Barroso, the President of the EU Commission has come top of the BBC Today programme's poll on "Who runs Britain?"
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Of the ten shortlisted entries, El Presidente of the EU commission won by a handsome margin, with 22 percent of the vote polled in his favour, compared with the runner-up, Rupert Murdoch, who polled 15 percent. Tony Blair trailed in seventh place with a mere seven percent of the votes.
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The BBC website quotes political editor Nick Robinson, who on the Today programme, said that: "voters may be using the poll to say Europe (they mean the EU) has too much power." Well indeed, they are not saying maybe but definitely.
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The piece on Radio 4 this morning noted that Barroso is unelected, which allowed Roger Knapman, UK Independence Party leader, to come up with a good comment noting that the BBC poll was "the only chance you'll get to vote for him or for that matter against him".
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He was countered by former Europe Minister Denis McShane who asserted that it was "an urban myth" to suggest that Britain's laws were decided by Europe, claiming (wrongly) that only nine percent of our curren
t laws were of EU origin. The egregious Nick Robinson expands his theme on his own blog (yes, even the BBC is dipping a foot into the blogosphere), repeating the dismissive tone he took on the Today programme, declaring:
t laws were of EU origin. The egregious Nick Robinson expands his theme on his own blog (yes, even the BBC is dipping a foot into the blogosphere), repeating the dismissive tone he took on the Today programme, declaring:.
"There'll be hearty laughter in the Barroso household today and a few raised eyebrows in tomorrow's papers after the verdict of Today programme listeners that José Manuel Barroso runs Britain."
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The electorate is, of course, never wrong, concedes Mr Robinson, commenting that "Today listeners may be using this poll to send the message that Europe does more than they would like."
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This poll which put Barroso in the lead position, way above Blair, makes a statement that cannot be ignored; the people of Britain are waking up.
2 comments:
Thursday, January 5
UKIP admit to rigging BBC poll
A BBC poll revealed this week has named EU Commission President Jose Barroso as the most powerful man in the UK.
Barroso, was voted the man with the most power over Britain in a Today Programme Listeners Poll on ‘Who Runs Britain’ following a debate on the programme with daily items presented over several weeks.
The poll, which saw Prime Minister Tony Blair trail home in seventh position behind the likes of media mogul, Rupert Murdoch and Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy now appears to have been rigged by UKIP supporters.
UKIP and Daniel Hannan, the fiercely Eurosceptic Conservative MEP have both admitted to the Guardian that they separately sent emails encouraging supporters to vote for Mr Barroso.
UKIP's press officer in Brussels, Gawain Towler , said: "It would be a lie to say that people weren't encouraging each other - of course we were."
Mr Hannan said : "I had no idea Ukip were doing it. I was going to take sole credit for it. I heard the programme and thought why not tell people?"
UKIP leader, Roger Knapman who it seems was also in on the ploy sent a message of congratulation to UKIP supporters, telling the BBC:
"It is the only chance you'll get to vote for him [Barroso] or for that matter against him.
He is now a bureaucrat perceived as the most important man in this country and that is quite shocking."
In response to the result, former Europe Minister Dennis McShane MP said that it was "an urban myth" to suggest that Britain's laws were decided solely by Europe.
Source: Guardian, 5 January 2006
Thank you anonymous for the posting of the Guardian piece.
Well, of course Helmer and Knapman asked their supporters to vote for Borroso - and you think Tony Blair did not suggest that his New Labour mates should vote him. In the case of Roger Knapman I can assure readers that neither he nor any UKIP activist or employee sent out emails calling on their members to vote in the BBC poll. New Labour however did. I know this because both parties believe (only one correctly) that I am a supporter and regularly send me emails.
The fact that very many of the 250,000 or so Labour Party members plus the tens of thousands of other supporters did not vote for Blair in the poll may well be because of the realisation that the extra £ 5.8 billion that us Brits are going to have to find to pay to Barroso's EU from 2009-11 is because the EU is in effect the true government of our country.
What The Guardian did not refer to was a written statement from a civil servant in response to Lord Pearson's Question in the House of Lords last November: ''What proportion of new United Kingdom legislation has originated in the European Union since 1998?”
The civil servant's reply: “Based on the analysis of regulatory impact assessments carried out on EU and domestic legislation, we estimate that around half of all UK legislation with an impact on business, charities or the voluntary sector emanates from the EU.
Where is EU legislation conceived ? Answer the European Union Commission ? Who is the President of the European Commission ? Answer, Jose Manuel Barroso. Quod erat demonstrandum !
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