Matthew Steeples salutes the independence of Douglas Carswell MP and praises his having rejected Nigel Farage’s demand that he take £650,000 in “Short money”
When Douglas Carswell MP defected to UKIP in 2014, many Conservatives were disappointed but in contrast to his fellow MP Mark Reckless, few words of anger were expressed. Now, in the wake of Carswell having stood up to Nigel Farage’s demands that he take the £650,000 of Short money – the funds that are given to opposition parties to help finance their backroom operations – that UKIP is entitled to, he has yet again showed himself as a sensible, decent man.
When asked by UKIP’s party secretary to recruit 15 extra staff, Carswell is said to have rejected the proposal and described it to be be “improper”. Of the suggestion, he told the BBC:
“I am not a US senator. I don’t need 15 staff. UKIP is supposed to be different”.
As the former independent MP Martin Bell pointed out in The Guardian yesterday, Douglas Carswell is “an independent MP in all but name”. This man of integrity and honour should be saluted and frankly, we’d go further: Douglas Carswell should be welcomed back into the Conservative fold with aplomb.
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