I rarely go out of my way to listen to Nigel Farage, but on 15th April was listening to the Radio 4 Today programme when he was interviewed over a ‘misuse’ of taxpayer provided funds for the running of his constituency office. As is often the case with Mr Farage, he claimed that he was being picked on by the press (a claim that does not stand up to scrutiny in my view) but he conceded that whilst he had done nothing wrong, that he was prepared to submit his financial transactions to an Independent Audit if that would enable him to get on with his work. This offer was a clear and uncomplicated proposal that he made without any pressure. Whilst on its own it would not remove my own concerns regarding the behaviour of one of my own MEPs, I felt it was a constructive and a much needed response.

According to this account in the Guardian from 25th April, Mr Farage has now had a change of heart and he is arguing that it would be unwise of him to submit his finances to scrutiny that his political opponents do not have to undergo.  Whilst it is understandable that Mr Farage would want there to be a level playing field, his offer made 10 days earlier was an offer made without any concern about the impact on other MEPs. As it transpires, again based on the Guardian article, the three largest British Political Parties already recommend that their MEPs submit themselves to such an audit, and most of them do. This really takes the excuse away from Mr Farage, even if his rethink was credible. Three weeks on Thursday each of us will be entitled (or one could argue obligated) to vote in the European elections. Because I live in the South East that means I have the opportunity to re-elect Mr Farage. However to make such a quick U turn on something that should not even be under question is surely an indication that Mr Farage and his party are unsuited to public office.

UKIP are clearly very successful as a pressure group. Pressure groups don’t have to stand up to scrutiny in the way that elected representatives do. They don’t have to represent people who do not support their views as MPs and MEPs and even Councillors do. A pressure group is free to use its money as it and its supporters see fit. That is not the case with elected representatives whose income comes from the public purse. On the Marr show on Sunday Natalie Bennett from the Green Party was interviewed, a comparison between the Greens and UKIP were made. My own view, based on the experience in Brighton & Hove is that the Greens do not really behave like a Political Party when it comes to collective decision making (just as UKIP MEPs often vote in different ways in the European Parliament). However at least Caroline Lucas, her Cllr Colleagues here in Brighton & Hove and the two Green MEPs are scrupulous about their use of public money and they understand that they need to represent constituents who they disagree with. That said I am not sure how willing Caroline and her colleagues are to represent people who participate in March for England, but I have found Mr Farage completely unwilling to engage in debate on any matter regarding his representation of me at the European Parliament.

I don’t plan to vote UKIP on 22nd May, because Nigel Farage does not seem capable of behaving as an elected representative, and some of his views are very different to my own. However if the opinion polls are accurate, there might well be two or more UKIP MEPs in the South East. Let us hope if that is the case that they will get challenged by the people who did vote for them to behave like a party, not a lobby group.