23 Dec 2014

Roger Bird cleared of improper sexual behaviour – but Ukip still get rid of him

It’s all very odd.

Ukip today announced that their inquiry into their suspended General Secretary Roger Bird has cleared him of all the allegations of impropriety made by Natasha Bolter, the former Labour party member who had ambitions to become a Ukip candidate.

And yet effectively he’s been sacked. Today Mr Bird agreed to quit his job with the party.

I understand that decision was against his will.  He wanted to keep his job but concluded that the allegations against him and the subsequent inquiry had left him in an impossible position.

Natasha Bolter alleged that Mr Bird had made sexual advances to her, and abused his position as a party official at a time when he was helping decide whether she should be admitted to the Ukip candidates’ list.

She denied, however, that she ever had a sexual relationship with Bird.

Mr Bird, in contrast, has said that they did have a consensual sexual relationship, for a seven week period this autumn.

The Ukip inquiry has gone along with Mr Bird’s account, which is not surprising when he has published texts from Ms Bolter to support his account of intimacy between then.

Natasha Bolter’s claims to have read politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford University were also exposed as untrue.

Nonetheless, Roger Bird is leaving his job as Ukip general secretary, one of the most senior positions in the party.

The big question is – why?

‘Power politics’

According to Mr Bird’s friends, he has suffered from  internal Ukip power politics, though the differences do not seem to be ideological, or even about the nature of how Ukip should operate.

It does seem a strange way for a serious political party to conduct its business.

Roger Bird remains a member of Ukip and has signed a severance agreement with the party which prevents him discussing details of what happened.

However, he told me today: “I am delighted to have been cleared of the allegations of sexual harassment and of improprieties in the candidate process.

“It is a shame that these unfounded allegations ever made their way into the public domain.

“I remain enthusiastically committed to Ukip and to Nigel Farage, and will continue to campaign actively for the party.”

I understand that Lisa Duffy, who has run several by-elections campaigns for Ukip, is likely to replace Roger Bird as general secretary.

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