UKIP raised more money than LibDems in third quarter.

That's right, in the first three months of the Liberal Democrats being in government UKIP has raised £100,000 more than Nick Clegg's Coalition partner.

UKIP has always badly required funding and £454,234 to the LibDems' £350k is a step in the right direction. It represents an increase for UKIP and a massive decrease for the LibDems.

Julian Blackwell donated £175,000 at the end of September, with Patrick Barbour donating £150,000, Lord Pearson giving £62,500 and Sonia Keel donating £48,000. The recruitment of such donors is in my mind a clear demonstration of Lord Pearson's contribution to the Party in helping to raise funds for UKIP.

Moral of the story? If you want people to donate money towards your cause, probably best to stick to your principles. The Liberal Democrats are in serious trouble.

As the euro strangles countries, the Euro Nationalists are nowhere to be found.

I don't think that UKIP MEPs should be wasting time in Brussels and Strasbourg aside from when their are essential, important debates. It is a talking shop which should be seen largely as a distraction aside from when Nigel Farage lands crushing blows against the political class.

Farage has made another damning speech against the likes of Jose Barroso and Herman van Rompuy today. Unfortunately, as the euro is taking hold across the continent and bail outs are coming into effect, apparently only 60 MEPs turned up to the Parliament debate today.

The UKIP contingent turned up. Are the supporters of EU nationalism running scared?

Now THAT is a government I'd like.

Yes, there are some decent politicians still around. In Iceland right now several government Ministers have kicked up a fuss at the EU offering its "accession funding" worth up to €30 million.


This is basically cash given to those countries it wants to join the EU in the near future. The money is meant to be spent on "preparing" a country for EU membership but in reality, and as these Icelandic Ministers have pointed out, it usually goes into pro-EU propaganda to win over public opinion.


Times are hard around the world but we should never forget that there are still some decent souls out there who put principles before the ability to spend lots of taxpayer's cash.

Nigel Farage gets the handsome win he deserves.

I've just returned from Westminster where UKIP followers are mostly jubilant as Nigel Farage has won a handsome majority of the vote - 60% - and is the new Party Leader.

In my eyes Nigel is truly in a class of his own. He is a fantastic communicator who provides a brilliant contrast to the usual Westminster-style spin delivered by Cameron, Clegg and Miliband. Farage says what he means and means what he says, all the while displaying a tremendous understanding of the public mood.

That is very important. This is UKIP's moment. We have a Tory Prime Minister who has already shown he has little regard for large swathes of his own Party on issues like the EU and immigration. The Leader of UKIP must now present UKIP as a serious, viable, credible alternative and there is no better man for that job than Nigel Farage.

He must also broaden the Party's agenda and thus appeal. On issues like defence, the environmental and the size and role of government, there is a large gulf between the political class and the public. There is a tremendously big void that UKIP can fill if the Party fulfils its potential.

I believe under Nigel Farage and his team, it will. We will.

Lets make some Tea.

Nutters. Crazies. Cranks. You could forgive some descriptions of America's Tea Party by the left-wing media to instead be intended for the UK's Independence Party; both have faced equally unfair criticism.

In fact the comparison can be taken further. Smaller government, lower taxes, anti-establishment. The difference is that the Tea Party now has a firm foot hold in the US House of Representatives and Senate, with the two stars of the movement Senator Rand Paul and Senator Marco Rubio leading the way.

People are incredibly angry not only in America, but here in the UK. They want an alternative. They want a government that isn't going to micro-manage every aspect of people's lives and they want a government that is going to restore our Parliament's powers that have been transferred to a bunch of unelected bureaucrats in Brussels sitting on fat salaries.

The Tea Party victories demonstrate that you can take on the establishment and win. There has never been more of a desire for the cocky political class to be challenged among ordinary folk.

Could Geert Wilders' Freedom Party cause a Dutch Lisbon referendum?

Intriguing: Dutch News are reporting that the Eurosceptic Party for Freedom in the Netherlands, led of course by Geert Wilders, may potentially call for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty if Angela Merkel and Nicholas Sarkozy's Treaty changes are not to their liking.

This is significant as the Freedom Party gives parliamentary backing to Holland's coalition government and so does have some say. It would be hard for the two Dutch Coalition parties to totally ignore such a call, especially if it were found to boost the Party for Freedom's popularity with the electorate in Holland. Potentially such a move would destabilise the government unless the government backed a move for a referendum. Wilders' Party would not be flying solo: Holland's Socialist Party has also  backed a referendum if the Treaty is changed.

It seems obscene that maybe, just maybe, a second of twenty-seven EU member states may be lucky enough to get a referendum. How many times would the EU have to re-run the referendum in Holland to get the right answer, I wonder?

Europe now decides that prisoners should get the vote.

This is a subject close to my heart given that I recently debated the topic for a new program for Channel 4 done by Jamie Oliver. I argued that no, prisoners shouldn't have the vote to an audience of youngsters (the majority who agreed) against John Hirst, convicted of killing an old woman with an axe who served 25 years in prison and who overturned the British government's ban on prisoners getting the vote in the European Court of Human Rights.

Fact is, the British public of course would not support those who have broken the law getting a say in who makes the laws and what they are. The spectre of politicians going from cell to cell lobbying for support is ridiculous yet scary as their are several constituencies including Fleetwood where the prison population outweighs the majority by which the winning candidate won by. In other words, those in prison in some constituencies could wield tremendous power by being the difference between who gets elected as MP.

Prison is a punishment and a deterrent. If you want the civil right to vote, don't break the law. Once you are let out of prison and have served your time, you can vote again.

The fact that a foreign Court with judges from around the world are going to decide who can and cannot vote in our country is scandalous. The British Prime Minister David Cameron is going to prove what a melt he is once again by doing whatever those in Europe say, whether the British people like it or not. Cameron is proving just how watered down his role now is as Prime Minister, which is very sad.

What do those people in this country disgusted at this ruling do? They can't vote out the judges of the European Court of Human Rights, but I hope they vote in some politicians who will act in the British public's interest and not despite it just to appease unelected foreign figures.

EDIT: John Hirst celebrates 

UKIP Scotland to stand on platform of bringing belt back to schools.

Well it has certainly won UKIP some rare publicity in Scotland, as the Party there is gearing up for bringing the belt back to schools as part of their platform for the elections to the Scottish Parliament next year.

I do actually think there needs to be more discipline in school with teachers having more power, but bringing back physical punishment with a belt is not going to make UKIP very appealing to young people and would probably end up with more student-on-teacher violence in the rougher schools. Plus of course it can be abused by teachers with a grudge or by those who cannot properly teach and control a class in the normal manner.

I know some older people may support the policy, but what we need is not children getting threatened by violence but getting chances to knuckle down before empowered teachers can then expel unruly pupils. That is the real solution.

When the restoration of grammar schools is such a popular policy I hope the Scottish people, young and old, get the opportunity to hear UKIP's views on education beyond this one headline.

91% of Tory members are ripe for the UKIP picking.

A poll over at ConservativeHome has lots of interesting findings, for instance that 74% of Tory members view David Cameron's EU budget negotiations last week as a failure.

Also interesting is the fact that 49% of those polled want Britain to leave the European Union, and a further 42% are committed for now to the reform agenda that the Tories love to cop out with. Only 9% of Conservative members want Britain's relationship with the EU to stay the same or become more enthusiastic.

Once Prime Minister Cameron's reform agenda is shown to have failed - through things like the EU budget negotiations which were a nightmare for him - that makes 91% of Tory members ripe for the UKIP picking.

Thinking ahead to the 2014 European Elections, those Tories unhappy with David Cameron's EU submission and his failure to repatriate powers will be able to lash out very easily against what could be a very unpopular Coalition government by that time. UKIP coming first in the European Elections would be a monumental achievement and a huge media coup for those of us who want Britain to leave the EU. It would also give the Party massive momentum going into the General Election, assuming that would come the following year.

Choppy waters ahead for David Cameron, I reckon.