Veritas (political party)

Veritas is a United Kingdom political party, formed in 2005 as a split from the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP). It was founded, and is led, by Robert Kilroy-Silk, who was elected in 2004 as a UKIP Member of the European Parliament for the East Midlands. Damian Hockney, a member of the London Assembly has also joined the new party as Deputy Leader, as has fellow Assembly member Peter Hulme-Cross.

The party was officially launched at a news conference on February 2, 2005. Mr Kilroy-Silk proclaimed that "unlike the old parties, we shall be honest, open and straight", and that Veritas – Latin for "truth" – would avoid the old parties' "lies and spin". Its creation had been rumoured for some months, and the domain name 'veritasparty.com' was registered on December 30, 2004.

The party's first electoral opportunity was the General Election on May 5, 2005, and its principal challenge was to supplant UKIP as the foremost UK party committed to outright rejection of the European Union. On the day of the party's launch The Times suggested that the party wished to challenge for most seats, but in fact the party only ran candidates in 62 seats (about 10%). Kilroy-Silk himself contested the seat of Erewash in Derbyshire, held by Elizabeth Blackman of the Labour Party. He placed fourth, with 5.8% of the vote, and no other Veritas candidates were elected.

At present, Veritas's policies seem to indicate it as almost a single-issue party – during the launch conference Mr Kilroy-Silk attacked the level of immigration to the United Kingdom in preference to the eurosceptic general position of UKIP. Other policies proposed by Mr Kilroy-Silk on the campaign trail include reducing income tax to a flat rate of 22% (currently the rate paid on earnings between £6765 and £31400 in the United Kingdom, known as 'basic rate').

The party has been criticised as little more than a vanity vehicle for Kilroy-Silk after his failed leadership bid for UKIP, and has led to some derision in the UK media, hence it has been often referred to as "Vanitas" or, in less accurate Latin, "Veritarse". Incidentally, it is also sometimes referred to as "Verytanned", commenting on Kilroy's permanent tan.

External links

• Veritas – Official site
• Veritas Message Forum
• Veritas – Unofficial Message Forum
• BBC news story on the launch of the party
• TALK Veritas Message Board
• Vanitas – Spoof website