UKIP Leader’s Bannon Non-Denial

As racist psycho Steve Bannon hawks his deeply unsavoury carcass around mainland Europe, looking for countries where he can stick his bugle into their internal affairs for the personal advancement of Himself Personally Now, and an increasing number of Tories are outed as being in contact with him, the remnants of that convocation of saloon bar propper-uppers at UKIP might have felt left out.

But, according to the Independent’s man in Brussels, this is about to come to an end, as the headline “Ukip to team up in 'unholy alliance' with Steve Bannon's new far right European movement … Party pledges to share experience with the new group” suggests.

Jon Stone’s article goes on to tell “UKIP has pledged to work with Steve Bannon’s new European alt-right movement, forging what critics have branded an ‘unholy alliance’ to bring down the EU and fuel populism across the continent … Mr Bannon, a former investment banker who founded the website Breitbart, has pledged to bolster the continent’s far right with a new foundation called The Movement that would dole out resources to eurosceptics and anti-EU populists”.

And there was more. “Though Ukip MEPs will not be able to participate directly in the parliament because of Brexit, a spokesperson pledged that the party would share experience with Mr Bannon’s project to give it a leg up, stating they expected the group to have a ‘large impact’ on European politics and hoped for ‘a new army of eurosceptic MEPs’”. The spokesperson certainly sounded authentic.

As in “Ukip MEPs wish to leave the EU in March 2019 and have no desire to return to its facade of democracy in Brussels. The MEPs will however be happy to share their experience with a new army of eurosceptic MEPs from a liberated UK”. But head Kipper Adolf von Batten has come over all coy at the prospect.

Hence his Tweeting “Fake News Alert: UKIP has not entered into any alliance with Steve Bannon. Mr Bannon has not contacted me. If he had I would have been pleased to speak to him, but he didn’t. Anyone claiming to speak for UKIP in this matter is only speaking for themselves”. Yeah, right. Let’s pick this one apart nice and slowly.

One, the Indy did not claim that UKIP had entered into any alliance with Bannon, although it said they would do. Two, Jon Stone did not claim that Bannon had contacted Batten. Three, if he can’t keep tabs on what his party’s spokespersons are up to, that’s his problem, not that of the press, and Four, the only Fake News is coming from him.

Adolf von Batten would jump at the chance to get on board the Bannon bandwagon, if only to elbow out the Tories that Trump’s former strategist has been talking to. Most likely is that he’s just trying to get himself a little attention and perhaps a one-on-one meeting.

Otherwise, ignore the denials: the Kippers are always up for a little disruption of anything to do with the EU - so long as they get some money out of it.