simple question: "Have you ever at any time been associated in any way with the National Front?"

As usual Tingle refused to answer.

At the hustings UKIP brazenly used the organisation's Turkish descended youth wing vice-chair Yasin Akgun to smear HOPE not hate in a question claiming HnH was responsible for pelting BNP leader Nick Griffin with eggs. Unfortunately for Akgun, none of the Norwich North candidates thought that badly of the idea - only Glenn Tingle, who used the opportunity to attack HOPE not hate, knowing full well that Griffin's eggciting adventure was at the hands of the UAF, not HnH.

Since then UKIP has been claiming that their headquarters have been targetted by HOPE not hate campaigners, a claim which is - like most of UKIP's failing Norwich North campaign - one big fat lie.

Today they're claiming that HOPE not hate have been out with their spray cans, and sprayed the message "UKIP a bunch of nazi's" signed by "Hope not Hate" on a wall in Norwich.

Conveniently, a UKIP member just happened to be walking past, spotted the message and started raising hell.

Norfolk Unity isn't as constrained as HOPE not hate in what it can say publicly, so I'll spell out what's going on here.

The BNP can kiss goodbye to any hope of a decent result in Norwich. We know it and they know it - that's why they've stopped reporting it on their website and why they haven't bothered mobilising their members to support the bogus "reverend" West and his moribund campaign. But UKIP have been expecting great things in Norwich, and as the canvass resturns are showing, it's just not happening.

We're not saying Tingle will do that badly, but Norwich North isn't going to be the stellar breakthrough they thought it was going to be.

They're desperate, and the closer we get to polling day the more desperate they've become - so they hit on the idea of smearing themselves at the expense of HOPE not hate and the BNP.

Put simply they're generating a last minute opportunity to put themselves in the local newspapers with a story that they're not Nazis like the BNP (though it's hard to tell the difference, from their campaign literature and statements). They get to distance themselves from the BNP, mop up a few more votes from the BNP and attack the organisation they really loath - HOPE not hate. They also hoped to manipulate HnH into blaming the BNP for the fictional anti-UKIP campaign, which would have done UKIP no harm at all.

That's what it's all about.

For the record, HOPE not hate campaigning has been aimed squarely at the BNP, despite UKIP's fantasies.

Only two dishonest parties are campaigning in Norwich North, UKIP and the BNP. Steer clear of them both when you cast your vote tomorrow.