Changes

==Campaign against UKIP==

==Campaign against UKIP==

The Guardian newspaper conducted a fierce campaign against the UK Independence Party (UKIP) a political party formed in 1992 with the aim of withdrawing the UK from the European Union. The Guardian branded UKIP a "far-right" and "neo-fascist" party without any evidence either from its manifesto or anywhere else, and printed smear articles about virtually every prominent member of UKIP on a regular basis, claiming they were racist, guilty of financial misconduct etc. An example of how they distorted the facts is a story they printed on June 13 2017 with the headline “MEP resigns amid investigation into alleged misuse of funds”. <ref> https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jun/13/ukip-mep-resigns-amid-investigation-into-alleged-misuse-of-funds</ref> The article reported that Roger Helmer, a UKIP member of the [[European Parliament]], was going to resign while undergoing investigation for alleged misuse of funds. The implication was that his resignation was triggered by the investigation, and was an admission of guilt. <ref>https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jun/13/ukip-mep-resigns-amid-investigation-into-alleged-misuse-of-funds</ref> That was highly misleading. In fact, Helmer who was aged nearly 70, had decided to retire because after the Leave vote in the EU Referendum held in May 2016, he regarded his work as done and was looking forward to retirement. Some months previously, EU officials had challenged two of his staff, Nick Tite and Paul Oakden, to prove that they had done the work for which they were claiming payment through EU expenses. That is a routine gambit used by the EU to harass and make life difficult for all MEPs who campaign against their country's membership. All UKIP MEPS were regularly subjected to this sort of inspection, while the MEPS of other parties were not.  Just before the ''Guardian'' story appeared, Nick Tite had been cleared, while the other staffer was cleared some time later. No money ever had to be paid back. There was no connection between either case and Helmer's retirement.

The Guardian newspaper conducted a fierce campaign against the UK Independence Party (UKIP) a political party formed in 1992 with the aim of withdrawing the UK from the European Union. The Guardian branded UKIP a "far-right" and "neo-fascist" party without any evidence either from its manifesto or anywhere else, and printed smear articles about virtually every prominent member of UKIP on a regular basis, claiming they were racist, guilty of financial misconduct etc. An example of how they distorted the facts is a story they printed on June 13 2017 with the headline “MEP resigns amid investigation into alleged misuse of funds”. <ref> https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jun/13/ukip-mep-resigns-amid-investigation-into-alleged-misuse-of-funds</ref> The article reported that Roger Helmer, a UKIP member of the [[European Parliament]], was going to resign while undergoing investigation for alleged misuse of funds. The implication was that his resignation was triggered by the investigation, and was an admission of guilt. <ref>https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jun/13/ukip-mep-resigns-amid-investigation-into-alleged-misuse-of-funds</ref> That was highly misleading. In fact, Helmer who was aged nearly 70, had decided to retire because after the Leave vote in the EU Referendum held in May 2016, he regarded his work as done and was looking forward to retirement. Some months previously, EU officials had challenged two of his staff, Nick Tite and Paul Oakden, to prove that they had done the work for which they were claiming payment through EU expenses. That is a routine gambit used by the EU to harass and make life difficult for all MEPs who campaign against their country's membership. All UKIP MEPS were regularly subjected to this sort of inspection, while the MEPS of other parties were not.  Just before the ''Guardian'' story appeared, Nick Tite had been cleared, while the other staffer was cleared some time later. There was no connection between either case and Helmer's retirement.

<ref>https://rogerhelmermep.wordpress.com/2017/06/25/the-european-parliament-an-apology/</ref>. Nevertheless, despite a refutation by Helmer on his personal blog, ''The Guardian'' never withdrew its slanderous allegations, and still has the story on its website. The story was copied from ''The Guardian'' to other sources where the allegations were made even more explicitly. The Metro ran a story with the headline "UKIP MEP quits over “misuse of £100,000 of EU money”. False allegations of disgrace were then spread widely, and never retracted. Helmer commented that the Guardian was motivated by "malice". Their story described him as having "controversial views on homosexuality". What they deemed "controversial views" was his defence of man-woman marriage and objection to the threats and menace against those who wished to uphold it. <ref>

<ref>https://rogerhelmermep.wordpress.com/2017/06/25/the-european-parliament-an-apology/</ref>. Nevertheless, despite a refutation by Helmer on his personal blog, ''The Guardian'' never withdrew its slanderous allegations, and still has the story on its website. The story was copied from ''The Guardian'' to other sources where the allegations were made even more explicitly. The Metro ran a story with the headline "UKIP MEP quits over “misuse of £100,000 of EU money”. False allegations of disgrace were then spread widely, and never retracted. Helmer commented that the Guardian was motivated by "malice". Their story described him as having "controversial views on homosexuality". What they deemed "controversial views" was his defence of man-woman marriage and objection to the threats and menace against those who wished to uphold it. <ref>

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/02/20/ukip-mep-who-said-homophobia-doesnt-exist-complains-about-ukip-phobia/</ref>

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/02/20/ukip-mep-who-said-homophobia-doesnt-exist-complains-about-ukip-phobia/</ref>