UKIP's Nigel Farage says he wouldn't believe Cameron even if he offered an EU referendum

The UKIP leader was talking to Andrew Neil about possible Tory-to-UKIP defections. He defended his party against charges of incompetence in London, nastiness towards Sayeeda Warsi and narrowness of message.

Comments

[Victor Southern]

As a matter of interest what percentage of the vote did the UKIP candidate get in the Mayoral elections?

Second question - how many council seats did they win on balance?

[G+P]

This stuff about the cast iron Guarentee on the Lisbon treaty is a lie. I remember the general election campaign and it was very clear that DC’s position was that he could not have a referendum on a treaty that had already been signed.

Farage remembers that too.

[Dave Hollins MBA]

This rhetoric sgows porecisely why Farage's damands for a referendum are such xenophobiuc rhetoric. If the result went against him, he would claim it was rigged somehow and would keep going.

So much for democracy in UKIP.

[WIllkiam Blakes Ghost]

Farage sounds far more credible than Cameron these days

A question for Victor Southern. How many Tory leaders have scored lower than Cameron's 31% equivalent vote share in these latest local elections (hint: 1994, 1995, 1996). Oh dear

As for nastiness towards Warsi. Warsi is the poster girl of the new Tory nasty party. 2014 (the beginning of the end for Cameron) gets closer ........

[Charles]

@G+P

I try to remind UKIP supporters of this every time they bring it up, but they have very selective memories.

Of course the last thing Farage wants is for his party to be reabsorbed into the Conservatives, it would leave him powerless, out of the lime light, and probably without his MEPs salary, and judging by his past performance he wouldn't even be able to get elected as an MP in Westminster.

Farage has a lot to lose by Britain leaving the EU unless he's first succeeded in building up enough of a political party to keep him in the style he's grown accustomed.

[Salmondnet]

When Cameron offered the guarantee he added no caveat about "unless the Irish have already ratified the treaty" (as he knew they would). That was an unpublicised afterthought and the Irish ratification need not have prevented a referendum. At the very least a vote against the treaty would have massively strengthened his hand in negotiating to repatriate powers (something the Conservatives also promised to do, but have conspicuously failed to attempt). No one but blinkered loyalists and/or idiots will ever again believe any Eurorealist utterances from Cameron.

[boudicca]

Who would believe another cast-iron promise from Cameron. This is what he said about the Lisbon Treaty in 2009 in his speech 'fixing broken politics.' You will note that there isn't one word about a Referendum IF the Treaty hasn't been ratified, or a Referendum on the proposed Treaty.

"But the tragic truth today is that no matter how much we strengthen Parliament or hold government to account there will still be forces at work in our country that are completely unaccountable to the people of Britain. People and organisations that have huge power and control over our daily lives and yet which no citizen can actually get at. Almost half of all the regulations affecting our businesses come from the EU...... We will therefore hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty,"

http://www.conservatives.com/News/Speeches/2009/05/David_Cameron_Fixing_Broken_Politics.aspx

And here he is on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veRsC44HPXE

Don't you think we should have the Referendum we were promised Cameron? Apparently Not.
Of course you can hold a Referendum on a Treaty which has been ratified. That's precisely what happened in 1975 over the EEC, which Heath took us into with a Referendum.

The 'problem' for Cameron is that the EU would say 'in on our terms, or out.' And he wants in. What we want is immaterial.

[Tony Dean]

Cameron has lied before and he will lie again - let's have that leadership election and much before Christmas!

[John Parkes]

I`m not sure I`d buy a second-hand car from this man. He has an aura about him that betrays a certain slipperiness that makes his jibes about Cameron rather hollow in my opinion.

[Robert DMML]

"Today, I will give this cast-iron guarantee: If I become PM a Conservative government will hold a referendum on any EU treaty that emerges from these negotiations. No treaty should be ratified without consulting the British people in a referendum.
ConservativeHome’s Tim Montgomerie says the Lisbon Treaty Referendum is off. Guido has dug out the September 2007 text of Cameron’s famous cast-iron guarantee to Sun readers.
Please note those accuse us of being liars what Cameron actually said, “Today, I will give this cast-iron guarantee: If I become PM a Conservative government will hold a referendum on any EU treaty that emerges from these negotiations” Well we know what emerged and we know the meaning of “any”, but Cameron failed to honour his guarantee (but it sounded good at the time). He always sounds good at the time.

[Amber Astron Christo]

Why give Cameron and Osborne any more 'chances'? An announcement is made:'We will carry on as before'...further outrage from backbenchers/voters, and then they change their stance to:'We will concentrate on the economy and what voters want.' This does not mean they have 'listened'; they simply are saying what they have to to survive.
Boot them out now! Why are the Tory Party giving them further time? I do not believe Noreen is on her own...there are enough of you to form a good Cabinet, but if it carries on like this you betray the people of the UK just as surely as all the Brussel's puppets who have infiltrated the Tory, Lib.Dem. and Labour Parties.
On yes, has George paid back tax payers funding yet,of his visit to the Bilderberg Conference last year? As he's not allowed to tell us what was discussed there, why should the voters pay for the trip?

[G+P]

@Robert DMML

The very next line of your truncated quote is: "No treaty should be ratified without consulting the British people in a referendum.” So it is clear that he was talking in terms of if the treaty had not been ratified.

There was then a question of what would happen if the treaty had already been ratified, about which there was some ambiguity. However this ambiguity was cleared up well before the general election.

The following link to the Guido fawkes blog (2009) (from WELL BEFORE THE GENERAL ELECTION) shows the position at that time:
http://order-order.com/tag/eu/page/12/

[Robert DMML]

@ G+P |

http://order-order.com/tag/eu/page/12/
If it is ratified what is the meaning of this promise? The Tories will stand on a Eurosceptic ticket and they will be in government with a treaty that has not been sanctioned by a referendum. Unless they turn the election itself into a referendum, which is risky. Only if the Tory manifesto says “we will renegotiate our relationship with the EU thus…” will they be able to say they have consulted with and won a mandate from the British people. Will Ken Clarke go along with that?

Then it appears that however much you try to disguise it that the promise was knowingly worthless

[Amber Astron Christo]

Apologies to Nadine Dorries, my previous post was done in haste and I mis-called you 'Noreen'!!

[Angela Merk]

Sio he is copying Le Pen's strategy. Split the conservative vote to win power. All the conservatives have to do is play ball. Best strategy; totally ignore them. They are just BNP is disguise and similarly racist, nasty, anti-immigration nut cases.