UKIP has long prided itself on its commitment to “free speech” and open debate, but it seems the party isn’t prepared to practice what it preaches. There was outrage among journalists at the party’s Spring Conference today when officials attempted to remove them from a fringe meeting on sharia law.

The Telegraph’s Christopher Hope tweeted: “Ukip security has tried to remove the @Telegraph from a fringe meeting on Sharia law. I have refused to move. Outragous.” Those journalists who had taken their seats were eventually told that they could stay (“if you behave”) but others were reportedly turned away at the door.

It doesn’t require much imagination to guess why UKIP wanted to keep journalists out of the fringe meeting. A session on sharia law could well expose views of the kind that Nigel Farage insists are not tolerated, or even not present, in his party. Indeed, the first question was “How can you be both a Muslim and an English man?”

Farage declared in his speech today: “We’ve had one or two bad people – we’ve got rid of them.” But his officials’ anxiousness suggests plenty of rotten apples remain.

New Statesman, 28 February 2014

See also “Ukip attempts to veil debate on Sharia law, but journalists refuse to leave”, Huffington Post, 28 February 2014

And “Farage backs controversial fringe meeting debate in Torquay”, Western Morning News, 28 February 2014