UKIP in a little trouble?

I suppose there is a bit of relief to be had from reading about a British political party in a sport of bother and realising it isn’t the Labour Party!

It seems that the UK Independence Party is in trouble on two fronts: firstly there are claims that it has told a man that he cannot be a candidate in for a target council seat because he is disabled; secondly it is possible that three of its ten MEPs are on the verge of walking out of the party.

The party seems to have told Jack Biggs that he could not be a full Ukip council candidate because he was disabled. The story began when the chair of the South Dorset Constituency Association, wrote to him saying: "Unfortunately, I have to tell you that, in view of your being registered disabled you will not be able to stand as a full candidate for Ukip. We would however like you to be a paper (ie a makeweight with no real chance of winning) candidate"

Mr Biggs took the letter to his local paper saying he was furious at the "disgusting" decision. "Ukip withdrew its support when they found out I was registered disabled following a double knee replacement. I'm very angry at this discrimination so I'll be standing as an independent."

The party claimed has hit back by accusing Mr Biggs of a "crude attempt to blackmail" Ukip into withdrawing a candidate running against his daughter, who is standing for re-election as an independent councillor. Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, said Mr Biggs knew he could not canvass the ward thoroughly. "He was trying to get us to say that he couldn't be a target candidate and to use that, and to try and blackmail the party into not standing against his daughter, who was a current serving councillor. I don't think he has behaved very honourably."

Meanwhile, the possible split has been prompted by the decision to suspend an MEP after the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) said it was investigating his use of European parliament money. MEP Tom Wise is under investigation for failure to provide information regarding alleged financial irregularities.

Roger Knapman, a former leader the party, said: "A number of Ukip MEPs are appalled at the prejudicial decision to suspend Tom Wise and will be meeting within the next few days to discuss the future of the group." A third MEP, Mike Nattrass, is also said to be be considering quitting.

If there is any substance to this story I hope they don’t feel tempted to join the Identity, Tradition and Sovereignty group in the European Parliament as their erstwhile colleague Ashley Mote did.