Forget tall stories about UKIP intimidation in Dudley - Lowles is trying to save his friend Austin's seat

Believe nothing about Dudley North - Labour PPC Ian Austin
is a long time friend of HnH's Nick Lowles. Both are full of
unlikely tales of their own victimhood.

Following our FB & Twitter post regarding the on-going campaign of vandalism against UKIP shops and intimidation against UKIP candidates and supporters, we have now seen Hope not Hate's response: to complain that they are the real victims. Unoriginal in the extreme, this rather dim-witted approach  is based on a handful of incidents, almost none of which are true. Their article focuses on Dudley North, where they complain that a Hope not Hate activist (also coincidentally a Labour activist) was photographed, with the photograph being put on Twitter by UKIP MEP Bill Etheridge followed by some alleged UKIP members saying rude things about him in the comments.

Contrast this with Hope not Hate's glee when posting pictures of hapless elderly UKIP members who can't keep up with whether people of African origin are coloured, black or BME in the latest politically correct terminology.

There is an ulterior motive for all this focus on Bill Etheridge and UKIP in Dudley North, which YouGov list as 'too close to call' between UKIP and Labour. Dudley North Labour PPC and outgoing MP Ian Austin is a friend of Nick Lowles, who previously wrote of Austin,

"Last night I spent about an hour on the phone with Ian Austin, the Labour MP for Dudley North. Ian is a long-time friend of Searchlight, and by that I mean since he was in his mid-teens, but today he is more helpful advising us on a media strategy"

This 'media strategy' has so far involved comedy death threats allegedly received from UKIP supporters, and leaking confidential information on a constituent who stood for UKIP, a strategy which backfired as that constituent is now local Cllr Dean Perks. It hardly needs mentioning that as a good New Labour man, Austin is also an expenses cheat.

Laughable claims of intimidation are nothing new. After the abortive attempt to deliver leaflets in Grimsby on Saturday when nobody turned up, Lowles was bleating that his activists were 'intimidated' and that the police had been called. However, as the Grimsby Telegraph makes clear in their article on Monday:

"The spokesman also claimed members and a member of Humberside Police staff had been physically assaulted. However, Humberside Police was unable to confirm if this was the case and, at the time of going to press, the group had not supplied the Grimsby Telegraph with a crime number."

In other words, even the local paper - which was there - doesn't believe them.

These lies seem to be a new tactic as Hope not Hate feel they are beginning to lose the battle, and the £600,000 a year that goes with it - an attempt, after years of bully boy tactics, to suddenly play the victim. Exactly the same tactic the Nazi's used, in fact.

In terms of threats, nothing compares to the vast amounts of hate that appear on Hope not Hate's own Facebook feed and on their own pages. Incitements to violence are frequent, as we have previously blogged here, while marches by anyone HnH deems unacceptable are given a running commentary to ensure their fellow hard-left bully boys can get the fight they desire, as here. Hope not Hate activists have called for UKIP shops to be burnt down, for attacks on the mentally ill and have cheerfully condoned acts of violence against UKIP MEPs by their own members. Of course, we have screen grabs of some of their supporters comments - we used to grab a lot, but it all gets a bit repetitive after a while.

Earlier today we posted a meme on our Facebook & Twitter pointing out that over 30 UKIP shops have been attacked during this extended General Election campaign. We have been unable to find any accounts of Labour Party or Hope not Hate premises which have been attacked outside of Scotland, where the SNP is responsible - something Hope not Hate has been at pains to not mention. If anybody has any knowledge of any attacks on Labour, HnH, Unite, UNISON, SWP, Green Party or Stand up to UKIP premises in England, we'd be interested in hearing of it.