Barroso runs Britain, radio poll says (Andrew Rettman, 1/04/06, EU Observer)
European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso is the UK’s most powerful man, according to a BBC radio opinion poll. [...]
The eurosceptic UK Independence Party (UKIP) pointed out that Mr Barroso is an unelected official.
“Of course it is the only chance you’ll get to vote for him or for that matter against him”, UKIP leader Roger Knapman indicated.
But ruling Labour party politicians dismissed the idea that the EU runs the UK as an “urban myth.”
The Tories will be the majority again when sentences start: “The eurosceptic UK Conservative Party…”
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Thursday, January 5
UKIP admit to rigging BBC poll
A BBC poll revealed this week has named EU Commission President Jose Barroso as the most powerful man in the UK.
Barroso, was voted the man with the most power over Britain in a Today Programme Listeners Poll on ‘Who Runs Britain’ following a debate on the programme with daily items presented over several weeks.
The poll, which saw Prime Minister Tony Blair trail home in seventh position behind the likes of media mogul, Rupert Murdoch and Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy now appears to have been rigged by UKIP supporters.
UKIP and Daniel Hannan, the fiercely Eurosceptic Conservative MEP have both admitted to the Guardian that they separately sent emails encouraging supporters to vote for Mr Barroso.
UKIP’s press officer in Brussels, Gawain Towler , said: “It would be a lie to say that people weren’t encouraging each other – of course we were.”
Mr Hannan said : “I had no idea Ukip were doing it. I was going to take sole credit for it. I heard the programme and thought why not tell people?”
UKIP leader, Roger Knapman who it seems was also in on the ploy sent a message of congratulation to UKIP supporters, telling the BBC:
“It is the only chance you’ll get to vote for him [Barroso] or for that matter against him.
He is now a bureaucrat perceived as the most important man in this country and that is quite shocking.”
In response to the result, former Europe Minister Dennis McShane MP said that it was “an urban myth” to suggest that Britain’s laws were decided solely by Europe.
Source: Guardian, 5 January 2006
Well, we know they’re the ones who care.