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UKIP candidate’s rambling “personal manifesto” appears to suggest “compulsory abortion” for Down’s Syndrome foetuses

December 18, 2012 4:00 pm

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Update: UKIP have now disowned Clarke and said he will no longer be a candidate for the party.

In a bizarre and rambling 4500+ word “personal manifesto”, a UKIP by-election candidate appears to call for “compulsory abortion” for any foetus which has Down’s Syndrome or Spina Bifida.

Geoffrey Clarke – standing for Gravesham Borough Council in a by-election on Thursday – called for a Government review ofNHS expenditure, which should:

“re-examine the pregnancy abortion time limit. Consider compulsory abortion when the foetus is detected as having Downs, spina bifida or similar syndrome which, if it is born, will render the child a burden on the state as well as on the family.”

However the Independent reports that Clarke has since said “I do not endorse these ideas”. Yet they remain published on his website.

The manifesto also says, amongst other things, that Israel and Iran should both be kicked out of the UN, the Koran should be “updated”, that the government should ban the Burka and that same-sex marriage is an “abhorrence”.

And that’s only the stuff I’ve spotted so far…

Related posts:

  1. Compulsory voting?
  2. Helmer’s defection to UKIP ultimately the result of Tory confusion about selection processes
  3. Abortion rights: Back on the political agenda
  4. Tory councillor says ‘Vote UKIP’
  5. The Lib Dems – not as bad as UKIP
  • Monkey_Bach

    So there is someone more repellent than George Osborne then? Eeek.

  • Monkey_Bach

    So there is someone more repellent than George Osborne then? Eeek.

  • Monkey_Bach

    So there is someone more repellent than George Osborne then? Eeek.

    • NT86

      There’s a significant number of Tory backbenchers more repellent than Osborne, surprisingly.

    • NT86

      There’s a significant number of Tory backbenchers more repellent than Osborne, surprisingly.

    • NT86

      There’s a significant number of Tory backbenchers more repellent than Osborne, surprisingly.

  • http://twitter.com/ElliotBidgood Elliot Bidgood

    A few other gems of red-hot crazy/evil you didn’t mention:
    -”medical treatment for those over 80 years of age, which is disproportionately costly to the NHS; (the cost of treatment for the often multiple ailments of the very elderly is growing very fast); identifying what services can and can no longer be afforded by the NHS”
    -” the pregnancy abortion time limit; compulsory abortion when the foetus is detected as having Downs, Spina Bifida or similar syndrome which, if it is born, could render the child a burden on the state as well as on the family”. The whiplash here from a common pro-life sentiment about lowering the national limit (albeit one I disagree with) to casually advocating *forced* abortion (pretty much the only position you can take on abortion that is guaranteed to be repugnant to both the pro-life and pro-choice sides in equal measure) was shocking
    -”The review might also include: legalising euthanasia and giving free euthanasia advice to all folk over 80 years of age, and indeed to all others”. Encouragement, seriously?
    -”Education. We should indulge in unashamed elitism”
    -”In my opinion the tyrrany of the minorities has begun”
    -Towards the end: “Many voters still believe we are the BNP in disguise, are extremists, madmen or dotty. Although they don’t tell me this to my face when I campaign (perhaps because I am clearly not a madman nor dotty)” Riiiiiiigght, because casually advocating the open encouragement of euthanasia and forced abortion clearly means you have you have your head screwed on

    Also, on a lighter note – “each of us will be a minority at some time or another: for example, when we are on holiday in a strange country. But in that instance we brush up on that country’s culture and take care not to offend anyone there. But we British don’t demand that others do that here.” This bit strongly suggested to me he’d never observed the behaviour British holidaymakers on the Costa Del Sol (or really anywhere).

  • http://twitter.com/ElliotBidgood Elliot Bidgood

    A few other gems of red-hot crazy/evil you didn’t mention:
    -”medical treatment for those over 80 years of age, which is disproportionately costly to the NHS; (the cost of treatment for the often multiple ailments of the very elderly is growing very fast); identifying what services can and can no longer be afforded by the NHS”
    -” the pregnancy abortion time limit; compulsory abortion when the foetus is detected as having Downs, Spina Bifida or similar syndrome which, if it is born, could render the child a burden on the state as well as on the family”. The whiplash here from a common pro-life sentiment about lowering the national limit (albeit one I disagree with) to casually advocating *forced* abortion (pretty much the only position you can take on abortion that is guaranteed to be repugnant to both the pro-life and pro-choice sides in equal measure) was shocking
    -”The review might also include: legalising euthanasia and giving free euthanasia advice to all folk over 80 years of age, and indeed to all others”. Encouragement, seriously?
    -”Education. We should indulge in unashamed elitism”
    -”In my opinion the tyrrany of the minorities has begun”
    -Towards the end: “Many voters still believe we are the BNP in disguise, are extremists, madmen or dotty. Although they don’t tell me this to my face when I campaign (perhaps because I am clearly not a madman nor dotty)” Riiiiiiigght, because casually advocating the open encouragement of euthanasia and forced abortion clearly means you have you have your head screwed on

    Also, on a lighter note – “each of us will be a minority at some time or another: for example, when we are on holiday in a strange country. But in that instance we brush up on that country’s culture and take care not to offend anyone there. But we British don’t demand that others do that here.” This bit strongly suggested to me he’d never observed the behaviour British holidaymakers on the Costa Del Sol (or really anywhere).

    • http://twitter.com/LouMcCudden Louise McCudden

      Don’t forget the poem! That’s the best bit.

  • robertcp

    Is he a member of Progress? No, a bit too right-wing even for them!

  • robertcp

    Is he a member of Progress? No, a bit too right-wing even for them!

  • http://twitter.com/youngian67 Ian Young

    You haven’t heard the half of it, check out Bloggers4UKIP-

    This UKIP rant for example explains why the US wants Britain to stay in the EU because Obama is a socialist president supporting the socialist EU empire.
    http://www.bloggers4ukip.org.uk/2012/12 … cials.html

    And it gets better (for comedy value that is)-
    “The UK outside of the EU would be a significant
    challenger to the US, particularly with the Commonwealth Free Trade Area
    that UKIP proposes.”

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Homfray/510980099 Mike Homfray

      As I have always said – they are the BNP in blazers

      • Hugh

        Yes, you’ve said that a few times. Is it too much to ask exactly how the article linked to – however wrong-headed – establishes that UKIP are a bunch of racists?

  • Brumanuensis

    I’m still struggling to understand how you can publish a manifesto on your website and then claim ‘I do not endorse these ideas’. If you were aggregating content, then fair enough, but your own published work?

    Mind you, the Koran probably does need updating.

  • Brumanuensis

    I’m still struggling to understand how you can publish a manifesto on your website and then claim ‘I do not endorse these ideas’. If you were aggregating content, then fair enough, but your own published work?

    Mind you, the Koran probably does need updating.

  • Brumanuensis

    I’m still struggling to understand how you can publish a manifesto on your website and then claim ‘I do not endorse these ideas’. If you were aggregating content, then fair enough, but your own published work?

    Mind you, the Koran probably does need updating.

  • Brumanuensis

    I’m still struggling to understand how you can publish a manifesto on your website and then claim ‘I do not endorse these ideas’. If you were aggregating content, then fair enough, but your own published work?

    Mind you, the Koran probably does need updating.

  • Brumanuensis

    I’m still struggling to understand how you can publish a manifesto on your website and then claim ‘I do not endorse these ideas’. If you were aggregating content, then fair enough, but your own published work?

    Mind you, the Koran probably does need updating.

  • Brumanuensis

    I’m still struggling to understand how you can publish a manifesto on your website and then claim ‘I do not endorse these ideas’. If you were aggregating content, then fair enough, but your own published work?

    Mind you, the Koran probably does need updating.

  • Brumanuensis

    I’m still struggling to understand how you can publish a manifesto on your website and then claim ‘I do not endorse these ideas’. If you were aggregating content, then fair enough, but your own published work?

    Mind you, the Koran probably does need updating.

  • Brumanuensis

    I’m still struggling to understand how you can publish a manifesto on your website and then claim ‘I do not endorse these ideas’. If you were aggregating content, then fair enough, but your own published work?

    Mind you, the Koran probably does need updating.

  • Brumanuensis

    I’m still struggling to understand how you can publish a manifesto on your website and then claim ‘I do not endorse these ideas’. If you were aggregating content, then fair enough, but your own published work?

    Mind you, the Koran probably does need updating.

  • PaulHalsall

    Most Down’s Syndrome children are killed before birth. I am not in a position (as a gay man) to condemn such decisions, but such children often seem to be loving and lovely.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIe_qswXfRI

    We should cherish and love such children and adults.

    Every bit of evidence I have seen shows that people love their down;s syndrome children and grandchildren with as much love as if they were perfect.

    They are perfect, and do not deserve to die in the womb.

    Again, I condemn nobody.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Graeme-Hancocks/1156294498 Graeme Hancocks

    This “manifesto” was a disgrace,

  • Robert Castlereagh

    UKIP are not a respectable political party

  • Robert Castlereagh

    UKIP are not a respectable political party

    • jaime taurosangastre candelas

      Does that mean that you merely do not agree with them, and find it easy to make a slur with providing any evidence, or that you have not the intellect to make a proper case for your assertion? Or with a depressing correlation, both?

    • jaime taurosangastre candelas

      Does that mean that you merely do not agree with them, and find it easy to make a slur with providing any evidence, or that you have not the intellect to make a proper case for your assertion? Or with a depressing correlation, both?

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