# UKIP, British anti-immigration party inadvertently uses immigrant in controversial poster campaign. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 25, 2014, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ukip-british-anti-immigration-party-inadvertently-uses-immigrant-in-controversial-poster-campaign/686956 "2014-04-25T14:15:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ukip-british-anti-immigration-party-inadvertently-uses-immigrant-in-controversial-poster-campaign/686956/1 "2014-04-25T14:15:46Z")
> **[Embarrassment for UkiP as 'face of party is Irishman and EU immigrant'](https://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/embarrassment-for-ukip-as-face-of-party-is-irishman-and-eu-immigrant/30218228.html)** > > UKIP leader Nigel Farage faces embarrassment over his plans to radically curb migration from Europe after it emerged one of the actors in a Ukip billboard is an Irishman who moved to the UK. > [@](#): > > UKIP leader Nigel Farage faces embarrassment over his plans to radically curb migration from Europe after it emerged one of the actors in a Ukip billboard is an Irishman who moved to the UK. Take a look at the ad in the linked article. I’m laughing to myself over it. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ukip-british-anti-immigration-party-inadvertently-uses-immigrant-in-controversial-poster-campaign/686956/2 "2014-04-25T14:19:25Z")
Ha-ha! ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ukip-british-anti-immigration-party-inadvertently-uses-immigrant-in-controversial-poster-campaign/686956/3 "2014-04-25T17:39:50Z")
Zing! ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ukip-british-anti-immigration-party-inadvertently-uses-immigrant-in-controversial-poster-campaign/686956/4 "2014-04-25T17:53:53Z")
What is the problem? Is Ireland a part of Europe now? Please educate this American who never keeps straight the regions and subregions of England, Britain, Europe, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Batistuta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/58956e/32.png) [@Batistuta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batistuta)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ukip-british-anti-immigration-party-inadvertently-uses-immigrant-in-controversial-poster-campaign/686956/5 "2014-04-25T18:44:27Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > What is the problem? Is Ireland a part of Europe now? Please educate this American who never keeps straight the regions and subregions of England, Britain, Europe, etc. UKIP is a political party that wants to severly limit immigration to the United Kingdom from Europe. If they get their way, the only Europeans allowed into the UK will be highly skilled ones. Ireland - as in “The Republic of Ireland” - is not a part of the United Kingdom, but it is a part of the European Union. As such, its citizens have the right to move to any other European country and look for jobs there. So yeah, it’s somewhat ironic that the anti-European campaign led by an anti-European party has hired a European person for its posters. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ukip-british-anti-immigration-party-inadvertently-uses-immigrant-in-controversial-poster-campaign/686956/6 "2014-04-25T19:36:00Z")
Still confused. The UK is a part of the European Union, right? But when the article says “migration from Europe”, it’s not talking about people from the UK. So the “Europe” in that quote can’t be referring to the European Union as a whole. I’m trying to understand the sense of how “Europe” refers to Ireland, but not the UK. Is it just that people in the UK use “Europe” to mean the continent of Europe plus Ireland? Do people in the UK (what is the best term for “people in the UK”, also?) not consider themselves European in general, or is there some additional context so that sometimes they say they’re from Europe and othertimes not? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ukip-british-anti-immigration-party-inadvertently-uses-immigrant-in-controversial-poster-campaign/686956/7 "2014-04-25T19:41:10Z")
I’m gonna take a WAG that this UKIP is not real happy with the UK being part of the European Union. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ukip-british-anti-immigration-party-inadvertently-uses-immigrant-in-controversial-poster-campaign/686956/8 "2014-04-25T20:46:57Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I’m gonna take a WAG that this UKIP is not real happy with the UK being part of the European Union. Exactly, but also there is riding dissatisfaction with the EU in the UK. I’d say that if there was a referendum today there’d be a very real chance that the population would vote to leave the EU. And yes, many in the UK see themselves as separate from Europe. As a simple example, we talk about going to Europe on our holidays. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ukip-british-anti-immigration-party-inadvertently-uses-immigrant-in-controversial-poster-campaign/686956/9 "2014-04-25T21:36:23Z")
> [@Batistuta](#): > > UKIP is a political party that wants to severly limit immigration to the United Kingdom from Europe. If they get their way, the only Europeans allowed into the UK will be highly skilled ones. Are they actually proposing applying that to Ireland? Irish citizens’ right to work and live in the UK isn’t anything to do with European law. (Or I guess it isn’t _just_ from European law.) ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ukip-british-anti-immigration-party-inadvertently-uses-immigrant-in-controversial-poster-campaign/686956/10 "2014-04-25T21:42:46Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > Are they actually proposing applying that to Ireland? Irish citizens’ right to work and live in the UK isn’t anything to do with European law. No, because Irish citizens are largely white, and mostly speak English. (But yes, UK/Ireland rights long predate even the EEC) ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ukip-british-anti-immigration-party-inadvertently-uses-immigrant-in-controversial-poster-campaign/686956/11 "2014-04-25T22:57:19Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > What is the problem? Is Ireland a part of Europe now? Please educate this American who never keeps straight the regions and subregions of England, Britain, Europe, etc. Ireland and Britain are geographically part of Europe. (The Republic Of) Ireland the UK are both member states of the EU. UKIP want to restrict immigration from the rest of EU into the UK because those swarthy continentals are taking all the good British jobs. The Republic Of Ireland, where the actor hails from is in the EU. The British and Irish relationship with Europe is slightly more ambiguous than continental countries’ I suspect. While we Irish are happy to call ourselves European in common parlance people will often say they’re going to Europe or looking for a job in Europe when referring to the European continent. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ukip-british-anti-immigration-party-inadvertently-uses-immigrant-in-controversial-poster-campaign/686956/12 "2014-04-25T23:02:43Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > Are they actually proposing applying that to Ireland? Irish citizens’ right to work and live in the UK isn’t anything to do with European law. (Or I guess it isn’t _just_ from European law.) It sounds like what they really want to restrict access to the UK labour market to pre-2004 EU states. Older, Western European EU states are typically closer to the UK’s level of prosperity and France and Spain in particular contain huge British ex-pat populations. It’s worth noting too that Nigel Farage’s wife is German. The thing is, if they’re serious about restricting inward migration from the rest of the EU, they’d have to scrap the Common Travel Area between Ireland and the UK. Presumably they’d also have to look at putting border posts between Northern Ireland and the rest of Ireland. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ukip-british-anti-immigration-party-inadvertently-uses-immigrant-in-controversial-poster-campaign/686956/13 "2014-04-25T23:11:03Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > No, because Irish citizens are largely white, and mostly speak English. (But yes, UK/Ireland rights long predate even the EEC) Also, if they were going to get rid of Irish citizens’ rights in the UK, wouldn’t it invalidate the Good Friday Agreement, since it allows anyone from Northern Ireland to identify and be treated by the UK as only an Irish citizen? ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ukip-british-anti-immigration-party-inadvertently-uses-immigrant-in-controversial-poster-campaign/686956/14 "2014-04-26T00:03:32Z")
I’m in America but I watched some videos of the UK debates… and isn’t it a bit unfair to call UKIP an anti-immigration party? Correct me if I’m wrong, but they’re first and foremost a Euroskeptic party, rather like the ruling parties in Norway or Switzerland. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ukip-british-anti-immigration-party-inadvertently-uses-immigrant-in-controversial-poster-campaign/686956/15 "2014-04-26T00:33:37Z")
> [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > I’m in America but I watched some videos of the UK debates… and isn’t it a bit unfair to call UKIP an anti-immigration party? Correct me if I’m wrong, but they’re first and foremost a Euroskeptic party, rather like the ruling parties in Norway or Switzerland. Nah, they’re a bunch of thick racists. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ukip-british-anti-immigration-party-inadvertently-uses-immigrant-in-controversial-poster-campaign/686956/16 "2014-04-26T01:57:51Z")
> [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > I’m in America but I watched some videos of the UK debates… and isn’t it a bit unfair to call UKIP an anti-immigration party? Correct me if I’m wrong, but they’re first and foremost a Euroskeptic party, rather like the ruling parties in Norway or Switzerland. I dunno how it’s unfair. [Look](http://euroasianews.com/wp-content/uploads/ukip-anti-EU-campaign.jpg) [at](http://www.libdemvoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/ukip-poster-manchester.jpg) [their](http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/resources/images/2411487.jpg?type=articleLandscape) [ads](http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/4/23/1398254362265/Ukip-poster-campaign-009.jpg). I suppose it can be hard to explain the finer points of Euroscepticism on a billboard ad but they really do seem to push the anti-immigration part of their policies to the forefront come election time. ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ukip-british-anti-immigration-party-inadvertently-uses-immigrant-in-controversial-poster-campaign/686956/17 "2014-04-26T02:13:23Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > I dunno how it’s unfair. [Look](http://euroasianews.com/wp-content/uploads/ukip-anti-EU-campaign.jpg) [at](http://www.libdemvoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/ukip-poster-manchester.jpg) [their](http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/resources/images/2411487.jpg?type=articleLandscape) [ads](http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/4/23/1398254362265/Ukip-poster-campaign-009.jpg). I suppose it can be hard to explain the finer points of Euroscepticism on a billboard ad but they really do seem to push the anti-immigration part of their policies to the forefront come election time. Fair enough. In some of their other presentations I’ve seen, they practically bend over backwards to stress that their positions have got nothing to do with ethnic issues but only about “skilled” vs “unskilled” immigration, and freedom from EU structures. I suppose there’s nothing wrong with that and I think would be a good thing to have a “thinking person’s Euroskeptic party” … but they’re still a tough lot to pin down so far. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ukip-british-anti-immigration-party-inadvertently-uses-immigrant-in-controversial-poster-campaign/686956/18 "2014-04-26T23:25:13Z")
Many of us refer to ‘Europe’ meaning the EU, but it can have a wider meaning of ‘that lot over the other side of the sea, who don’t speak English’ encompassing nations that don’t belong to the EU. Nobody, not even UKIP, is proposing to abolish the existing travel arrangements between England and Ireland, both of which remained outside the Schengen Area to retain this. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ukip-british-anti-immigration-party-inadvertently-uses-immigrant-in-controversial-poster-campaign/686956/19 "2014-04-27T22:10:53Z")
> [@Mk\_VII](#): > > Nobody, not even UKIP, is proposing to abolish the existing travel arrangements between England and Ireland, both of which remained outside the Schengen Area to retain this. However, as I’ve said, if a future UKIP or UKIP influenced government was serious about restricting access to the UK from EU or other European economic migrants they would have to alter the existing travel arrangements between Britain and Ireland. No point in locking the front door if people can just get in by the open back one. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ukip-british-anti-immigration-party-inadvertently-uses-immigrant-in-controversial-poster-campaign/686956/20 "2014-04-28T05:58:29Z")
> [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > I’m in America but I watched some videos of the UK debates… and isn’t it a bit unfair to call UKIP an anti-immigration party? Correct me if I’m wrong, but they’re first and foremost a Euroskeptic party, rather like the ruling parties in Norway or Switzerland. [All I need to know about UKIP I learned from RationalWiki](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_Independence_Party) which, unlike its brethren at [the other place](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_other_place_(euphemism)), isn’t bound to attempt neutrality or balance or a serious tone and can cut right to the good stuff. Like this: > [@](#): > > Geoffrey Clark, UKIP candidate for Kent County Council has some intriguing plans to help the disabled: > > ``` > Other items for review: ceasing all free IVF treatment on the NHS; cutting unecessary waste e.g the destruction of drugs in care homes when residents move on to the next care home or the next world; the pregnancy abortion time limit; **compulsory abortion when the foetus is detected as having Downs, Spina Bifida or similar syndrome which, if it is born, could render the child a burden on the state as well as on the family.** > > ``` There are some wonderful arguments in favor of this last bit; sadly, they’re all in German, so I’d have to translate them for you. Although we must credit UKIP with having more low animal cunning than the Tea Party did with regards to “Legitimate Rape” Akin or “God intended it” Mourdock: > [@](#): > > After the revelation of Clark’s mandatory-abortions-for-disabled-foetuses plan, he was promptly dropped as UKIP candidate. Good to see that the party rigorously checks the quality and sanity of their candidates before they stand for election.