Coulsdon roads campaigner Morgan is kicked out of UKIP

insidecroydon

11 years ago

To be kicked out of one right-wing party is unfortunate. But Coulsdon agitator Peter Morgan has now been expelled from two such political groups.

Peter Morgan: kicked out of UKIP

According to a lawyer from UKIP, Morgan has had his membership of that party “rescinded”.

This follows Morgan’s suspension, and eventual expulsion, from the Croydon Conservatives – for being a member of another political party (so Morgan could probably re-join the Tories now…).

Morgan’s exit from UKIP is the latest sign of a deepening rift in that party in south London. The split has been festering for some time between Peter Staveley, the chairman of their local party in Croydon Central and South, and Winston McKenzie, the serial election loser, ex-boxer and ex-bar owner who was removed as the chairman of UKIP Croydon North and Lambeth amid allegations of mismanagement and incompetence.

Paul Oakley, a failed parliamentary and European election candidate who describes himself as “UKIP London Regional Organiser appointed by the Party Chairman”, contacted Inside Croydon over the weekend in an attempt to distance his party from Morgan and a local campaign opposing the introduction of 20mph zones on residential streets in the north of Croydon.

Morgan is thought to be behind a myriad of anonymous Twitter accounts – many purporting to be on behalf of UKIP – and hundreds, if not thousands, of SayNoto20 posters and stickers which have been fly-posted, often unlawfully, around parts of the borough.

Earlier this year Staveley was forced to issue an apology for what he called Morgan’s “crass” actions, when he and two other UKIP members, Janet Stollery and Emmanuel Ehirim, put in the call for a council by-election to be held, without waiting for a recently deceased councillor to have his funeral.

Amid the controversy over McKenzie’s handling of party matters, Morgan had his UKIP membership suspended and was banned from attending local party meetings. According to Staveley, Morgan was “a disruptive influence”. Now, he is no longer a UKIP member.

The mind boggles as to what someone needs to do to be kicked out of UKIP – the party infamously described by David Cameron as a “bunch of fruitcakes and loonies and closet racists”.

Oakley refused to answer any questions about the circumstances of Morgan’s expulsion from UKIP. Nor would he provide the date when Morgan was removed from the party, beyond a vague reference to “some weeks ago”. Morgan has been campaigning against the 20mph policy for most of the past year, since Labour took control of Croydon Council with the scheme as a manifesto commitment. So it seems likely that Morgan will have been conducting his campaign while he was still a UKIP member.

“UKIP have not the slightest idea whether or not Mr Morgan is responsible…” for the anti-20mph zone campaign, Oakley told Inside Croydon.

UKIP has run prominent anti-20mph campaigns elsewhere in the country when local authorities have looked to introduce such schemes in an effort to reduce road accidents.

Morgan claims to represent the Alliance of British Drivers and is also an active member of the Croydon Communities [sic] Consortium, or CCC, another controversial group which is refusing to return thousands of pounds of public money it received as a grant from Croydon Council towards staging apolitical meetings, and which has provided Morgan with a platform for his anti-20mph zone campaign.