News: Frank Le Duc
MEP Marta Andreasen left UKIP for the Conservatives, but this week her old party could take her seat
It’s probably fair to say that Britain’s best-known MEP, UKIP leader Nigel Farage, and his one-time party colleague Marta Andreasen don’t see eye to eye. She joined Farage in the European Parliament five years ago as an MEP for South East England – the huge constituency that includes Brighton and Hove – but has since defected to the Conservatives.
They still both believe that Britain would be better off leaving the European Union. And both are up for re-election on Thursday (22 May). The results are due to be declared on Sunday (25 May). But Mrs Andreasen and Mr Farage fell out three years ago. After the local elections in May 2011, she criticised his leadership and called on him to quit. He didn’t. Last year she left the party.
In UKIP circles they had been seen as something of a golden couple. He was articulate and chimed with voters in a way that few politicians manage. She was a thorn in the side of the EU with the professional ability to identify its financial weak spots. And the pair attracted 20 per cent of the vote in 2009. Only the Tories won more seats in South East England.
Some have put the split down to a personality clash: both are strong characters. He is often accused of running the party as though it were a one-man band – and being sexist. When she called for Mr Farage to quit, she was accused of being naïve and misreading the mood of the party.
Marta Andreasen is an unusual candidate. She is a Spanish accountant who was born in Argentina. She worked as an auditor for PriceWaterhouseCoopers, having qualified in Buenos Aires. After spells as a regional finance director for the likes of Rockwell Automation and Lotus Development, she joined the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). She raised concerns about the accounting system and was suspended, although external auditors confirmed her analysis.
From there, Mrs Andreasen became the European Commission’s chief accountant. She said that she was “shocked at how lax the controls on billions of taxpayers’ money were and how reluctant the Brussels bureaucracy was to improve them”. She refused to sign off the accounts. Her reward was to be suspended, then fired. The readers of the relatively sober professional publication Accountancy Age voted her Personality of the Year.
She returned to haunt the EU when she became a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in 2009. She explained why: “Far from giving up, I decided to continue the fight against EU waste and fraud. During this time I met a lot of politicians and professionals who expressed concern about the EU’s lack of transparency and accountability, among other things.
“In 2007 I was approached by UKIP with an offer to become the party’s treasurer and in 2008 I was selected to stand as South East MEP candidate. I was elected in 2009 and since then, sitting on budget and budgetary committees, I have made it my mission to protect taxpayers’ money from waste.
“It became apparent to me that to get meaningful change in the EU, you need to roll up your sleeves and get stuck in. This just didn’t happen in UKIP. I felt very much alone fighting my corner in committees, with virtually no support from my then colleagues. They were very good at pointing out the problems, insulting people and bellowing in the chamber, but that was it. It was all talk and no action. No solutions, no engagement. Nothing.
“I could see that the Conservatives were engaging and getting results. When David Cameron secured the first cut to the EU budget in over 10 years, I was delighted because this is something I had been calling for for years. When he then promised a referendum in 2017 after a period of renegotiation, it was a game changer for me. I knew that British withdrawal from the EU could only come about through the Conservatives.”
Despite her criticisms, ironically, the biggest threat she faces is the growing support for the party she left.
