To think that the Brexit Party is the most exciting thing to happen in British politics in years

[ChavvyOldBrexiteer]

1000 candidates have applied for 73 seats, nearly a million pounds raised with small donations, buzz and brexitement on the ether and the sense that the 2 party system may be over for good....at last some good news for Brexiteers.

Viva la Revolucion!

They have British Asian candidates on their website - therefore I don't regard the Brexit Party as racist

Is your view on racism that simplistic?

That's along the lines of "some of my best friends are ...."

Racism is really significantly more complex than brown vs white. Some women are misogynistic, some gay people can be homophobic - we have lol met people who fit into these categories.

What you can do is make decisions for yourself and presented with evidence about the racist ideas of the founder of a party it is not unreasonable to extrapolate that they would found a party with people who share their ideology.

I won't vote for a racist party. Not in my name.

You make your own decision and then live with it.

Windowsareforcheaters

All 28 European commissioners are white and only three of the 751 MEPs are black

www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/29/eu-is-too-white-brexit-likely-to-make-it-worse

After POLITICO published a story suggesting that EU circles in Brussels suffer from a lack of racial diversity, dozens of readers took time to share their views.Here are some of the best.

www.politico.eu/blogs/playbook-plus/2017/12/brussels-bubble-reacts-to-accusations-of-being-too-white-brusselssowhite/

I could cut and paste some of the vile comments made by the founder of the Brexit Party and UKIP officials but I don't want to give them publicity.

Truly shocking comments.

Is the EU perfect no it isn't, is there institutional racism, yes there is.

Are there racists in the EU Parliament, yes there are, because the U.K. voted them in.

Whataboutary at its best.

This thread is about political parties in the U.K. non of these parties are perfect. However, UKip and The Brexit Party are founded by and lead by racists.

No matter how much I dislike TM and the Conservative party they are not racist in the overt and obvious way these parties are.

I'm no English professor, but isn't having Nigel Farage et al standing in the EU elections an oxymoron? Or a very similar word.

Windowsareforcheaters

With a bit of luck - I won't have to vote in the EU elections after all - Nigel's charm is working already;

Belgian MEP, Guy Verhofstadt‏ is getting twitchy - he wants us to get on with it;

"Never thought I would say this, but maybe it will be Farage who can deliver a cross-party agreement as Labour & Conservatives risk to be wiped out during the EU elections."

"The Brexit extension risks making this Parliament a real pigeon house, a dovecote.With British MEPs flying in & out & others on the substitute benches. Banksy already depicted Westminster as a house of monkeys. He could paint this blue hemicycle in Strasbourg filled with pigeons"

Oh dear, today's news;

Labour MP Richard Burgon in row over Zionism comments
"he regrets having said Zionism is the "enemy of peace".

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-47952275

www.channel4.com/news/revealed-how-leave-eu-faked-migrant-footage

Leave U.K. faked footage of migrants. Classic use of the media to paint the 'foreigners' attacking women. This is straight out of the facist playbook.

We live in a society that is institutionally racist in terms of representation and roles. Most of us are working to overcome this, but it is not complete and no one is perfect.

However, (some) Brexit campaigners and parties are behaving significantly outside the bounds of reasonable and responsible behaviour. Parties whose members openly tweet racist comments, key figures who are openly facist (Yaxley-Lennon), media manipulation reminiscent of the worst types of propaganda.

You may get your Brexit and you may also get a country where this behaviour is deemed acceptable. Will the ends justify the means or will it become despised because of the depths stooped to to win?

Don't think I agree much of Guy Verhofstadt's assessment there. Labour's polling for the EU elections suggests their share of MEPs will be pretty similar to last time out (25% last time compared to 24% in YouGov's most recent).

The Brexit Party seem to be mainly splitting the right-wing vote.

Last time out, UKIP had 27.5% and the Tories 24% (total 51.5%). Yougov has Con down to 16%, Brexit at 15% and UKIP down to 14% (total 45%).

I can definitely see Farage taking even more votes from the Tories and UKIP, but there's no evidence of Labour voters switching in meaningul numbers, and I doubt they'll get many Lib Dem, Green or Change UK voters onside.

I expect these elections will mainly serve as a rebuke to the Torries. If anything I think that would make Brexit less likely.

Of course, if Labour and the Torries did want to join forces to get a cross-party deal through before the elections, it will almost certainly be for a relatively soft Brexit.