UKIP candidate in Mansfield denies links to BNP

The Mansfield and Ashfield Chad reports that a UKIP candidate running in the Mansfield District Council election may have links to the far-right British National Party.

Sidney James Walker, who is standing in the Newlands ward, was listed as a member of the party when a list of its members was leaked by WikiLeaks in October 2009. The list was purportedly leaked “by a disgruntled former member” of the BNP, Chad notes.

Walker insists he has never been a member of the BNP, but cannot remember if he had donated to the party in the past. “I may have sent a donation, but I have never been a member of the BNP, he told the local news site.”

“I do not believe in the far-right groups- that is not going to solve anything,” he added.

A Guardian analysis of the data at the time found that the BNP had 11,811 members as of April 2009.

Chad reports that they recently received an “anonymous tip-off” suggesting Walker’s details were on the BNP member list and that this had been“confirmed this week.”

Walker claims the allegations are false but offers no explanation as to how his name came to appear on the list.

Chad reveal that Walker stood as a UKIP candidate in the council by-elections in December 2014 and lost to a Labour candidate for the Netherfield seat.

Sidney Pepper, UKIP’s parliamentary candidate for Mansfield in the upcoming general election told Chad that Walker “has been a member [of UKIP] for a while and comes to branch meetings regularly. I find it very strange that he stood before and nobody has questioned this.”

UKIP are “looking into the allegation”, according to Chad, who contacted the party for a comment. UKIP’s party policy forbids members of far right groups like the BNP, National Front, English Defence League and Britain First, from becoming members though this has not prevented members from expressing support for such groups.

Evidence of UKIP candidates voicing support for far-right organisations, via social media platforms, keeps making headlines, despite UKIP’s insistence it is the only party with an outright ban on members with past affiliations to any far-right group.

Last October, UKIP canvassers posed for a photo with supporters of the far right group Britain First and only last week, with the general election so close by, UKIP attempted to distance itself from the English Defence League (EDL) after it was found that supporters of the far-right group movement were wearing “I’m with UKIP” badges at protest in Solihull earlier this month. Co-founder and ex-EDL leader Stephen Lennon has previously voiced support for UKIP.

Earlier this month UKIP again had to deny links to Britain First, after the far-right group seemed to suggest it had an “election-pact” with the party when it stated it was not standing in next week’s general election because it did “not want to impede… the progress of UKIP,” Russia Today revealed.