Lowles bends the truth as he tries to fight of 'establishment' claims

Lowles fights 'establishment' label

It was interesting to read Hope not Hate director Nick Lowles self-congratulatory puff piece in the Huffington Post yesterday, not least because of the levels of distortion it contained.

In the article, Lowles says,

"In fact, the UKIP leader sounds worried. This morning he attacked me personally, and HOPE not hate, on BBC radio and in national newspapers, claiming I was a Communist and linked to the Socialist Workers Party (I am neither), or that we were linked to another organisation Unite Against Fascism (we are not) and that because our charitable (non-campaigning) arm accepted government funding in the past (now ceased) we are part of the 'Establishment' trying to stop them. I guess he must be feeling riled."

To deal with these distortions in turn:
..claiming I was a Communist and linked to the Socialist Workers Party (I am neither)...

Lowles originally worked for Searchlight before engineering his own well paid political career by breaking Hope not Hate out of its founding organisation after an internal power struggle. Searchlight was founded and run by members of the Communist Party of Great Britain. Some of his Hope not Hate staff members - including website contributor Carl Morphett and his pseudonyms - remain associated with hard left, communist groups.

As for the SWP, it is true that the SWP and HnH had a falling out, although close links remain between them. HnH staff regularly attend far-right demonstrations, often disguised as serious journalists, and their detailed tweets giving the specific locations of far-right activists are eagerly used by UAF/SWP to target them for violence. Meanwhile, SWP front organisation Love Music Hate Racism - headed by rapist Martin Smith, former SWP leader - regularly has its events publicised by Hope not Hate. A quick internet search shows Norfolk Hope not Hate advertising an LMHR event at the Mulberry Tree, Ipswich in October last year.

Verdict: False. While Lowles' assertion that he is formally linked to neither the Communist Party or the SWP may be true in the narrow sense that he is a member of neither, there are clear, ongoing links between all of these groups.

... that we were linked to another organisation Unite Against Fascism (we are not)...

If his denial of involvement with the SWP is false, his denial of links to UAF must also be false, since the UAF is merely an SWP front organisation, as is LMHR. HnH is more than happy to use the street violence of the UAF (see above) as a part of its tool set, while not being stupid enough to permit more direct links. Notwithstanding that, at last years failed 'Stand up for HOPE' meetings which were designed to produce an anti-UKIP consensus within the Hope not Hate membership (they didn't, and few people turned up, as we reported at the time), UAF members were conspicuous attendees advocating a harder line against UKIP and were welcomed because of it.

Verdict: False. As above, Lowles denial is disingenuous at best as clear links between UAF and HnH exist and are well documented.

.....because our charitable (non-campaigning) arm accepted government funding in the past (now ceased) we are part of the 'Establishment' trying to stop them....

Lowles closeness to the Labour Party is no secret, and that of his deputy, Ruth Smeeth could hardly be clearer - she is an open Labour supporter who has just been selected to fight a safe Labour seat. Their own accounts with the Charity Commission and Companies House show them receiving government funding - 2013's accounts have yet to be filed, so it remains to be seen whether his assertion that such funding has ceased is true. In a week in which we have seen the Corporation of London donating money to oppose UKIP politically, it is difficult to escape the notion that Lowles is indeed a part of the establishment. After all, unlimited cheap foreign labour undercutting the British workforce - whatever their race - is only good for the richest in society.

Verdict: False. Hope not Hate attempts to present itself as a grassroots organisation, but in fact has solid links with bankers, big business, the Labour Party and the media, as evidenced in its sponsorship by the Daily Mirror. It doesn't get much more establishment than that.

Far from UKIP's Farage feeling riled, it would appear that Lowles is concerned that the general public is seeing through his propaganda to the point that he feels obliged to write a HuffPo article patting himself on the back. How nice it would have been to have seen some honesty in it, but that would be a step too far for Hope not Hate.

Lies, damn lies and Labour

The three 'non-political' members of the public who just
happen to have close links to the Labour Party

Hope not Hate have been busy circulating the Manchester Evening News story from yesterday in which three innocent, non-political members of the public were used in a UKIP leaflet. As was revealed on another blog late last night, these three innocents - Bernard Caine, Irene Lawrence and her daughter Rachel - are in fact Labour Party activists. UKIP has confirmed that all three gave their permission for their image to be used, while sources tell us that pretty much everybody involved with the story also knew that it was fundamentally a lie, although that did not stop the Manchester Evening News running it.

Bernard Caine, the gentleman pictured, said he "has no party political affiliation but on this occasion has picked Labour candidate Mike Kane via

The 'non-political' Mr Caine not at all urging people to
vote Labour on his friend Mike Kane's behalf

postal vote, added: “It is diabolical.”". His choice of Mike Kane was not entirely unexpected, as he was a fellow director of the multi-million pound Parkway Green Housing Trust a few years ago, a position to which he was nominated by the local Labour Party. He was also pictured with Mike Kane and Harriet Harman - a photograph which appears on the latter's website - at the beginning of the Wythenshawe & Sale East by-election attending a Labour Party meeting. He also appears to have forgotten his presence amongst a carefully selected audience of Labour supporters who got to meet Ed Milliband during the campaign.

The non-political Bernard Caine not listening to
Labour leader Ed Milliband

Irene Lawrence - who "only went to the meeting because her housing association asked her to go" - has a similarly short memory. She was the chairwoman of the multi-million pound Willow Park Housing Trust for 11 years and also worked closely with Mike Kane and the Labour administration who nominated her.

And for Ms Lawrence's daughter Rachel? Well, she also appears to have got to meet Ed Milliband as one of the carefully pre-selected audience members when the Labour leader 'meets the public, although as it is difficult to be certain, we have not reproduced the photograph here. 

It is worth asking whether with former directors of two of the largest local housing trusts in Wythenshawe being prepared to lie about their association with the Labour Party if this is the source of local resident's complaints that they were told to take down UKIP posters and placards from their social housing? Were Labour tacitly supporting threats to the security of working class people in housing association properties?

UKIP will face many more of these set-ups over the coming months. We should not underestimate the depths to which the Labour Party will sink, or the lies which will be told by otherwise ordinary people. It is no wonder that Hope not Hate are pushing the story so hard. Increasingly though HnH are finding that even their supporters are seeing through their lies:

Goebbels - Morphett learns his lessons well, while claiming to hate fascism.

Regular readers will not be surprised to discover yet more hypocrisy from Hope not Hate. Their latest 'Purple Rain' article sees an attack on UKIP councillor Victoria Ayling for comments made in a video while she was a Conservative Party member. In 2008. Still, not a reason to not attack UKIP, eh? And Hope not Hate are having their coffers surreptitiously replenished by both Lord Ashcroft for the Tories and Lord Mandelson for Labour, so neither of them are fair targets regardless of what they do. There is a certain irony however as even as they attack Ms Ayling for using her right to freedom of speech, they are complaining about the possibility of themselves being gagged.

Extremism in action - How dare Ayling suggest she has freedom of speech?

Righteous anger - how dare the government try to halt our campaign against freedom of speech?

 

Still, nobody said their campaign had to be consistent or make sense, did they? Carl Morphett has learned the lessons of Goebbels well for somebody who professes to hate fascism.

 

 

“That propaganda is good which leads to success, and that is bad which fails to achieve the desired result. It is not propaganda’s task to be intelligent, its task is to lead to success.”

― Joseph Goebbels 

Hope not Hate thief jailed for fraud, and other stupid headlines

Hope not Hate are this evening featuring an article by Carl Morphett (writing as Simon Cressy) titled 'UKIP thug jailed'. It outlines how a Dean Everitt, of the Boston Protest March movement, was given a suspended sentence after a domestic dispute with a neighbour. In it, as in the title, the impression is given that Everitt is a UKIP member. A quick Google of his name would seem to indicate that his only link with UKIP is publicly saying he supported the party, something UKIP has no control over.

Convicted fraudster and Hope not Hate supporter
Denis MacShane

This is similar to other news this week. Former MP, Europe Minister and public HnH supporter Denis MacShane plead guilty to fraud. Sentencing was deferred until 19th December. He is widely expected to receive a custodial sentence, unlike Everitt.

That MacShane is more than an occasional HnH supporter is clear. In 2010, he gave an 'e-mail interview' to the 'where cowards flinch' blog, in which he said:

"Q. More generally, what do you think the Labour Party, and the Left in general, should be doing to combat the BNP most effectively?
A. Support Hope Not Hate. Urge other anti-Nazi outfits like UAF to unite with Hope not Hate. Expose the BNP’s core anti-Jewish beliefs as well as its anti-Semitism."

Of course, financial shenanigans are not unknown in Hope not Hate under Nick Lowles watch as we reported a month ago when we found their invoice shuffling which saw HnH directors paid through a private company owned by them for work which should have been a part of their salaried position. Nothing marks out committed Socialists better than a bit of wholesome tax avoidance of the form practised by Sir Philip Green, does it? Even so, a convicted fraudster being such an ardent and public advocate of Hope not Hate Ltd does not really imply that Hope not Hate as an organisation really endorses fraud anymore than Everitt's public - but much less welcome - endorsement implies support of his actions by UKIP. MacShane's association with Hope not Hate was long running, and in all probability continues behind the scenes.

The logic of it of course misses the point. It is not supposed to be a logical argument, merely emotive propaganda designed to appeal to those who look to the Daily Mirror for fully formed opinions they don't really understand the detail of. It is here however that the Marxist-Leninist tendency amongst the fanatically anti-UKIP pays them dividends. It was after all Lenin who said,

"A lie told often enough is the truth"

In this, we see once again how closely the philosophy of the far left approaches that of the far right they supposedly abhor. In their ultimate aim, they seek to follow the dictates of Josef Goebbels:

 

“It would not be impossible to prove with sufficient repetition and a psychological understanding of the people concerned that a square is in fact a circle. They are mere words, and words can be molded until they clothe ideas and disguise.”  

 

 

Another HnH campaign descends into farce as Polish AntiFa condemns Morphett article

Chaos is surrounding Hope not Hate's latest campaign against a Polish politician on a speaking tour of the UK.

Robert Winnicki is the President of the Młodzież Wszechpolska, or All Polish Youth Movement, MW. HnH blagger Carl Morphett (aka Simon Cressy) is the author of HnH's piece, which accuses Winnicki of everything short of child sacrifice.

The comments threads are particularly interesting. They start with simply mocking 'retards', the 'mentally handicapped' and the 'brain-damaged': all fairly normal stuff for Hope not Hate supporters so far:

A new touch - even for Hope not Hate - is the implicit racism in this one but of course you can't be racist if you're a Hope not Hate supporter, can you?

However, their already ropey campaign descended further into farce when several Polish supporters of Hope not Hate - including prominent anti-racists - accused Morphett of using discredited media reports and distorting the facts surrounding Winnicki and his MW movement. After initially deleting posts which called into doubt the veracity of the article, they then resorted to simply reposting the same media reports they used as sources, while denying that the broadcasters concerned had apologised for them

A cursory glance at the number of 'likes' under the stories shows what HnH's own supporters thought of such rubbish.
So what was the original comment that Hope not Hate removed? A rather damning critique of their own story which exposed it as being largely rubbish and propaganda put out by Winnicki's political opponents:

To those of us in the UK, Hope not Hate's refusal to correct glaring errors is nothing new for we see them as the propaganda machine they are. That the article smacks of anti-Polish racism is beyond doubt - as a primarily Catholic country it is hated by the hard left for (a) throwing off the shackles of the Communism HnH so adores and (b) daring to have moral values which do not equate to Hope not Hate's own, ie they don't tell enough lies and aren't keen on homosexuals.

The final word must go however to an exchange between London Antifascists and Hope not Hate. The former had asked on behalf of several Polish members for the article to be removed or amended. Hope not Hate showed their usual solidarity:

With friends like Hope not Hate, who needs enemies?