Dr Alan Sked - Definition and Overview

Dr Alan Sked was the founder in 1991 of the Anti-Federalist League, an anti-European pressure group in the United Kingdom, and the founder leader in 1993 of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP). He resigned the leadership after the 1997 general election, saying it was "doomed to remain on the political fringes." A few days before the 2004 election to the European Parliament, in which UKIP increased their representation from four to twelve seats, he criticised his former party in a national newspaper, saying, "they are racist and have been infected by the far-right."¹ He also went on record saying, "UKIP is even less liberal than the BNP. Certainly, there is a symbiosis between elements of the parties,"² and, "UKIP’s MEPs are a standing joke at Strasbourg, where their attendance record, even by the standards of most MEPs, is relatively poor and where, according to independent research by the European Studies centre at the London School of Economics, the three often vote in different ways on the same issue."²

References

1. The People (Jun. 6, 2004)
2. Sunday Telegraph (May 30, 2004)