Ukip's suspended members: Janice Atkinson joins long list as police investigate her expenses
The party suspended the politician following allegations of a 'serious financial nature' as leader Nigel Farage said the claims 'couldn’t look worse'
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Police are investigating the Ukip MEP Janice Atkinson over suspected fraud, following claims that her senior aide asked hotel staff to make up a lunch bill for more than £3,000 so she could claim the money back at European taxpayers’ expense.
The party suspended the politician following allegations of a “serious financial nature”, and its leader, Nigel Farage, said the claims “couldn’t look worse”.
Kent Police said it is investigating after Ms Atkinson’s chief of staff, Christine Hewitt, was secretly recorded appearing to ask the manager of a restaurant in Margate, before Ukip’s spring conference, to more than treble the £950 cost of a meal.
Ms Hewitt is heard to say: “The idea is we overcharge them slightly, because that’s the way we repatriate it [from Europe].”
A member of staff replies: “£3,150, is that all right? Yeah, if you’re all right with that? Is that enough for you?”
Ms Hewitt responds: “Oh God yeah, that’s more than enough.”
Ms Atkinson, MEP for the South East, who was due to fight the Folkestone and Hythe seat in the general election on 7 May, has declined to comment. It is not known whether she knew of or authorised her aide’s apparent actions.
Mr Farage said yesterday: “It looks very bad – it couldn’t look worse and I’m astonished by it. I spoke to [Ms Atkinson] after midnight and she said it was all to do with bills and fundraising. I was, frankly, confused by it all. I simply couldn’t believe it – how on earth could anyone think they could behave like this?” Ms Atkinson faces a Ukip disciplinary hearing next week.
In a grim 24 hours for Ukip, the party suspended a second candidate following an “alleged incident in the workplace”. Stephen Howd, 49, a barrister, was representing Ukip in Scunthorpe.
A third, Jonathan Stanley standing in Westmorland and Lonsdale, resigned and accused Ukip of bullying.
Since 2010 the party has suspended at least 19 councillors, 14 parliamentary candidates, a national secretary, its youth leader, one spokesperson, its Scotland chair, an entire local branch, three MEPs and a local committee.
Name: Janice Atkinson
Position: MEP
Alleged offence: serious financial irregularities
Date of suspension: 19 March 2015
Resolved? Disciplinary hearing to be held ‘early next week’. Atkinson previously survived a race row after referring to a Thai constituent as a ‘ting-tong’. Nigel Farage ordered the MEP to apologise to the woman in person.
Name: Stephen Howd
Position: Scunthorpe PPC
Alleged offence: ‘incident in the workplace’
Date of suspension: 20 March 2015
Resolved? An investigation has been launched into the Leeds-based barrister.
Name: Amjad Bashir
Position: MEP
Alleged offence: ‘a number of extremely serious issues… which include unanswered financial and employment questions’
Date of suspension: 24 January 2015
Resolved? Yorkshire and the Humber MEP Bashir defected to the Conservatives on the day of his suspension effectively rendering Ukip’s investigation into him redundant. Ukip MEP Mike Hookem said he has passed on evidence of Mr Bashir’s alleged wrongdoing to West Yorkshire police.
Name: Roger Bird
Position: General Secretary
Alleged offence: sexual harassment
Date of suspension: 9 December 2014
Resolved? Former Labour activist Natasha Bolter claimed Mr Bird had propositioned her during her selection process to become a Ukip parliamentary candidate. Mr Bird vigorously denied the claims and provided evidence showing the pair had been in a consensual relationship. He was cleared of wrongdoing on 23 December after an independent investigation but left the party by mutual consent.
Name: Winston Mckenzie/Lambeth and Croydon North branch
Position: Branch Chairman
Alleged offence: misappropriation of donations
Date of suspension: 19 December 2014
Resolved? Mr Mackenzie and the local committee were suspended, along and the whole branch disbanded, following months of infighting culminating in accusations that £1,000 in donations had been misappropriated. An investigation found no evidence the funds had been misused but said proper procedures had not been followed. Mr McKenzie remains PPC for Croydon North but was “reshuffled” from his position as Commonwealth spokesperson comparing the move to a scene from The Godfather Part II. “I was Fredo on the boat. I was killed off my post,” he said.
Name: Brecon and Radnor branch
Position: Regional committee
Alleged offence: Bringing the party into disrepute
Date of suspension: 22 February 2015
Resolved? The row began when the branch elected just one person who was then elected its Westminster candidate. Ukip said correct procedure had not been followed and declared the selection invalid, suspending the entire branch. The row continues.
Name: Dave Small
Position: Councillor
Alleged offence: Sexist, racist, homophobic comments
Date of suspension: 27 May 2014
Resolved? Five days after becoming a Redditch Borough councillor, Mr Small was suspended after he was allegedly caught tweeting about “poofs and dykes”, “perverts” and “Pakis” prior to his election.
Name: David Silvester
Position: Henley-on-Thames councillor
Alleged offence: Homophobic comments
Date of suspension: 19 January 2014
Resolved? Blamed flooding on gay people in an interview peppered with homophobic remarks claiming homosexuality was a “spiritual disease” that can be healed.
Name: Robert Ray
Position: Chairman of Thurrock Branch
Alleged offence: Drink Driving
Date of suspension: 13 February 2015
Resolved? Mr Ray was caught drink driving after a session with Nigel Farage at a party fundraiser. He stood down as Chairman and is suspended from party activity while facing disciplinary proceedings.
Name: Lynton Yates
Position: PPC
Alleged offence: Inflammatory comments
Date of suspension: January 2015
Resolved? The suspension was lifted last month following comments made by the Charnwood parliamentary candidate that benefit claimants should be banned from driving. “These people really could catch the bus,” he said.
Name: James Moyies
Position: Councillor
Alleged offence: Bringing Ukip into disrepute
Date of suspension: January 2015
Resolved? The Ukip group leader on Southend council was expelled by the party last month after he and four colleagues voted to remove Ukip’s Westminster candidate from their council group.
Name: Godfrey Bloom
Position: MEP
Alleged offence: Sexist comments
Date of suspension: 20 September 2013
Resolved? Mr Bloom said women “didn’t clean behind the fridge enough” at a party conference meeting then said the room was “full of sluts” after female activists said they were too busy to do so. The ‘colourful’ MEP then hit journalist Michael Crick over the head with a conference programme in a row about racism. Mr Bloom quit the party a week later and stood as an independent MEP until leaving Brussels in July 2014.
Name: Chris Pain
Position: Lincolnshire county council party group leader
Alleged offence: Racist comments
Date of suspension: September 2013
Resolved? Mr Pain’s Facebook page carried racist comments but claimed his Facebook account had been hacked and cloned calling the comments “sick”. Police investigated but took no further action. Mr Pain was expelled from Ukip in a separate internal controversy and took four colleagues with him. He will represent ‘Independence from Europe’ in Boston and Skegness in May’s general election.
Name: Kerry Smith
Position: PPC
Alleged offence: Homophobic remarks
Date of suspension: December 2014
Resolved? Mr Smith stood down as South Basildon and East Thurrock’s candidate after apologising for offensive remarks he made in a recorded phone call. The party said he left by “mutual consent”.
Name: Matthew Ellery
Position: Councillor
Alleged offence: Sexist comments
Date of suspension: May 2014
Resolved? The 23-year-old Basingstoke councillor was temporarily suspended after he was found to have called local women “pug ugly” while campaigning for his seat. He was arrested on suspicion of theft from his dad’s antique shop last week and is bailed until May – he quit the party this month.
Name: Rozanne Duncan
Position: Councillor
Alleged offence: Racist comments
Date of suspension: December 2014
Resolved? Ms Duncan, 68, was expelled last month told a BBC documentary that she had a problem with black people because there was “something about their faces”.
Name: Matthew Smith
Position: PPC
Alleged offence: Electoral fraud
Date of suspension: 5 January 2015
Resolved? The 27-year-old Norfolk councillor was suspended ahead of a court appearance over alleged electoral fraud. He faces a retrial in June.
Name: Andre Lampitt
Position: Member
Alleged offence: Racist views
Date of suspension: April 2014
Resolved? The Zimbabwean decorator and star of Ukip’s 2014 election broadcast complaining about being undercut by “lads from Eastern Europe” was expelled after a number of “extreme racist views” were found on his Twitter account.
Name: Olly Neville
Position: Chair of Young Independence
Alleged offence: Gay marriage row
Date of suspension: 9 January 2013
Resolved? Claimed he was sacked as youth leader after defending gay marriage on Twitter as well as colliding with Ukip leaders over range of party policies.
Name: Harry Perry
Position: Member, prospective councillor
Alleged offence: Offensive comments
Date of suspension: 3 May 2014
Resolved? Booted out after allegedly describing David Cameron as a “gay-loving nutcase” and Muslims as “devil kids” on Twitter.