is a
Political Party in the
United Kingdom , formed in February 2005 by politician-celebrity
Robert Kilroy-Silk following a split from the
United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP). Kilroy-Silk served as party leader from formation, through the
2005 General Election , until his resignation in July that year.
The party's current leader is
Patrick Eston . It has no representation in the
Parliament Of The United Kingdom , although Veritas members have served in both the
European Parliament and
London Assembly , having been elected as UKIP members and defecting upon Veritas' formation.
Robert Kilroy-Silk was elected as a UKIP
Member Of The European Parliament in the
2004 European Parliament Election for the
East Midlands region. His ambition to attain the leadership of that party was announced in October 2004, but it proved very unpopular within the party. Instead of risking disciplinary action for continuing this action, Kilroy-Silk resigned the party
Whip , while remaining a full member and asserting his continued challenge. The plan ultimately failed, and Kilroy-Silk finally resigned from the party - as had been long expected - on
January 20 ,
2005 . Rumours circulated immediately that Kilroy-Silk was set to form his own party, fuelled by the registration of the domain name "veritasparty.com" a month earlier. He had been briefly linked with a bid to join and lead the
English Democrats .
Veritas -
Latin for "truth" - was officially founded in a press conference on
February 2 , during which Kilroy-Silk proclaimed "unlike the old parties, we shall be honest, open and straight", devoid of the other parties "lies and spin". There were a number of defections from UKIP to the new party. They included UKIP London Assembly members
Damian Hockney and
Peter Hulme-Cross , Hockney becoming deputy leader.
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At the time of formation, its primary policy was opposition to
Immigration To The United Kingdom . It was pursued to be more specific than UKIP's general
Euroscepticism , and almost to the point of Veritas being labelled a
Single-issue Party . Kilroy-Silk also proposed support for the introduction of
Flat Tax in opposition to the existing system of income tax bands varying with income. Kilroy-Silk's preferred figure was 22%, the current "basic rate" band in which most UK citizens fall.
The party was immediately lambasted as nothing more than a vanity vehicle for Kilroy-Silk, and was assigned the moniker "Vanitas" in the press. It was criticised also for its use of a Latin name given its staunch opposition to Britain in Europe.
, the founder and first leader of Veritas.]]
The first test of Veritas' ambitions was the 2005 general election on
May 5 , where it had hoped to overtake UKIP as the primary party opposing the
European Union . Although
The Times newspaper had suggested that Veritas hoped to run candidates in every constituency in
Great Britain , the party ended up fielding just 62 candidates, less than 10% of that figure. Kilroy-Silk contested the constituency of
Erewash in
Derbyshire .
Kilroy-Silk came fourth with 2,957 votes (5.8%);
Liz Blackman was elected for Labour with 22,472. No Veritas candidates were elected; Kilroy-Silk was the only one to save his deposit.
In the wake of the poor showing in the general election it was reported that there were many resignations and defections, believed to be to the
English Democrats or back to UKIP. Some discontented party members came to oppose Kilroy-Silk and formed the
Veritas Members Association (VMA). One of its founders,
Ken Wharton , challenged Kilroy-Silk for the leadership on
July 12 ,
2005 , and although his challenge faltered due to ill health, VMA pressure brought about Kilroy-Silk's resignation on
July 29 , along with that of his chief-of-staff
David Soutter and deputy leader Hockney.
A leadership election was held in September 2005 which was won by acting leader
Patrick Eston , defeating Foreign Affairs Spokesperson
Colin Brown , on a 22% turnout. This, combined with a poor turnout at the party's first Annual General Meeting, is believed to have brought about the subsequent resignation of Brown along with the founders of the VMA. Eston appointed a new party chairman,
Alan Ainscow , who resigned from that post and the party in November.
