Turning Point UK Founder IS A FRUITCAKE

When all those Tory MPs - hello Priti Patel, Jacob Rees Mogg, Steve Baker - and former UKIP Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage endorsed Turning Point UK, the British incarnation of a US original that has become synonymous with white supremacists and other sundry intolerance, they may not have expected the tsunami of ridicule that greeted the appearance of TP UK’s singularly unappealing line-up.

John Mappin - and his obsession

But at least the focus was on them, and not the branch’s founder. Until now, that is: as Hope Not Hate has told, “The official launch of TPUK was a 11 December 2018 invite-only event at The Royal Automobile Club (RAC), on Pall Mall in London. The event was hosted by John and Irina Mappin, Peter Southall and Lord and Lady Plunket”.

There was more: “perhaps the central figure behind to the arrival of Turning Point UK is John Mappin of the Mappin & Webb jewellery dynasty, who not only organised the launch event in London, but has also been earmarked as the contact point for high end donors to the UK operation. Towards the end of their talk at the RAC club, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk repeated that potential donors ‘can talk to John [Mappin] or some of our other very good friends in the room’”. So Mappin is the main man.

And that is potentially far more embarrassing than the host of memes and fake Twitter accounts that have already sprung up. Mappin is a Scientologist. He and his Kazakh wife Irina host the Camelot TV Network. He is an Arthurian legend obsessive, and has also told that “over 23 years my family and I have been helping do our part to prepare for the release of SUPERPOWER to Earth”. Pow! Zap! Dull!

Even the so-called “Man who bankrolled Brexit”, Arron Banks, has described him as “A total fruit loop”. How Mappin comes to be involved with this Alt-Right venture could have something to do with “[he] is also a devotee of Donald Trump, awarding him an ‘Honorary Camelot Castle Knighthood’ in 2016, in a bizarre video filmed at Mappin’s own personal ‘Round Table’. Mappin sent Trump a replica Excalibur sword”.

It gets worse: as Mappin told BuzzFeed News, after revealing that he had bet on Trump becoming GOP nominee and then winning the US Presidency, “I’ve never gambled and don’t agree with gambling … But I have a heightened ability to perceive outcomes…and when I saw this Trump thing I just said, ‘Listen, these pundits have got it wrong’”. Heightened ability to talk out of his jacksy, more like.

Mappin’s view of Trump is equally strange: “He’s one of the few people who can get his head round [the Presidency] … He is an expert in crisis management and he’s not owned – he’s funding his own campaign … This guy’s intelligence is off the charts”. Off the charts, but maybe not at the end he thinks. But remember, Scientology.

And that means Mappin has the power of prediction. Which makes one wonder why he didn’t foresee Turning Point UK getting royally rinsed on social media. Or, indeed, that folks would find out about him, and conclude that he was a fruitcake.

How much more of this success can Turning Point UK manage before the whole ludicrous project dies of its own shame? Put a fork in it, someone - it’s done.

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