Long is best known over here as the inspiration for the character of Governor Willie Stark in Robert Penn Warren's novel All the king's men. Long was a bit of a curio, as he espoused genuinely radical redistributive opinions at the same time as being the archetypal Southern demagogue and the BFF of Father Charles Coughlin, the radio priest, one of America's most notorious anti-semites. He was loathed by white supremacists, industrialists, senators, socialists, the respectable middle classes — everyone, in fact, except voters in his home state of Louisiana (which is a very particular southern state, in part because of the cajun/catholic/creole heritage). I guess the closest modern comparison would be George Galloway, although Long was more charismatic and, probably, more corrupt.

In the late 1970s, Wallace announced that he was a born-again Christian and apologized to black civil rights leaders for his earlier segregationist positions. He said that while he had once sought power and glory, he realized he needed to seek love and forgiveness.[note 3] In 1979, Wallace said of his stand in the schoolhouse door: "I was wrong. Those days are over, and they ought to be over."[4] His final term as governor (1983–1987) saw a record number of black appointments to state positions.[52] In his fourth term, Wallace became the first governor to appoint two black members in the same cabinet, a number that has been equaled but never surpassed.

Is there a better source for that? I can't read any of it.

The peer was an adviser to Margaret Thatcher when she was Prime Minister. Ukip was unable to comment at the time of going to press.

More interesting UKIP debate:

http://twitpic.com/9qjm1u

Oi!
According to Spoony I'm a boring wanker, and definitely plumpish, so watch y'self.

I've got the death sentence on five operating systems.

Finally, after a smoke break, Nigel Farage appeared and, with his usual gusto, marched straight into 'banning the ban itself'. Never one to mince his words, Nigel informed the assembled that as far as he was concerned pubs should have a smoking room at the very least! Bravo Nigel.

A UKIP councillor seeking the party’s nomination for Northumbria Police Commissioner invited a constituent to “Bunga Bunga” parties — a phrase used by disgraced former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi to describe alleged sex parties.

David Potts, who sits on South Tyneside council, bragged on Twitter about his “W&S” and “bunga bunga” parties, and even invited a member of the public to one.

Potts denied holding sex parties, claiming that “W&S” stood for “wine & sandwiches” rather than “wives & swingers”. He said:

“My understanding is that [bunga bunga] is merely a social gathering. The phrase is used among my circle. I may have misunderstood its perceived meaning.”

As well as his, erm, recreational activities, Potts has acquired a reputation as something of an online thug, attacking the council as a “poxy backwater” and making derogatory comments about council employees.

Potts also upset fellow councillors, when he asked porn star Mercedes Ashley to congratulate a colleague on being re-elected.

“As far as I am aware,” said the borough’s only Conservative councillor Jeff Milburn, “I have not been contacted by any American porn stars.”

Be the Party of the Commonwealth. UKIP will seek to establish a Commonwealth Free Trade Area (CFTA) with the 53 other Commonwealth countries. The Commonwealth Business Council estimates that a CFTA would account for more than 20% of all international trade and investment, facilitating annual trade exchanges worth more than $1.8 trillion and direct foreign investment worth about $100bn. Yet the Commonwealth has been shamefully betrayed and neglected by previous governments. Commonwealth nations share a common language, legal and democratic systems, account for a third of the world’s population and a quarter of its trade, with the average age of a citizen just 25 years. India, for example, will soon become the second largest world economy and Britain should not be tied to the dead political weight of the European Union, but retain its own friendly trading and cultural links