Blogging Labour MEP Richard Corbett, who is also one of the contributors to UKIP Watch, has got the UK Independence Party in a bit of a huff with his pamphlet 25 Things You Didn’t Know When You Voted for UKIP (and why you’ll never vote for them again) (.pdf).

It’s a little bit clumsy and heavy-handed in places, but hey – so are the UKIP, so what do I care? The UKIP, however, haven’t taken it particularly graciously, and have demanded all 10,000 copies be pulped, the poor dears. According to the UKIP, “There is a reference in the pamphlet to [UKIP MEP for South East England and alleged benefit fraudster] Mr [Ashley] Mote which we believe breaches the terms of the court order and we are demanding that all copies of this document be pulped, and that the cost to the public purse be borne by its author Richard Corbett.”

My only concern is that this is coming from an elected representative of another political party. The supporters of UKIP may simply dismiss it as Labour propaganda.

When are pro-Europeans going to find their own Paul Sykes to help fund this sort of material? And when is the government finally going to start putting the case for the EU to the British people rather than engaging in petty squabbles?

People vote for UKIP out of a dislike for the EU, not their detailed policies – if they are convinced of the benefits of the EU, they’ll stop voting for them, and this kind of thing will no longer be necessary.

It’s well worth a look in any case – a nicely-researched little document confirming what we all know anyway – the UK Independence Party is a one-note bunch of extremist hypocritical racists. It’s highly unlikely that it will end up pulped, as from a quick skim through there’s nothing there that could jeopardise a court case (and I doubt Mr Corbett would be stupid enough to allow them a get-out anyway), but catch it while it’s still online. (And if it does get taken down, let me know – I’ll host a copy of it myself…)