C4 Batten down hatches after Ukip mock-up
UKIP supporters were not very enamoured of Channel 4’s 100 Days of Ukip. The spoof documentary depicted what might happen in the first 100 days after a landslide election victory for the purple people’s army.
Particularly angry was the eurosceptic party’s MEP Gerard Batten, who is standing for election in Romford, where the mockumentary was based.
A furious Batten told The Capitalist that the programme was “absolutely appalling” and “blatant propaganda… against Ukip.” He said that Channel 4 was “denigrating the people of Romford in the way that it portrayed them.”
There have been around 1,000 complaints about the programme since it was broadcast on Monday night. The Electoral Commission said yesterday that no campaign rules had been broken, as broadcasters were exempt. Despite his anger, Batten does not think his electoral chances will be harmed: “The only accurate thing in the programme was that there will be a Ukip MP in Romford on 7 May, except it’s going to be me,” he said. Fighting talk.