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MEP Mike Nattrass quits UKIP on TV

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12_ukip_grab_w-300x168Mike Nattrass MEP has quit UKIP, accusing party leader Nigel Farage of running a “totalitarian” organisation and being a “bad leader”.

In a blistering resignation letter, Nattrass also said: “Sadly the current antics of the Leader bring to my mind such words and phrases as 'Gerrymandering', 'Totalitarian', 'President of Zimbabwe' and 'making Machiavelli look like an amateur'."

Nattrass, MEP for the West Midlands, decided to go after failing to make the selection list as a UKIP candidate for the 2014 European Elections. He resigned last night during a television interview with Channel 4 News, while attending the Parliament in Strasbourg.

He said: "The process has been totally gerrymandered and fixed, so that only people who support Nigel Farage are being put on that list.  "UKIP is now a totalitarian party. Nigel Farage only wants people in the party who absolutely and totally agree with him."

Mike Nattrass later told EU Reporter: "Only one man in UKIP is allowed an opinion - and we all know who that is. The party leader. That style of leadership is not good. Anyone who stands up to Nigel Farage is seen as a troublemaker - and that's how they saw me, despite me doing well in my re-selection interviews.

"I lost out because, according to them, I had not shown loyalty. Now, people are keeping their heads down to avoid being taken out. That's not the way to run a party. The leader only wants people elected who are his cronies.”

Nattrass, 67, will sit as an Independent in the European Parliament until next May’s election. It is not known which group he will join in the EU.

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Last Monday, he resigned from the EFD group - he is considering standing as an Independent in the West Midlands next May.

In a statement, UKIP said: "We understand that Mike Nattrass MEP is resigning from UKIP. I understand his disappointment at not being in the UKIP lists for the forthcoming election, but the shortlist was decided by a fair and comprehensive process and UKIP now has very many talented people coming forward, wishing to represent us."

Nattrass’ dramatic departure highlights a growing 'civil war' within UKIP.  Chris Pain, the leader of UKIP on Lincolnshire county council, and member of the national executive, was suspended this week despite being cleared by the police this week of making alleged racist comments on his social media websites.

Pain has now formed his own breakaway group, and NEC member Doug Denny was also dismissed at last Monday’s NEC meeting in London.  Despite UKIP’s internal wrangling José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European commission, this week predicted the party could become Britain's "first force" in Brussels.

Nattrass’ resignation letter to UKIP party chairman Steve Crowther read:

MY RESIGNATION FROM UKIP:  I have been a member of UKIP since 1997 and am a previous Party Chairman and Deputy Leader and have represented the West Midlands of England as a UKIP MEP since 2004.  The UKIP selection process has been twisted and redesigned to elect Cronies of Nigel Farage and Cronies of Cronies; UKIP rules (the normal understanding by the NEC of the rules) were simply broken to suit this purpose. 

Those who will not give Nigel Farage any resistance in what he does, the 'Chosen Cronies', are selected high on the lists and those high-profile persons, in all regions, who may question him, were taken off. This process will enhance the objective, which is not to distract members' votes away from 'the Chosen Cronies'  Then, the final straw. This week, Nigel Farage advised the UKIP MEPs (including myself) that, no matter how the members vote, the NEC can change the order!  So, even if they do not vote for his cronies, the NEC will confirm them as candidates. He also confirmed that this process had already been applied to the list at the London Assembly Elections.  

I shall serve my constituents as an Independent MEP and will consider standing at the 2014 election and shall always stand against Totalitarianism and the EU.   This deterioration of our party is a great sadness to me, as I have received great support from "the real UKIP members" who have worked so hard and have become my friends. I can only thank all those people, some of whom are no longer living, for those good years. 

Yours faithfully, Mike 

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