It is now nearly two years since I left UKIP. Although I held Nigel as an absolute HERO, for his courage in not backing down on his beliefs when vilified and verbally and physically threatened, the party Elite allowed in newcomers who to my mind saw UKIP as a career move. These newcomers were propelled into positions of power and then serving MEPs were replaced on the EU elections list by new members who had yet to show their loyalty to the party, because of their so called ability to speak etc. Have we heard much from them since they gained their lucrative membership of the EU Parliament, apart from certain people saying that the party isn’t quite right, so IT should change into one they are comfortable with. Why join in the first place unless it was seen as a career opportunity. Then what really persuaded me to go was the way Godfrey Bloom was pushed aside. Members voted for who they believed should represent UKIP in the EU if the public voted for us, but Bloom was not put forward as a potential MEP and finally left the party. I emailed the Chairman and specifically asked how many votes Bloom had received was flatly informed that his position on the table of selected MEPS would not be disclosed to me, a paid up member. Surely, whether he stood should have been the opinion of members not the whim of an Elite group.
Many of us may not have agreed with everything Bloom said, but he had courage like Nigel, and spoke up about what he thought was right, nobody was forced to agree with him. I am sure he would have never let himself be browbeaten into sitting on the fence or apologising for other members expressing their point of view, which is more than I can say for some of Nuttall’s present top team selection. I believe Nigel, Kassam, Bloom and JRE would have made a formidable leadership team, people we could get behind. I know I would have been willing to give whatever was necessary to support these brave men.
UKIP’s only MP recently sat down next to the likes of Thornberry at a Guardian event and said Brexit “does not mean Nigel Farage’s vision of Brexit”, after, according to reports, recently hinting at returning to the Tories. I can imagine what he would have been rewarded with by Bloom if he was in the vicinity. Have UKIP leadership done anything about his remarks and general attitude to the party, I doubt it. As far as I am aware there has been no open critisism, which is certainly something Nigel has received from Carswell and Evans in no uncertain terms.
The recent leadership elections seem to have been interferred with (by whom?) so that conditions were put in place or perhaps behind the scenes interference, in order that the membership was not given the full choice of candidates to vote for, then conditions imposed so that JRE was restrained from critisising Evans and Nuttall. Is this the party of open democracy and free speech that I once joined? I don’t think so.
I can only hope that Paul Nuttall will listen to the membership and represent their views not just that of an Elite, who think it is their party and members are just there to pay their subs and do the footwork at election time. I’m sure members have differing views, but I doubt if most ordinary members would have the same views as Carswell, otherwise they wouldn’t have joined the Tories or Lib Dems? Millions of our countrymen have voted for UKIP in the EU elections and also in the General Election, didn’t they vote for UKIP because they wanted someting different to LIb/Lab/Con?
Admittedly, it is difficult to stand up and put your head above the parapet when there is a small army of anti democratic louts ready and waiting to shoot you down, perhaps even literally, but in my opinion this wonderful land of ours is desperate for a Hero who has the courage to stand up to voice the views of the generally silenced. At the end of the day no one is forced to vote for a party that has views they don’t agree with, but after millions of our fellows have laid down their lives for free speech don’t we deserve a choice? I personally disagree with everything Jeremy Corbyn says and stands for but would defend his right to free speech as much as I would defend mine, though I have my doubts if he would reciprocate.
These days I often think of my grandfather who died a short time before I was born. He volunteered to fight for his country in the First World War. He was gassed and spent time in a prisoner of war camp, which I believe was not the best of experiences. He survived but suffered from poor health till he finally succumbed. I wonder what he would think of the so called Free Society he and his comrades sacrificed so much for. There has to be someone out there with the courage to lead those of us denied a voice by the All Knowing Elite and their cronies. I remain Looking Out For A Hero.
Dear Commenters
Thank you for reading my article and the comments from the the old {or young) faithfuls. Keep up the good work sharing your opinions. Dear old Nigel still keeping up with his good work and saying exactly what he thinks regarding the tragedy yesterday, head body and even his toes above the parapet. Haven’t heard much from the other UKIP elite.
Hope the Direct Democracy group works, at least account will be taken of the members views, possibly.
I had slight hopes (and they were slight) that one of the Elite might have read it and commented, even if only to good ridance and don’t bother appying to join again, but I suppose it’s much easier to ignore articles like mine, or not bother reading UKIP Daily in the first place.
In answer to some of the comments on here, here’s some good news:
http://johnreesevans.uk/a-new-direct-democracy-group/
Q.
Yes, I know about that but I think I prefer DDIP, (Direct Democracy Independent Party) try Marty Caine twitter and you will find it.
Q.
If you look at DDIP you will see a video clip of the Syrians celebrating Christmas in Aleppo, you will not be seeing this shown on the BBC as it does not fit in with their narrative of the Russians and Assad killing everyone. there.
I hate to pour even a splash of cold water, Q, but it went like this.
John suggests a DD group – Rob McWhirter tells John he has to adhere to chapter Y of the rule book – then we hear from John ‘UKIP has decided that DD should have no decision making authority, but a DD group will increase participation, engagement and loyalty’. John is then asked if Nuttall supports his DD group, John replies ‘I am very hopeful that he will respect and appreciate constructive and systematic policy discussion and presentation that will result from DD.
So now, presumably after work done by John, the latest we know is that the DD Group within UKIP will be proposed to the new NEC once we have a constitution and a website.
So there is hope, but all rests on the new NEC. Three I am almost sure will support, I don’t know about the others.
However, I can’t link, but on John’s website or on Twitter, you can link to a Direct Democracy site where he has put the idea into practice. You have to sign up, and after that it’s easy. There are about 20 proposals so far, where you argue and then vote – it is a prototype which I think will be the model that he will use to put forward to the NEC….so PLEASE anyone interested in Direct Democracy for UKIP join up and participate, to support his initiative.
P.S. It was half-way through all this that Marty Caine left UKIP in frustration and set up his Direct Democracy Initiative Party online, modeled on John’s, and quite a few quite useful people went over to them after that.
“There is nothing so practical as a good theory” (Kurt Lewin). Certainly, UKIP seems bereft of any kind of political philosophy, theorising or even a strategy for winning those northern strongholds that we’re always being told about — you know, the seats where the Labour majority is 10,000+ but UKIP will win with the bat of an eyelid! But then UKIP doesn’t like intellectuals and gets rid of them when it can: Alan Sked, founder and first leader of UKIP, now Professor of International History at the LSE, left after four years; Rodney Atkinson, former Lecturer at the University of Mainz, Germany, political economist and occasional UK ministerial advisor, came within 16 votes of winning the UKIP leadership election in 2000, even after a vicious “dirty tricks” campaign against him — but the back-slapping, beer-swilling, boys-together inner clique don’t like to have to think, to produce a coherent political philosophy and to devise election-winning strategies, their plan is to stick together and repel boarders from within, forget the party, the country, or those who pay their subs and voted them in. Farage was successful because of his energy and personality. But now? For UKIP? Just the steady decline ahead, folks ….
Hey, have you seen UKIP’s Key People page, http://www.ukip.org/people_key? Would you buy a second-hand anything — or even something new — from that lot? But then they haven’t got a political philosophy to sell, or even talk about, so perhaps it doesn’t matter. But then it does, it matters a lot, to our country and, maybe, to the whole future of democratic independence.
TFT,
I don’t know, I do not think they look too bad, there a few bald men and one that likes like Bruce Forsyth, but apart from that oh, and there is only one women. But where is our beloved one and only MP?
Further to my earlier comment, I’ve been pondering the title of this article and come to the conclusion that it’s no use really looking OUT for a hero.
Instead, look IN and find the hero within yourself. We can all be heroes if we do as much as we possibly can when the time comes to act. Think of what UKIP has achieved in the last three years and what we can help to do in the next three.
Douglas Carswell has tweeted on UKIP’s twitter acc. no mention of what happened last night in Berlin, is he for real?
I read some guff about Brexit is just the beginning – was that it DD? Crass and embarrassing that our only MP has not referenced either of the murders yesterday. A very interesting interview today on Talk2Me radio (just found out about it!) with a Russian spokesman who said a) the assassin was surrendering when he was shot, why wasn’t he taken alive? And b) it is world-wide policy not to allow terrorists airtime and yet the assassin was allowed his rant about Russia to take place literally while the body was on the floor, it should have been cut out, yet was aired on every channel. (I know that should have been on the other thread but my iPad takes ages to change from one to another, sorry!)
Dee,
Yes, that is it, he omitted to mention that he wants to go along with his new friends Thornberry and Miller, I think what he has left out tells us more about him and how useless he is for us.
Dee,
To be honest I do not understand why the assassin was not neutralized immediately, thus not allowing him to spout his vile rhetoric over the still warm body of his victim.
Even if Mr Nuttall didn’t feel that Carswell’s utterings were a disciplinary matter, surely the very least he could have done was to declare publicly that these were Carswell’s private views and did not, in any way, represent UKIP’s official policy?
After all, No 10 do this with Boris virtually every day.
But no, the silence is deafening.
If the UKIP grandees think they can swan from a big salary in the EU to another as MPs in northern Labour seats simply by pressing for action on Brexit they need to think another thunk. I fear this is in their minds. Small parties are cursed by a bit of success leading to complacency.
It’s an unfortunate fact that Paul Nuttall did not want to be leader and only came forward very late. Of course he can prove himself now he is in charge but he’ll have to get on with it.
Looking in on all this it’s a common path followed by lots of political groups. Looking for careers in regular TV appearances is often an accompaniment.
As soon as the king was dead in 1649, the revolutionaries sought their rewards and were not so revolutionary after all……
Thank you John for telling it as I’m afraid I see it. It is telling that those who have commented so far agree with you. Let’s hope we get some posters on here today who can point out to us why we should have confidence in UKIP under Mr Nuttall – after all many people voted for him. I had no illusions about our new Leader, however, we are not supposed to go over old ground – day Zero and all that.
Like Q, I am staying for now in the hope that with (some of) the new NEC the party will be reformed and become the party is was once again, but as I pointed out the other day, without members there is no party, and a few MPs in Parliament on the back of Nigel’s previous work will be a hollow victory if they continue not to represent what UKIP actually was founded to stand for.
DDIP is apparently gaining more members every day, so I read – if this is true I fear they are ex-UKIP members.
If Nigel was still leader we would today have had something very like what Viv has written being said without fear on MSM – will it happen – I doubt it but I live in hope. I don’t expect a new Leader to be able to fill Nigel’s shoes, but it would be nice if he hadn’t set out to distance himself as much as possible from the man who should have been his Hero too, warts and all.
DDIP ?
Direct Democracy Independance I think – Marty Caine has left UKIP and started a new on-line party. – Google it to see his reasons and what he is doing. Failing that there are many links on Twitter.
John, Daffy
Come back – don’t go! There is nowhere else. Our only chance is to make UKIP what it should be, the radical alternative to the establishment, the guardian of national UK independence and the guardian of the people. Many of us have concerns, but don’t go compounding the difficulties. Stay and fight for what you believe in. The battle with our enemies is still very much on, and we need you.
Douglas Carswell is not a great problem. He’s a maverick with his own brand of libertarianism, but he poses no threat to the leadership or to the Party – indeed, insofar as he confuses our opponents and gets publicity, he’s actually quite an asset. All parties are coalitions, and we have room for him.
Douglas’ ideas on direct democracy are a million miles away from JRE’s, who ought to be the true democrat’s hero, and with our help could become so. Let’s work to make that happen. Meanwhile we hear there are going to be some open policy meetings in the New Year, which is a great sign the message on transparency and consultation is getting through. It’s policies that matter most and there is every prospect of improving them to increase our popular appeal.
Remember the things that unite us.
Q.
Okay, I here you but I want to see some action in the New Year, not just mealy mouthed sound bites which we have had so far. We should be insisting that all mosques are under surveillance and that only our Christian traditions are followed. As well as a complete brexit that should be our message loud and clear.
Not enough, Daffy (1000 mosques, just likle that?!). Leaving the EU and immigration never were enough, and aren’t now. We need cleverer policies to get the Labour vote.
NF was a late convert to the idea but his Thatcherite economic instincts never allowed him to put it into practice. That remains our greatest obstacle, and we must overcome it to succeed.
If I recall correctly there are almost 1500 mosques in the UK and more being added whilst they are allowed. Add to that the various Islamic Colleges and it is a huge problem which can only be solved by a large increase in military people who, hopefully, will get on with the job instead of making excuses.
David,
If that is what needs to be done then it needs to be done, somebody had better hurry up and do it.
Q. I agree we need cleverer policies and would even more if they included listening to ex Tory small business voices as well. There is common ground.
Ever thought of asking some ex labour kippers? I can recommend our Barrow chairman. He’s just the sort of guy who should be part of that policy discussion.
Alan,
Thank you I have already liased with that gentleman and we are now constructing our own local manifesto.
Alan, of course, on both counts. We need a new alliance of Old Labour and middle-income Tories, and yes small business voices. We have to detach the latter two categories from the wealthy, whose main concern is retaining their power and wealth. I hope the Barrow chairman agrees – if he does then he’s in a good position to be doing something about it.
Quercus, you are so right: there is no alternative.
The Party is not a few people at the top; the Party is us, each and every member. It’s not enough to be a supporter watching from the sidelines, hedging one’s bets and waiting to see. Every person who joins strengthens our ranks; every member who leaves diminishes us.
Even if you only pay your membership fee and do nothing else, it strengthens our number and finances. But if you are an activist, you can help turn around the whole rotten establishment set-up.
I am proud that I helped UKIP to win in the 2014 EU elections in my corner of the country; even prouder that I helped to win the Leave vote. Nothing can take that away from me or from the Party, but if we stay the course and stay united, we can go on to achieve even greater things for the UK.
What other Party is going to do what UKIP members know needs doing to save our country?
Completely agree. There are too many people ranting on and expecting immediate results and demanding a New Nigel. All it does is encourage further division, and to start moaning about PN at this stage is just puerile. As for the NEC, as long as we have an absurd FPTP system for 90 odd candidates, 80% of whom no one’ s ever heard of, we can kiss goodbye to a manageable committee. Agree with Q re Carswell, ignore. Get behind PN and give him all support to get things done. And I for one rather like the arrangement with NF as an outrider telling it like it is, yet operating on an international plane.
Sussex man,
Yes, if it was not for Nigel it would look like UKIP has no voice at all, but he is no longer the leader of UKIP. Confused?
John,
Thank you, I too have had many recent thoughts about my grandfather who fought on the Somme – something he would never talk about. Of course the way our politicians have cast aside what he and others in both wars fought for sickens me.
I agree that Nigel is a hero for getting us the referendum in the face of such abuse. What he was not good at was organising the party; had he co-opted someone into that job with the necessary experience then UKIP would likely be in better shape today.
I know it is wrong to make snap judgements but sometimes instincts can guide us; I viewed Carswell as untrustworthy from the start. He should go.
As for Paul Nuttall he has had time enough to prepare and act to the benefit of the party. In my view he has failed to do so in allowing Crowther, Oakley to be appointed as party officials and appointing Jewell to an important position. I will not join the party until I see that rot cut out.
More than ever we need UKIP to ensure that the referendum result is fully respected with no political fudges. I don’t see it being fit for that purpose especially when the new leader’s only article on here relates to Foreign Aid, a mess which does need sorting out but is not a first line priority just now.
Rant over for now…
Sorry about the odd spelling mistake etc. in the above rant…er, article. Just needed to get this off my chest, so quickly hit the buttons on my keypad and sent it off to Viv who has kindly published it. Hope it makes sort of sense.
Please Note meant to write “wouldn’t they have” instead of “they wouldn’t have”
John,
All that you say is so very true, where is our hero? I do not think it is going to be Paul unfortunately, but it is early days, and I had such high hopes as I think many others probably did.
To me his silence over Carswell proves it, it is going to be carry on as usual it is such a shame. My membership expires in April and if it continues along the same line I will not be renewing it, for me UKIP is almost dead.
DD, yes, John’s article is spot on and needed saying on behalf of many of us; and credit to Viv for publishing it. Unlike you, after the conduct of the coronation, sorry, election, I did not have high hopes, and have been proved right.
We were told unity was essential and were promised tough action against anyone who rocked the boat. Since nothing has been done re Carswell, who is now moving his goalposts even further away from Ukip, and the plotters have top posts, I assume their views and behavior are now Ukip’s official face.
My membership, too, will lapse in due course, and I see nothing (the retention of the stalwarts Aggers and Helmer in their posts was welcome but small beer) to persuade me otherwise. Ukip may well achieve some electoral success, which will be pounced upon as justification, but that will be through Labour’s implosion, May’s dithering/deception, and ironically Nigel Farage’s ever higher profile (forever associated with Ukip in the public’s mind), rather than any great endorsement of its new headline policies.
POS,
What you have stated are unfortunately the facts.