UKIP councillor blames storms and floods on gay marriage

[brionon]

Do you Still want to vote for these cranks ?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-25793358.html

[aelmpvw]

no flooding in my village so we must be 100% hetrosexual

[mikey4444]

ludwig...let me try to explain. Farage himself is almost benign compared with some of his party's Members. Most are as mad as a box of frogs. I am basically a forgiving type of chap, and when I see how his Members are letting him down, I do indeed feel a bit sorry for him.

Not a lot, just a bit. Anyway, daves opinion of UKIP in 2006 sounds about right to me, and he went to Eton and is the Prime Minister, and I didn't and am not, so who am I to ague !

[sunny-dave]

http://oi40.tinypic.com/rrr0d5.jpg

[mikey4444]

Lots of laughs sunny-dave !

I was thinking...can we now understand that there was a lot of playing of the pink oboe going on amongst Noah and his gang ? There must have been lots, because...well, you know...raining for 40 days and 40 nights and all that.

Although living here in Wales, we call that the summer ! (apologies to Brendan Carroll ! )

[mikey4444]

Is it just me that thinks the UKIP flag looks like the one hanging over a everything-for-a-pound near me ?

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ukip+flag&espv=210&es_sm=122&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=7BzdUvDbNcHY7AaMqoHIBA&ved=0CEAQsAQ&biw=1024&;bih=727

[mikey4444]

For ague read argue...fat finger problems.

[ichkeria]

It's easy to laugh at Mr Silvester and goodness knows I have been.
However, is it fair for UKIP to suspend him? These views might be regarded as potty but if he genuinely holds them for religious reasons how is that any business of Mr Farage? Of course the party leader has to be seen to be on fruitcake alert and I don't blame him but this chap is only a councillor after all . If Labour had done the same I'd be equally dubious about it.

[LazyGun]

He has not been suspended for his religious views,Ichkeria - at least, not according to UKip.

From BBC News;
"UKIP leader Nigel Farage said he was entitled to his "strong Baptist view of the world", but had defied a request not to do further media interviews.

Mr Farage said: "So we suspended him, quite rightly."

'Extremist, barmy or nasty'
"He's not a spokesman for the party," Mr Farage continued, adding: "I've never even met him"

So he was suspended for not promising to shut up when asked to by his leadership.

What is funny is that Farage, at a recent conference where he was justifying pay inequality between genders, said that this guy was expressing the same views when he was a conservative councillor - so that begs the question- if UKip where aware of this councillors views and his tendency to bang on about them in public, why accept his membership into the party? Guaranteed to bring on some scandal, that is...

[andy-hughes]

Fantastic!

Nothing like the latest crop of swivel-eyed weirdoes to brighten up the grinding into gear of the mighty media election machine.

[ichkeria]

Being suspended for refusing to do interviews sounds a bit like a cop out to me. Why has he been asked not to do interviews??? Because of his views. At the end if the day it boils down to Mr Farage trying to silence the loonies for rhe sake of trying to make his party look respectable

[LazyGun]

@Ichkeria Well, it might be a cop- out, it might not. Fact is, whether they are genuinely held religious views or not, one has an obligation -doubly so as a counsillor or politician - to avoid making public comments that might come across as bigoted or intolerant, thus bringing your party into disrepute by association.

Seems to me that any party facing potential embarrassment from the public utterances of one of its representatives is perfectly entitled to ban/suspend said individual, if said parties constitution allows for that.

I just find Farage's comments about no attention being paid when he was a conservative councillor being somewhat disingenuous.

[jeffa]

"there was a lot of playing of the pink oboe going on amongst Noah and his gang?"

Why would there be?

[ichkeria]

I don't agree that politicians have an obligation to avoid making controversial or bigoted statements. Of course it would be far better if they did not. A DUP politician said something very similar in N Ireland a few years ago and it caused a lot of fuss and rightly so, but he wasn't suspended from his party. Really what I'm saying is that here's an old chap with a dotty perspective but he's probably harmless (and actually I find it hard to believe they weren't aware of those views already)

[LazyGun]

"Really what I'm saying is that here's an old chap with a dotty perspective but he's probably harmless (and actually I find it hard to believe they weren't aware of those views already"

I agree with you, pretty much, especially on awareness of his views. UKip were most definitely aware of his views when they took him on - thats part of an argument over the media scramble that Farage used recently.

I disagree with you that we should just ignore public utterances, or dismiss them as a dotty perspective though.