Steve Uncles

{{UKpolitics}}
'''Steve Uncles''' {{lived|1964}} is an English politician who is part of the [[English Democrats]], and is something of an albatross around their neck. He stood as the party's candidate for Kent's police and crime commissioner in 2016, and in 2017 was jailed for electoral fraud.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-39257452 Kent English Democrats official jailed for election fraud] BBC News, March 13, 2017</ref> Nice one, Steve.

==Antics==
Amongst other things, Uncles is guilty of:

*Mocking an anti-EDP blogger after he committed suicide.<ref>http://www.bloggerheads.com/archives/2009/06/steve_uncles/</ref>
*Posting a borderline racist joke online.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20120430010418/http://www.democracyforum.co.uk/talk-about-anything/57273-english-drinking-rule.html</ref> He later claimed that the post was made by someone who'd accessed his account<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20100810201825/http://www.democracyforum.co.uk/english-democrats/77945-links-english-democrats-videos-4.html</ref> and then turned round and claimed that he'd made the joke as an experiment to see what reaction he'd get. "If people are told to stop telling jokes like these it turns into something like out of [[George Orwell]]’s 1984", he said.<ref>http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/8981661.Dartford_council_candidate_stands_by_jokes_about_a_Pakistani_and_suicide_victim/</ref>
*Claiming that anyone who doesn't vote for the EDP is "anti-English".<ref>https://archive.ph/kBkYV</ref>
*Vandalizing [[Wikipedia]] with poorly-spelt jingoism. "England is the gratest kingdom in the worled", apparently.<ref>http://toque.co.uk/steve-uncles-england-gratest-kingdom-worled</ref>
*Trying to curry favour with the [[English Defence League]].<ref name=EDL>http://toque.co.uk/english-democrats-and-english-defence-league-cross-pollinate</ref>
*According to one blogger's (quite convincing) theory, operating a set of Facebook pages that purportedly belong to attractive female EDP supporters but are quite blatantly [[sock puppet]]s used to mock people who have criticized Uncles.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20150418061145/https://toque.co.uk/english-democrats-and-english-defence-league-cross-pollinate</ref>
*Having either the balls or being stupid enough (guess which) to tackle an armed robber in Central London in 2013.<ref>http://opinionsofthemasses.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/english-democrats-steve-uncles-receives.html</ref>

And all this is from a man who has stood in a European parliamentary elections.<ref>https://www.medwayelects.co.uk/?page=candidates&id=Uncles.S</ref>

==Fallout and resignation==
Uncles' behaviour was so outrageous that a number of people who broadly sympathized with the English Democrats' stance refused to support them because of the man. EDP member Ed Abrams left the party due to its ties with questionable far-right groups, which he blamed Uncles for.<ref>http://toque.co.uk/ed-abrams-resigns-english-democrats-party</ref>

In February 2011 EDP chairman Robin Tilbrook announced that he had accepted Uncles' resignation. The press release's portrayal of Uncles was largely positive, commending him for "many exceptional services to the Cause of English Nationalism and his innovation and drive in moving the English Democrats forward to the point where it is now the 7th largest political party in England" but presenting him as a liability largely because of "false allegations of negotiations between our Party and Sinn Fein or the BNP" as opposed to his daft antics online.<ref>http://www.voteenglish.org/new-national-communications-director/</ref>

==Both sides of the law==
Despite this, Uncles has still been trotted out as a spokesman for the party,<ref>http://toque.co.uk/bbcs-daily-politics-does-hatchet-job-english-question</ref> and in 2016 stood as their candidate for Kent's Commissioner of Police, coming last out of six candidates.<ref>[https://moderngov.dover.gov.uk/mgElectionAreaResults.aspx?ID=331&RPID=0 Kent Police and Crime Commissioner 2016 election results]</ref>

Seeing another side of the law entirely, he was jailed for seven months the following year for electoral fraud, with a further 14 days for failing to turn up for a trial that he’d already delayed. In his summing up, the judge stated: “These were acts of criminality that hit at the heart of the democratic process.”<ref>[https://hopenothate.org.uk/2017/03/13/steve-uncles-jailed-for-electoral-fraud-2/ Steve Uncles jailed for electoral fraud] Hope Not Hate, March 13, 2017</ref> So much for the English Democrats' respect for actual democracy.

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160407042120/https://steveunclesenglishdemocrats.org/ Steve Uncles - Official Web Page (from Wayback Machine)]
* [http://www.facebook.com/Steve.Uncles.English.Democrats/ Steve Uncles - Official Facebook Page]
* [https://twitter.com/SteveUncles/ Steve Uncles - Official Twitter]

==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:British people]]
[[Category:British politics]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Uncles, Steve}}

Categories: British people, British politics