Gerard exposes Baroness Ashton

Dear Mr Barroso,

I was unable able to ask you a question today in the chamber. I would therefore like to make you acquainted with certain facts and ask you three questions.

Baroness Ashton was Treasurer for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), 1980-1982.

CND was notoriously secretive about its sources of funding and did not submit its accounts to independent audit; however, after public pressure they were audited for the first time in 1982-1983 (Godfrey Lord & Co). It was found that 38% of their annual income (£176,197) could not be traced back to the original donors. The person responsible for this part of CND fund-raising, from anonymous donors, was Will Howard, a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain.

The Russian dissident and internationally respected figure Vladimir Bukovsky, has shown from his research that the nuclear disarmament campaigns across Europe were largely funded by the Soviet bloc. Mr Bukovsky has proven with hundreds of top secret documents from Soviet archives that the worldwide disarmament campaign in the 1980s was covertly orchestrated from Moscow. The money was channelled through communist parties or other pro-Soviet organisations and individuals.

If therefore seems very likely that the unidentified income came from the Soviet bloc.

If Baroness Ashton did not know where the unidentified income came from she was incompetent. If she did not ask where it came from she was negligent. If she did know that it came from the Soviet block then she knowingly accepted money from a hostile foreign power in order to undermine Britain's and NATO's defence policies.

Anyone who was compromised by the Soviet Union in the 1980s remains compromised by the Russian Federation.

In the light of these facts, my questions are:

1) Do you still believe that she is a fit and proper person to be in charge of the EU's (and Britain's) Foreign and Security Policy?

2) Do you intend to investigate these claims further? If not, why not?

3) The answer to the second question is 'Yes' would you like me to supply you with the contact details of Mr Bukovsky, and others, who can give you more detailed information about this matter?

Yours sincerely,

Gerard Batten MEP

UK Independence PartyLondon