Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Jonathan Arnott" in English language version.
Jonathan Arnott, MEP for the North East of England, said he had lost confidence in Mr Bolton but thought no better of those "jockeying" to replace him. UKIP, he added, had "shifted" its stance on religious and cultural issues to a degree he could not support.
So why, oh why, do we turn almost every question into an immigration issue? Question about jobs ... it's immigration. Question about housing? Clearly an immigration issue. Class sizes? Immigration. The economy? Immigration. Traffic jams? Immigration. Health service? No, wait, let me guess.
But when (as in Hampstead & Kilburn) we select a Parliamentary candidate whose abhorrent views were aired and publicised already at last year's council elections, the resultant bad publicity is entirely our own fault. The candidate concerned finished in 5th place, losing his deposit. I can't say I'm surprised - and I'll be blunt: if I lived in that constituency, I couldn't have voted UKIP either.
We're not here to blame immigrants. We welcome them with open arms – not at the rate of a net 300,000 a year, but at a sustainable rate. But from the time of the billboards focused on Romania and Bulgaria in our European election campaign in 2014, the message above has seemingly replaced by dog-whistle politics. The message we portray is often toxic, but our candidates just aren't like that at all.
We have fundamentally failed to make the distinction between the vast majority of peace-loving Muslims, honest and good people, including those I am proud to call my friends, and the unutterable evil of the perversions of ISIS (Islamic State). Tough and robust policies to tackle extremism are absolutely right. The victimisation or demonisation of Muslims and Islam is not.
