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Ukip councillor Victoria Ayling defends immigration video remarks Nigel Farage defends Ukip councillor Victoria Ayling over immigration remarks
(about 2 hours later)
A Ukip politician has denied being "offensive or politically incorrect" about immigration, after a video in which she said she wished to "send the lot back" was published online by the Mail on Sunday. Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, has given his support to one of his party's councillors who recorded a video on immigration saying at one point she would "send the lot back".
But Victoria Ayling – a former Conservative election candidate who defected this year – insisted she had been referring only to people who were in the UK illegally. He insisted that Victoria Ayling's comment had been taken out of context, and that he had no reason to believe that her views were extremist.
The Ukip leader, Nigel Farage, dismissed allegations that Ayling held extreme views as a political smear. He also indicated his party would stand by her. Ayling, who is a Ukip councillor on Lincolnshire county council, recorded the video with her then-husband five years ago when she was a member of the Conservative party. A clip from the video posted on the Mail on Sunday's website shows her trying to explain her stance on immigration. During two outtakes, when the camera is still running but she is speaking casually to her husband, she talks about wanting to send immigrants back in general terms.
Ayling, a councillor in East Lindsey, Lincolnshire, made the video in 2008 to promote her bid to become a Tory MEP. The newspaper said it was provided to them by her then husband who was operating the camera. At one point she says: "We must basically [re]patriate those that shouldn't be here. That's not quite policy yet. Maybe I should soften it a bit … OK, send them back."
In a section published online, she is seen rehearsing her pitch on the issue – talking about the need to control the numbers arriving in the UK and to repatriate "the illegals and failed asylum seekers". At another point she says: "OK, I just want to send the lot back, but I can't say that."
"That's not quite policy yet. Maybe I should soften it a bit," she adds at one point, continuing by saying: "OK. Send them back. In the message she was recording that was intended for a wider audience, Ayling said immigration had to be controlled, that a points system should be introduced and that immigrants should be encouraged to speak English.
"We must control immigration. We cannot sustain the numbers coming in; the strains on our infrastructure are enormous", she said in a later take. After her comments were revealed in the Mail on Sunday, David Hanson, a Labour immigration spokesman, said Ayling should apologise because "this type of offensive language should have no place in modern Britain". He suggested she was using the language of the National Front and the British National party.
"Control should be done fairly and the points system like they have in Australia and all those coming here should be encouraged to speak English so they can integrate." But Ayling insisted she was the victim of a set-up by the Mail on Sunday, aided by her embittered former husband, and that she was not in favour of the mass deportation of immigrants.
Afterwards, Ayling is heard to say: "I just want to send the lot back but I can't say that," before joking that the remark might be used in future to "get back at me, bribery, blackmail". "During the process of making this video I struggled to find the right words to express the views I held which were that we needed a sensible immigration policy and must not be afraid to deport those who come here illegally or who fail the asylum process," she said.
She made headlines a couple of months ago when she told David Cameron at the Conservative party conference that she was leaving the Tories for Ukip. "It is often the case in finding the correct words to use that one takes the views from both sides of the argument and balances them out to find a sensible position. This is what I was doing. At no point in my life have I ever thought that all immigration was bad and all immigrants in the UK should be deported."
At the 2010 general election she came within 714 votes of winning Great Grimsby from Labour. Farage said: "While this comment looks odd and unpleasant, there may be a context here that is slightly different to the way it appears."
Defending her comments, Ayling told the Mail on Sunday that what she said in the video was "nothing different from what the home secretary [Theresa May] is advocating now anyway. Ukip has regularly had problems with candidates expressing extremist views. Many have been low-profile, but in September the MEP Godfrey Bloom left the Ukip group in the European parliament following a row after he jokingly referred to women as "sluts". He had earlier been in trouble after being recorded referring to "bongo bongo land".
"I don't think there is anything there that can be seen as offensive or politically incorrect. I stand by what I said: illegal immigrants should be sent back home and multiculturalism won't work. It was a throwaway comment that has been taken out of context." In an attempt to avoid controversies of this kind, the party has taken to vetting its potential candidates more closely.
Ayling's remark about multiculturalism was that "multiculturalism does not work; Britishness does". Challenged about that during the filming, she responded: "Multiculturalism is dead, I'm allowed to say that – but maybe Britishness is waving the National Front flag a bit."
Farage said: "I have met her two or three times and I have discussed policy at length before accepting her into the party. I had no reason to believe she held views that were extreme or inconsistent with ours. While this comment looks odd and unpleasant there may be a context here that is slightly different to the way it appears."
On Twitter, he decried "an appalling attack on one of our councillors, falsely saying she is against all immigration".
A Ukip spokeswoman said it was clear Ayling was referring to illegal immigrants.
"Given that this was before the time Victoria joined Ukip we cannot comment on why this video was made for the Conservatives," the spokeswoman said. "However, we can vouch for her as a capable and decent councillor and support her through this time."
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