UKIP seeks easy ride to Brussels with horse-whisperer

Published on Saturday 30 May 2009 19:48

HE is the would-be MEP who is pinning his hopes on ESP.

UK Independence Party (UKIP) Scotland candidate Peter Neilson has claimed he can use "psychic powers" to convince voters to back his party.

The European Election nominee made the astonishing assertion that he has the ability to canvass electors through telepathy.

The Borders-based campaigner concedes that sceptics are likely to label him as a "nutter", but insists party bosses are relaxed about his decidedly unorthodox electoral tactics. However, his political opponents have dismissed his claims as "downright bizarre" and "laughable".

The former UKIP Scotland chairman is advertised on party electoral leaflets as a "horse-whisperer".

Neilson prides himself on his ability to be able to communicate with animals using the power of his mind, but insists his skills have come in particularly useful on the campaign trail.

The candidate, who also goes by the name White Horse of the Cherokee Nation, told Scotland on Sunday: "We have all got a psychic sense but because we live in a so-called modern, civilised lifestyle people are not able to use it.

"I have been able to unblock my psychic sense and through that gift I am able to send out and pick up communications.

"If I go to a hustings meeting I am able to go on and, unannounced, put the message out through telepathy."

The qualified mechanical engineer said: "Scepticism has never bothered me. I people want to be sceptical and say 'Oh, the man's just a nutter', or something like that, that's their choice. It doesn't bother me at all."

He added: "My colleagues in the party up here know what I do and are completely relaxed about it."

The former fox hunter runs a service where he claims to be able to heal horses with psychic power over the phone and even through e-mails.

He said: "I have the ability to communicate with the animal kingdom by body language, telepathy or soul-to-soul communication."

But despite his esoteric convictions Neilson insisted he was campaigning on the down-to-earth, if contentious, issue of immigration.

A Scottish Labour spokesman described Neilson's remarks as "bizarre" and "laughable".

He said: "Although Labour MEPs have been at the forefront of campaigns to end animal cruelty, none have claimed to be able to speak directly to other species.

"It is now abundantly clear given UKIP's choice of candidates they will not give Scotland the serious voice we need in Europe."

SNP Euro candidate Alyn Smith said: "It is clear that the people of Scotland have real worries over job security and current economic climate and we don't need telepathic abilities to pick up on this."

At the last European elections in 2004 UKIP, which advocates British withdrawal from the EU, polled almost 3 million votes and gained 12 MEPs, although two were later expelled because of allegations of fraud and former TV host Robert Kilroy-Silk quit the party.