UKIP Wales general election fund raises nothing at all in six days

Martin Shipton

A fundraising appeal for the far-right United Kingdom Independence Party in Wales has failed to raise a single penny in the six days since it opened.

This stands in startling contrast to the fact that in the 25 years to March 2021, UKIP received 1,823 legacies and donations totalling nearly £20m.

When the appeal was launched, the party’s “regional organiser” for Wales Paul Campbell introduced it on the party’s website saying: “The General Election 2024 is a few months away and UKIP want to stand candidates all over Wales to fight against the establishment parties who have done nothing but oversee falling standards.

“At Westminster and the Senedd, Labour and Conservatives are out of touch with the great British people and only UKIP can restore pride and British values in Wales and the UK. It costs £500 deposit to stand a candidate and there are 32 constituencies in Wales..

“All monies raised will go towards the cost of deposits and other election costs. If you wish to stand, then contact me for information via Facebook UKIP Wales. If you want to sponsor a particular candidate or want more information, ring myself via Facebook. Many thanks”

So far, the response to the appeal has been non-existent.

Inability

This, in fact, mirrors the UK party’s apparent inability to attract any donations over £500 since September 2021, as revealed in its compulsory declarations to the Electoral Commission.

In an introduction to the party’s latest set of accounts, for the year 2022, national party chairman Ben Walker wrote on April 26 2023: “The party continues to operate throughout a difficult political period, where support bases are fractured, and widespread apathy drains the electorate of its interest and trust in politics as a whole. The party’s administrative model has insulated it from these challenges to some effect, as it has still been able to operate effectively.

“That said, there is only so much any model can offer, and the party’s true strength lays with its committed membership and support base,along with its key activists and party officers, all to which we owe huge gratitude.”

Mr Walker has become a figure of pivotal importance for UKIP, having taken over from former Senedd Member Neil Hamilton in 2021 as a “person with significant control” over UKIP. Interestingly, however, Mr Walker is also said to have control of a trust which controls UKIP – something that wasn’t mentioned in Companies House documents during Mr Hamilton’s time as a person with significant control. There is no knowledge of how much money may be in the UKIP trust as opposed to the UKIP company.

Sacked

In February 2024 Mr Walker, from Gloucestershire, was sacked as a magistrate after Nation.Cymru revealed he had criminal convictions as a rogue builder. In October 2023 we told how he had been ordered to pay more than £11,000 after being found guilty of five breaches of building regulations at Bristol Magistrates Court in 2019. He was fined £2,000 for each conviction and in addition had to pay costs of £1,519.18 and a victim surcharge of £170. The case had gone ahead in his absence.

Mr Walker’s Linked-In profile is phrased ambiguously, making it difficult for a reader to understand that he is no longer a councillor or a magistrate: “As the national chairman of Ukip, I lead the party’s vision, mission and strategy and oversee its operations, finances and communications. My diverse expertise stems from my background as a Royal Navy veteran, former town mayor, district councillor, local authority vice chairman and magistrate.”

Llanelli

Meanwhile in Llanelli, where the far-right Voice of Wales duo Daniel Morgan, a convicted fraudster, and Stan Robinson, the general election candidate for the constituency, have closed down their own recently launched fundraiser for a 13-year-old girl who was involved in a school fight. The pair interviewed the unidentified girl and her mother to push an unproven narrative that white children are being routinely attacked by pupils from ethnic minorities.

A comment on the Voice of Wales website said: “Fights happen every single day in schools up and down the country – get a xxxxxxx grip.”

The fund was shut when a total of £1,175 was raised.

In January Nation.Cymru reported how Mr Morgan and Mr Robinson made racist slurs against new First Minister Vaughan Gething in an online video.

Mr Robinson, who will be Ukip’s candidate in Llanelli at the general election expected to be held this year, joked with Mr Morgan about the leadership candidacy of Mr Gething. He described Mr Gething as “tinted” and a “mock diversity” candidate. He also derided Mr Gething for saying that if he wins the election he will be the first Black national leader in Europe.

At the end of his video conversation with Mr Morgan, Mr Robinson announced facetiously that he would “black up” for dinner.

A Llanelli Labour source said at the time: “It is shocking that someone standing for election to Parliament should engage in such racist behaviour. The comments made in this video hark back to the prejudices of the 1950s and are totally unacceptable. These people are doing their best to stir up racial hatred and it shouldn’t be tolerated.”