Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Ukip denies affiliation with 'homophobic' Twitter account that sent abuse to gay campaigner Jack Monroe: 'Nice people, these Marxists'

“Honestly, we’re fed up... Anyone can set these up and go, ‘Oh look, we’re racist!’ No we’re bloody well not,” representative Gawain Towler said

Jenn Selby
Monday 01 December 2014 14:06 GMT
Comments

A Ukip spokesperson has “robustly” denied that the party, led by Nigel Farage, is behind the Twitter account that sent abusive, homophobic tweets to gay poverty campaigner Jack Monroe over the weekend.

The account, named Ukip North London, posted the following, as well as a series of messages about “white genocide”.

Picking up on one particularly offensive note, Monroe retweeted the below to her followers, questioning whether the account was a fake:

Asked to clarify whether the platform was in any way affiliated with the party, Ukip spokesperson Gawain Towler angrily told The Independent: “Transparently, absolutely, one hundred per cent fake! It is beyond frustrating, that any man and their dog, can set these things up, and then everyone goes, ‘Oh look… They’re racist! Ukip are racist!’

“They can short Anglo Saxon word off.

“Honestly, we’re fed up... Anyone can set these up and go, ‘Oh look, we’re racist!’ No we’re bloody well not.

“We’ve been in touch with Twitter to have these taken down – they are nothing to do with us. Quite often with these things, we’re relying on good nature – and in Ukip, there’s a lot of it. Unfortunately, it’s in short supply elsewhere.

“Nice people, these Marxists.”

Turns out, the profile was the second mock-up to defame the party in the space of a few days. A press officer confirmed they’d made a similar request to Twitter to remove a Ukip East London account last week.

The Twitter user has since amended its biography to read the following:

It, too, tweets about such subjects as “white genocide” and feminism as a “cultural Marxist tool for deception”.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in