Where Do They Come From?

I must admit I had never heard of Demetri Marchessini, a donor to UKIP, until I read some rather odd comments attributed to him in yesterday's Daily Mail (20 May). This can't be real, I thought, so I checked his blog out. It appears, indeed, to be true. He does actually appear to believe that single mothers are 'naughty girls' who need to be 'smacked'. Given the dynamics that hold certain elements of the upper e´chelons of UKIP together, he may well find kindred spirits there.

His blog is amusing enough, albeit for unintended reasons, and might be worth a quick scan if you buy into contrarianism, which I personally do not.

One thing I will pick him up on, however, is his comment  "But if it is true that the Conservatives will offer a Referendum (which is not entirely certain,) the only reason they will have done so is because UKIP forced them to."

Actually, it was a cross party group of MEPs and others led by Nikki Sinclaire who presented a petition of over 100,000 signatures to 10 Downing Street calling for a referendum on continued membership of the EU that led to the Backbench Committee debate on a referendum that forced Mr Cameron's hand. Nigel Farage didn't even sign the petition until the day of the debate. In fact, UKIP has always been opposed to a referendum, but they can always spot a good bandwagon when he sees one, and so other people's work became, overnight,their "greatest acheivement".

Subsequent to posting this, I learn that media attention has driven Mr Marchessini away from UKIP. He will no longer be providing the party with financial assistance.