Tuesday 30 April 2013

Desperate times call for dirty tricks, it seems

The Tory sleaze machine has been in overdrive since the weekend but that's not the only attack on UKIP in this election - activists and candidates are stealing and defacing posters, attacking candidates in the media and in their leaflets and using their influence to otherwise interfere with UKIP election campaigns.  It is a sign of how desperately scared the LibLabCon are of losing that they put so much effort into attacking UKIP.

In Shropshire, a Conservative councillor defending his seat against one other candidate - UKIP's David Baynham - posted pictures of himself on Facebook stealing UKIP posters.  His Tory-controlled parish council later instructed Baynham to remove his posters from lampposts, describing them as an "eyesore".  Elsewhere in Shropshire the Labour Party went onto private land to staple their own posters onto UKIP posters.

In Leicestershire a young candidate has been described as homophobic by his Conservative opponent for signing a pledge against same-sex marriage, potentially interfering with his work as a youth worker in the gay community much to the detriment of the vulnerable youngsters he supports.

UKIP posters in Roade and Towcester in the East Midlands have been stolen and at least two candidates are claiming to have had their Facebook accounts hacked and inappropriate comments posted in their name at the same time that the Tories have been targeting UKIP candidates' social media accounts and causing trouble on Facebook with fake profiles claiming to be UKIP supporters.  At least one Conservative candidate has designed their leaflets in UKIP purple and yellow colours to try and confuse voters, just like they did in the Eastleigh by-election in February.

Update:
This fake UKIP leaflet is being distributed in Lancashire:


So who is behind this deliberately misleading leaflet? Let's take a look at the other side ...


Is it still an offence to mislead voters?