Today’s letters reflect the extraordinary situation UKIP finds itself in after yesterday’s unanimous decision by the NEC to support the no-confidence motion against Henry Bolton. The first one, by our contributor Rosie Beattie, was written and sent to her branch before the NEC meeting. It is a rallying shout applying to all members and branches and not just for ‘that day’:
“Good Morning UKIP Southwark!
The Henry Bolton debacle has undoubtedly been extremely embarrassing for the party and there are many calling for his resignation before he can do further damage through his poor personal judgement / ego.
There are many who would like to see the back of UKIP, in particular William Hague who has recently been vocal on the subject in the media. Of course the Tories would love to see the back of UKIP, we were the ones who forced Cameron’s hand on the Referendum and we were the ones who won the Referendum – we do have a power and force when we stick together.
That is why WE MUST NOT GIVE UP.
Things may appear bleak right now, but in reality, we are doing better now than we were in 2012. In 2012 we were polling at 2%. Even now, with Bolton embarrassingly splashed all over the papers and digging himself in deeper on a daily basis, we are still polling at 3-5%. This Bolton thing is not the end of the world, nor of UKIP.
We are not the Henry Bolton party. We are UKIP. We have had many leaders, and none of them have been UKIP. Not from Alan Sked (where is he now and who cares?) to Nigel Farage. We are a party that supports freedom and independence for Britain. We represent millions of voices. Yes, we’ve had ups and downs. We’ve had the leadership circus and terrible 2017 results but we’ve also had the 2014 elections and a raft of MEPs, 2015 elections, 4 million votes plus Referendum.
Cameron and Osborne were riding high, where are they now? Where are Ed Miliband and Clegg? The mess the Tories are making of Brexit, we could be riding high again in four months time. Politics is a strange beast. Hang on in there. The cause we stand for hasn’t gone away. There needs to be a party that represents that. A new party would take too long to set up. Anne Marie Waters, John Rees-Evans – they haven’t set up rival parties, they have been unable to register them, these people simply represent movements. UKIP is not a movement, we are a political party and we can and must move on and get over this.
The NEC meet today [Ed: Sunday Jan 21st] at 2pm to discuss Henry Bolton’s future. This is the only item on the agenda. Whatever happens we must put up candidates for the local elections to show our face and show those who care about independence and democracy that there is still a party to vote for that unequivocally represents that.
We are not the Henry Bolton party. We are UKIP.
Kind regards, Rosie Beattie, Chairman, UKIP Southwark”
The next letter is by our contributor Byron Sanford who wrote it after the announcement of the NEC’s decision:
Sir,
Henry Bolton’s refusal to resign as Leader of UKIP after a unanimous vote from the NEC demanding his resignation is an outrage. Not only has Bolton lost the confidence of the vast majority of the membership, he has proved to be an utter trainwreck with every appearance he has made on television over the course of the past two weeks. How difficult is it for this out of touch gentleman to comprehend that we want him to leave. Thankfully, Gerard Batten is waiting in the wings.
On the eighteenth of January, I wrote an open letter to the NEC calling for the NEC to replace Bolton. Two names were mentioned as possible replacements. One was Gerard Batten MEP and the other Bill Etheridge MEP.
Since the summer of 2016, I have written a personal email to Mr Batten calling him to run for Leader in the three cases where we have had a leadership election. Unfortunately, he did not throw his hat into the ring. In this instance, I wrote a tweet. I highly doubt my tweet had any impact in Mr Batten offering his services to the NEC to serve as Interim Leader, though I am pleased to say that many of our members throughout the country have also been calling on Batten to be appointed Interim Leader. One of which is my good friend and former member of the UKIP Barnet Committee, Mr Patrick Leonard. It was Mr Leonard who emailed every member of the UKIP NEC calling on them to replace Bolton with Mr Batten.
Even though Mr Bolton has refused to step down, we will still move forward with an EGM to remove him as soon as humanly possible. Without any doubt in my mind, Mr Batten is the obvious replacement. Had Batten won the UKIP leadership in 2009 or had Mr Godfrey Bloom not been purged from UKIP, we would never have been put in the idiotic situation where we have complete and utter chaos with Leader’s running and resigning due to their personal egos, cowardice, stupidity, and lack of a reactionary vision.
We must have a clear and concise message going forward. A demand to immediately leave the European Union. Britain must control its own borders, its own ports, and its own laws. All Islamic migration into Britain must be banned immediately. Europe it as a crossroads. God willing Italia will make us proud on the fourth of March, with Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, and Matteo Salvini’s Lega obtaining a majority of the seats for the right-wing coalition. Italia’s right-wing parties know how to market their anti-Islam, anti-mass migration message. Everyone who works in the UKIP Press Office is incapable of marketing a message and should be fired. Plenty of us could write press releases for the party without taking a salary.
The time for action is now! We must radicalise. We must strike fear into the hearts of the mainstream parties. We must unite with radical organisations such as the Traditional Britain Group and the Identitarian Movement to organise against the treasonous elements around the globe. Whether it be on the streets, in churches, or the halls of government itself, we must resist the traitors in society with every fibre of our being. Only then will we have a chance of victory against the beasts we face at the ramparts.
Rule Britannia!
Respectfully, Byron Sanford
Finally, we received the following letter from our contributor David Meacock, UKIP’s Culture and arts Spokesman, on the no-confidence vote by the NEC:
Sir,
I congratulate the UKIP National Executive Committee for unanimously having the courage to reach the only correct conclusion.
I can accept that having not resigned before today as many of us have demanded, Mr Bolton could not be other than defiant in this morning’s [Ed: Sunday 21st Jan] media interviews prior to this afternoon’s NEC Meeting, and had the NEC vote been split, I would equally understand Mr Bolton wanting to fight another day at an EGM.
But in the aftermath of such a humiliatingly resounding 14-0 rejection, even he, for all his public bluster, must, in his heart of hearts, surely now realise he would not have any chance of winning; and crucially certainly not with a margin required to have any authority as leader.
As the sole cause of this debacle and given he himself has acknowledged UKIP is under financial pressure, not to at least save the party the expense of calling an EGM will only further confirm his unsuitability.
I consider that Mr Bolton is now UKIP’s Leader in name only, and so needs to RESIGN NOW – better late than never – in his best interest, his family’s and friends’ best interest, UKIP’s best interest and, above all, the UK’s best interest; so that we Brexiteers can concentrate on holding the Government’s feet to the fire, without the unwanted continued farcical distraction Mr Bolton has caused since Christmas.
Respectfully, David Meacock
Henry Bolton [former Liberal] is obviously a plant and is determined to ruin Ukip whatever the situation. We’ve had enough of people at the top who think it’s all about them, or who just want to ‘be somebody’! We need leaders with Ukip in their hearts who go for party first and foremost. The Remoaners are desperate to win and are willing to spend thousands and a lot of their time campaigning to keep their feet under the EU table, although they know for the ordinary man in the street it’s a bad deal. No more self inflicted wounds, no more shooting ourselves in the feet, stick with those who are truly committed to Ukip, or we’re dead!!
It’s interesting isn’t it. This whole fiasco is reminding people what Ukip is for.
It has been appallingly run. (Clique)
Nigel jumped too quickly. (Why?)
The last leadership contest split Party. (AMW)
And Ukip still cannot confront the Islam issue that split it …. although if GB, or PW or even DK get elected, there’s hope.
And there’s even a faint hope of an NEC-less nukip, allegedly.
I always rather liked ABs patriotic alliance idea because however made up, the threats are Islam and Coudenhove Kalergi via the EU. But Brexit is the symptom. The real enemy is treachery. (IMHO)
Can we agree MR Shrimpton as our next lord chancellor.? (Cat…pigeons?)
Remember, Farage, Nuttall, and Crowther all stood down at roughly the same time. They left UKIP rudderless, without prupose and with no succession plannung, and in effect abandoned the hard working members who were loyal to UKIP. From there it all undolded as it did except Farage continued to meddle behind the scenes.
Berating the NEC is a smokescreen to disguise true culpability.
We Are Seven
William Wordsworth, 1770 – 1850
—A simple child,
That lightly draws its breath,
And feels its life in every limb,
What should it know of death?
I met a little cottage girl:
She was eight years old, she said;
Her hair was thick with many a curl
That clustered round her head.
She had a rustic, woodland air,
And she was wildly clad:
Her eyes were fair, and very fair;
—Her beauty made me glad.
“Sisters and brothers, little maid,
How many may you be?”
“How many? Seven in all,” she said,
And wondering looked at me.
“And where are they? I pray you tell.”
She answered, “Seven are we;
And two of us at Conway dwell,
And two are gone to sea.
“Two of us in the churchyard lie,
My sister and my brother;
And, in the churchyard cottage, I
Dwell near them with my mother.”
“You say that two at Conway dwell,
And two are gone to sea,
Yet ye are seven! I pray you tell,
Sweet maid, how this may be.”
Then did the little maid reply,
“Seven boys and girls are we;
Two of us in the churchyard lie,
Beneath the churchyard tree.”
“You run about, my little maid,
Your limbs they are alive;
If two are in the churchyard laid,
Then ye are only five.”
“Their graves are green, they may be seen,”
The little maid replied,
“Twelve steps or more from my mother’s door,
And they are side by side.
“My stockings there I often knit,
My kerchief there I hem;
And there upon the ground I sit,
And sing a song to them.
“And often after sunset, sir,
When it is light and fair,
I take my little porringer,
And eat my supper there.
“The first that died was sister Jane;
In bed she moaning lay,
Till God released her of her pain;
And then she went away.
“So in the churchyard she was laid;
And, when the grass was dry,
Together round her grave we played,
My brother John and I.
“And when the ground was white with snow
And I could run and slide,
My brother John was forced to go,
And he lies by her side.”
“How many are you, then,” said I,
“If they two are in heaven?”
Quick was the little maid’s reply,
“O master! we are seven.”
“But they are dead; those two are dead!
Their spirits are in heaven!”
‘Twas throwing words away; for still
The little maid would have her will,
And said, “Nay, we are seven!”
This poem is in the public domain.
Good letters. A sane person would see that a unanimous NEC vote, MEPs calling for him to go, resignations from roles he appointed people to, and a chorus from members via emails and on these pages for him to go, entails only one honourable course – resignation.
But he will not resign. He either believes that 1) there is some hinterland of member support that will rally to him at the EGM or 2) he is behaving spitefully in revenge on the NEC and all who dared criticise him and does not care about damage to the party, forcing an EGM in defiance of reality. Indeed, that to be appears to be the goal now. So, he is etheir delusional of psychopathic.
I suggest we each make a donation – just £2 even if post Xmas budgets are tight- to allow the party to hire a hall as soon as possible. And then turn up and vocally expose him as well as with an overwhelming vote against him.
The depth of my contempt for him is hard to express fully.
Great idea about funding, Stout. I was thinking along the same lines myself. If those who can’t get to the EGM want to send a small amount to HO, that’s fine, but I suggest the party has a donations box at the entrance to the meeting venue. I’ll certainly put something in when I arrive.
Viv,
Sorry meant to say boundless amounts of energy, was in a rush.
No worries, DD!
🙂
Oh, it is such a mess, can someone come and tidy it all up please.
My opinion for what it is worth is that UKIP did not just begin to fall apart when Nigel left, but because we won the referendum the public thought our job was done, Nigel’ leaving reinforced that view.
On top of which because he did not appoint his replacement we were left with the poor candidates we had to choose from, however, I do wonder who he could have appointed because there was no one there of his calibre or moral fibre.
Having said all that this does not need to be the end, as many have said it could just be the glorious new beginning, but we have to get it right this time or it is ‘curtains’.
If and when Gerard steps up to the plate that will be an excellent start, but who after him? Folks, I cannot see anyone as good as he, the two things you need to be leader of Ukip is courage and conviction plus a good dose of common sense, and boundless limits of energy (that’s four things then).
Let’s see how Gerard does, and if he is good, try and convince him to stay on until brexit is a done deal, you never know if he gets all the support he needs he may even enjoy doing the job! Like some one said earlier even if you take the poisoned chalice you do not have to drink the poison like all the previous hopefuls.
“We have to get it right this time or it is ‘curtains'” is what lots of people said before Henry Bolton was elected.
I agree Keith. Though I want multiple voices to rise against Islam I think UKIP has run its course. I can’t see UKIP putting itself back together and appealing to the masses. It will just be a lot of wasted energy. Farage isn’t coming back and shouldn’t because in this post-Weinstein moment we are in now his own adulterous behaviour would be in the spotlight and you’ll be back to square one.
I would urge all Kippers to think outside the box and back For Britain. Put country before party.
Henry Bolton.
What is his defence? Why cannot we see it? Who is witholding it? Will we ever see it.
I have repeatedly criticised him for apparently doing nothing , He Actually may have done something( As various people have hinted ) as well as his image polishing. I refuse to condemn him without the other side.
I know many regard his behaviour as indefensible. But Is there anyone who hasn’t had a mid life crisis of some sort ( as it is so delicately put ). And he, as well as us, would get over it. No! It’s the ineffectiveness and apparent uselessness ( Could it be that the army bought him off with an OBE ? )
As usual, everything is shrouded in mystery. Is the nec just a bunch of washer women around the village well. ( And before you ask. No we don’t )
Morning all,
Henry Bolton in my book AKA Doc Daneeka who was logged on an aircraft where the pilot committed suicide there by the doctor was officially dead but in reality , living, but not recognised by anyone.
His selfishness and ungratefulness proved to be his undoing .
Courtesy of Catch 22.
Bring in Gerald Batten ASAP.
Thank you Rosie for reminding me who we are, what we have done, and what we are capable of doing. UKIP has always been greater than the sum of its parts but maintaining the euphoric high point of June 23/24 after being in campaign mode for so long was always going to be a tough ask, and so it proved.
We put our all into the Referendum, but it was a battle and not the war and we’ve learned since that it wasn’t even a decisive battle. Our enemies merely regrouped in a very determined attempt to regain the ground they had lost and the referendum result has been bitterly fought, at home, in and by the EU, and even much further afield.
For a variety of reasons, those of us who remained in UKIP have made disastrous and costly mistakes which have made our enemies’ job easier but the NEC vote has given us the opportunity to make a fresh start and to begin to move forward again in a renewed spirit of co-operation and determination. We have to demonstrate, beyond all doubt, that a second referendum would be futile because it would produce an even more decisive result to leave the EU.
I’ve come to the conclusion that Henry Bolton should seek the services of a Psychiatrist. A man of his age that can really kid himself that he’ll find happiness with a woman probably less than half his age is either really stupid or sick and he’s left his wife and children almost without a second thought.
I don’t want to know too much about other peoples sex life and wouldn’t normally comment. After the vote of no confidence though Bolton still doesn’t have the decency to resign, I’m beginning to wonder if he’s a sociopath.
We’re at a critical stage in the Brexit negotiations and it looks like we’re going to be stitched up. If Henry Bolton had purposely set out to undermine UKIP and Brexit, he couldn’t have done a better job, I suspect that really is the case.
Not just UKIP but Britain can’t afford anymore non-entities, the consequences just don’t bear thinking about.
As I’ve said, I wouldn’t normally comment on matters like this but things are getting desperate and I’m just a bit p**sed off.
Thank you Henry Bolton you have done an amazing job of bringing people together to fight the good fight once again. UKIP can now regroup and get back in the fray. How did you manage to plan such a self sacrificing strategy?
Hello! Is there anybody there? What’s happening everyone is resigning except for that Hobbit Henry. For God’s sake man GO!