Veritas (political party)
Veritas | |
|---|---|
| Leader | Patrick Eston |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Ideology | Euroscepticism, anti-Multiculturalism, Immigration reduction |
| Political position | Right-wing |
| European affiliation | none |
| European Parliament group | Non-Inscrits |
| International affiliation | none |
| Colours | Purple and Mauve |
| Website | |
| http://www.veritasparty.org | |
Veritas is a political party in the United Kingdom, formed in February 2005 by politician-celebrity Robert Kilroy-Silk following a split from the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP). Kilroy-Silk served as party leader from formation, through the 2005 General Election, until his resignation in July that year.
The party's current leader is Patrick Eston. It has no representation in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, although Veritas members have served in both the European Parliament and London Assembly, having been elected as UKIP members and defecting upon Veritas' formation.
Formation
Robert Kilroy-Silk was elected as a UKIP Member of the European Parliament in the 2004 European Parliament election for the East Midlands region. His ambition to attain the leadership of that party was announced in October 2004, but it proved very unpopular within the party. Instead of risking disciplinary action for continuing this action, Kilroy-Silk resigned the party whip, while remaining a full member and asserting his continued challenge. The plan ultimately failed, and Kilroy-Silk finally resigned from the party - as had been long expected - on January 20, 2005. Rumours circulated immediately that Kilroy-Silk was set to form his own party, fuelled by the registration of the domain name "veritasparty.com" a month earlier. He had been briefly linked with a bid to join and lead the English Democrats.
Veritas - Latin for "truth" - was officially founded in a press conference on February 2, during which Kilroy-Silk proclaimed "unlike the old parties, we shall be honest, open and straight", devoid of the other parties' "lies and spin". There were a number of defections from UKIP to the new party. They included UKIP London Assembly members Damian Hockney and Peter Hulme-Cross, Hockney becoming deputy leader.[1]
At the time of formation, its primary policy was opposition to immigration to the United Kingdom. It was pursued to be more specific than UKIP's general euroscepticism, and almost to the point of Veritas being labelled a single-issue party. Kilroy-Silk also proposed support for the introduction of flat tax in opposition to the existing system of income tax bands varying with income. Kilroy-Silk's preferred figure was 22%, the current "basic rate" band in which most UK citizens fall.
The party was immediately lambasted as nothing more than a vanity vehicle for Kilroy-Silk, and was assigned the moniker "Vanitas" in the press. It was criticised also for its use of a Latin name given its staunch opposition to Britain in Europe. These were mainly by people who confuse the EU with Europe, (Veritas is pro Europe but anti the European Union) and that much of the English language was derived from French, German, Latin and Ancient Greek.
2005 election
The first test of Veritas' ambitions was the 2005 general election on May 5, where it had hoped to overtake UKIP as the primary party opposing the European Union. Although The Times newspaper had suggested that Veritas hoped to run candidates in every constituency in Great Britain, the party ended up fielding just 62 candidates, less than 10% of that figure. Kilroy-Silk contested the constituency of Erewash in Derbyshire.
Kilroy-Silk came fourth with 2,957 votes (5.8%); Liz Blackman was elected for Labour with 22,472. No Veritas candidates were elected; Kilroy-Silk was the only one to save his deposit.
Aftermath
In the wake of the poor showing in the general election, it was reported that there were many resignations and defections, believed to be to the English Democrats or back to UKIP. Some discontented party members came to oppose Kilroy-Silk and formed the Veritas Members Association (VMA). One of its founders, Ken Wharton, challenged Kilroy-Silk for the leadership on July 12, 2005, and although his challenge faltered due to ill health, VMA pressure brought about Kilroy-Silk's resignation on July 29, along with that of his chief-of-staff David Soutter and deputy leader Hockney. Hockney and the other Veritas (and former UKIP) representative on the London Assembly subsequently formed the One London party.
A leadership election was held in September 2005. Acting leader Patrick Eston defeated Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Colin Brown, on a 22% turnout. This, combined with a poor turnout at the party's first Annual General Meeting, is believed to have brought about the subsequent resignation of Brown along with the founders of the VMA. Eston appointed a new party chairman, Alan Ainscow, who resigned from that post and the party in November. As defections and resignations have continued, a split occurred in March 2006, with a number of members, including notably Anthony Bennett and Ken Wharton, leaving to form a new party, the Popular Alliance [2]. Eston nonetheless appointed a deputy, Howard Martin, who also is the main Veritas Party spokesperson, and seems determined to continue with the party, despite the depletion of the Veritas membership. The present NEC are all totally dedicated members of the party and it is envisaged that the previous splits and defections are now a thing of the past.
After the new NEC managed to sideline many of the enemies of the party (see above paragraph), Veritas has began the long climb back to the political arena - as can be seen by the new look website. The new management team are dedicated to the success of the party and membership is increasing at a fairly satisfactory rate.
In the 2006 local elections, Veritas stood four candidates: two each in Kingston-upon-Hull and Bolton. They polled an average of 98 votes each (3.5%).