A farrago from Farage

WE ALL know that the United Kingdom Independence Party are a load of incompetent idiots, with their belief that devolution was forced on Wales by order of the European Union, writes Clive Betts from the Assembly press gallery.

Apparently, Brussels was intent on breaking up the UK as part of a grand plan to replace nation states with regions that would be beholden to what they call a new superstate in Europe.

Of course, as the UKIP contains within its membership a strong core of right-wing thatcherites, they would be unlikely to accept that the Welsh revolt against thatcherism had a lot to do with reason for and size of the Welsh devolution vote.

As I can’t think of any UKIP members in Wales who had in the years before 1997 any interest in Wales – apart from believing it to be a region of England – they would hardly possess any knowledge of the situation at that time.

I see that this week that party’s former leader has now reinforced the view that the UKIP is a load of incompetent idiots.

Talking about the EU’s new president, Herman van Rompuy, Mr Farage said the former prime minister of Belgium headed a “non-country”.

As The Independent wrote, “The view that Belgium is a ‘non-country’ is taken seriously by Eurosceptics both in UKIP and on the right wing of the Conservative Party. They argue that there is no Belgian nation but only separate groups of French speakers and Dutch speakers living in an artificial kingdom who do not have the same patriotic objections that the British would have to seeing their country absorbed in an EU superstate.”

Mr Farage has clearly heard something about the problems of Belgium.  But perhaps the UKIP leader should try to examine the UK outside his beloved London-dominated South East England which he currently represents.

He revels in Belgium’s problems. What about those afflicting his beloved UK ?

After all, it’s not longer the UK of a century ago. What about the 26 counties which walked out after 1915 ?

What about the remaining six in Ireland, where a substantial minority are still determined to depart, and are only kept tied to London’s apron strings by a political “settlement” which hardly seems very settled (although you won’t read about that in the London press).

And what about all the counties of North Britain. Is it true that the authorities up there are thinking about a referendum on leaving, as well ?

And what about the counties of Wales - a country too unimportant ever to be accorded the title of West Britain.

Of course, the West Britons are the ONLY true Britons. Those uninvited German immigrants simply stole the name, because they wanted to lock into something grander than themselves.

Dear me, Mr Farage, your party tries to represent a Kingdom. But really it’s not much more than a dukedom. You should rename your party the Disunited Kingdom Independence Party.

Then we’d all know that you were an honourable man with a deep belief in the truth.