It maybe grudging, reluctant and rather embittered but UKIP have apologised for repeatedly using the Jean Monnet quote that I pointed out to them (see blog entry 31 January) was completely fabricated (to the effect that Monnet advocated developing the EU in secret, keeping the public in the dark).

In a letter to the Western Morning News, UKIP’s Graham Booth, a regular user of the quote, apologised for his “mistake” and accepted to remove references to it in UKIP material. We’ll see if they do – Nigel Farage, their leader, has not even acknowledged a similar request.

Anyway, it’s good to get an admission from UKIP that they were telling lies. Not that the apology was anything but grudging. Booth goes on to claim that the fabricated quote effectively represents Monnet’s real views – despite the fact that I furnished him with a quote in which Monnet says precisely the opposite.

As his evidence Booth quotes a passage in a book by one Adrian Hilton, “The Principality of Power". But what is this supposed to prove? This is a single author’s opinion of what he thought Monnet believed, not what Monnet ever said.

I’m still slightly bewildered by Booth’s letter (which you can read in full here) but it is certainly an intriguing insight into the warped logic of UKIP (to the effect of "If he didn’t say it, he probably meant it anyway even if all his deeds and sayings show the opposite")