Live webchat with UKIP leader Nigel Farage, Thurs 24 Feb, 1-2pm

[KatieMumsnet]

Our live webchat guest this week is Nigel Farage. He is the leader of UKIP and has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 1999.

Known for his straight-talking, Nigel has made the headlines with forthright speeches, once telling the EU President he had the charisma of a 'damp rag'.

He is a regular on programmes including BBC Question Time.

If you have a question you'd like to put to Nigel, please join the webchat this Thursday lunchtime, 1pm - 2pm. If you won't be around then, please post your question here.

[madamimadam]

Oh, and while you're browsing that, could you fill us in on the following, please (as some of your UKIP members can't seem to get an answer to these questions either and it's be nice to do them a favour as they've taken such trouble to join us):

Where is the audit for the 4000 Account?

Why has Nigel repeatedly declined to publish a full audit of the £2 million he claimed in expenses?

What about the 'infamous' Isle of Man account? Why does Farage refuse to 'come clean about how that is funded'?

What happened to to over 85% of the income of the Ashford Call Centre, which Nige claimed was THE MOST profitable thing Ukip have ever done.

(Psst. Peter. You must have some accountants on your books. Can they not sort this out for you? )

[HerBeX]

Oh bother... bad track record on that Lenin...

[madamimadam]

But - most of all - Peters and Gawain, could you get Nigel to answer the following question. We tried and tried and tried but Nigel just didn't seem to notice it:

Was it acceptable for Godfrey Bloom to interrupt Schulz and said "Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer"?

That's what we really want to know.

Sod the biscuits.

[jonicomelately]

I've just googled Nigel and two things have surprised me.

Firstly, he's only 46 What is it about UKIP that ages their members?

Secondly, he's married to a German woman.

[sis]

By PStaveley:: "I would say that Nigel answered them as frankly and honestly as he could given the short timescale and few words available."

Why were only a few words available? Does he have a particularly limited vocabulary or was he only allowed to give answers made up on those fridge magnet words?

[tabulahrasa]

"However, hopefully a few members would become more interested in researching UKIP polices more deeply."

hmph, I did, I read them, I asked about them and the nearest I got to an answer was more vagueness

[madamimadam]

'hopefully a few members would become more interested in researching UKIP polices more deeply.'

Ah, you see, that's the problem, Peter. Quite a few of us have, which is why - certainly in my case - I wouldn't touch UKIP with someone else's bargepole.

You and Gawain, it must be said, have been civil and attempted to respond to our arguments and I'm grateful for that as I really would like to know the answers to the questions I posted.

[TondelayoSchwarzkopf]

"However, hopefully a few members would become more interested in researching UKIP polices more deeply."

As in read the manifesto and directly quote from it as part of their question, for example?

Yeah hopefully they will.

[PStaveley]

madamimadam "You and Gawain, it must be said, have been civil and attempted to respond to our arguments and I'm grateful for that as I really would like to know the answers to the questions I posted."

Thank you for that. If you have any detailed questions for Nigel what I suggest is that you contact Nigel direct.

[madamimadam]

Well, the thing is Peter, he did offer to answer any that were passed on via MN. And somehow I don't think he'd rush to answer me about Godfrey Bloom's Nazi slur if I contact him directly.

I was hoping that you or Gawain would perhaps be able to make some sense of why an MEP would feel drawn to such a phrase?

(And I'm sure quite a few people here are keen to know the answer too... )

[MmeLindt]

I would like to know what women between the age of 15yo and 45yo are supposed to do.

Generally speaking, we could say that this is "of a child-bearing age", could we not?

That is 30 years of a woman's working life - pretty much all of it really.

According to Government statistics here:

The distribution of enterprises by employment size band shows that 88.6 per cent had an employment of less than 10, and 98.0 per cent had less than 50 employment. Large enterprises, those with 250 or greater employment, accounted for only 0.4 per cent.

Now am I reading this data correctly? 98% of businesses in UK have less that 50 employees?

What does UKIP mean by small businesses? Even if we take the lower

[ScramVonChubby]

Tondelayo I raised quite a few policy issues: eg the workfare for HB claimants, and the fact that 80% of HB claimants are in fact not unemployed.

And?

[ScramVonChubby]

''Nigel did as well as could be expected.''

For someone who gets less votes than a ficitonal character.

Yes, I would agree with that.

Than expected for someone who thinks they should be a leading politician?

Nah.

[TondelayoSchwarzkopf]

Sorry Scram I know you did. I'm a bit confused. Is it about my comment to Peter about Mumsnetters reading the UKIP policies?

I was being sarcastic about Peter's comment. Given that most of the Mumsnetters (including you, MmeLindt, Madamimadam, CaptainNancy etc) who asked questions came very informed about the policies and the data / facts behind their claims.

I had several a glass of wine when I posted though so excuse the miscommunication.

[ScramVonChubby]

No prons, me and sarcasm don;;t always mix (inpine, in RL I am The Queen Of It, somewhat oddly).