The event in Westminster was well attended with every seat in the 140-capacity room filled and standing room only.
Gerard Batten MEP kicked off the event with a summary of how UKIP got to the point of the referendum with emphasis on how in order to achieve Brexit. Given how David Cameron only promised a referendum as he perceived UKIP to be a strong electoral force, the necessity is now to ensure UKIP becomes a strong electoral force again. PM Maybe has no big plans or big strategy to repeal legislation, regain our fishing waters or leave the CAP and right now it looks like even if we do leave in name, we will not leave in reality. Issues like Ireland need not be complicated. Leave the open North/South border as is and simply check the passports / visas of every person arriving at GB’s airports and seaports. Grant fishing licenses to EU countries to get the investment we need to build up our fishing industry until such a time as we decide otherwise.
Cllr Lawrence Webb had sage words for the May 2018 council elections. In London there are 629 council wards and in 2014 we stood 463 candidates. We want to run candidates in all wards to give the good people of London full electoral choice. Also, because people get used to voting one way, if UKIP regularly fails to appear on the ballot paper, we could lose potential voters when we do eventually stand. The advice was to get as many candidates in as many wards as possible and then double up with any surplus. However, resources should be concentrated in wards with a real chance of winning.
Tim Aker then took the floor with a pithy observation that what with current confusion in the ‘main’ parties as to where they stand on Brexit, Theresa May is now the best tribute act to Jeremy Corbyn. What with the Hartlepool UKIP by-election vote increase of 13% we must remember that although there is apathy in the party about Brexit and where we are going, things can change very quickly and it is up to us to make that change. Rather than relying on traditional media routes, social media has an immediate and far reach which should be harnessed.
Peter Whittle went straight for the numbers. The budget may well have focussed on housing, housing, housing, but with 250,000 immigrants nett coming in annually we will never be able to build enough housing. The issue boils down to that which the other parties won’t discuss – immigration. Peter also raised the issue that despite massive cuts in police, 900 Met police officers have now been allocated to ‘hate crime’. Hate crime is of course, without clear definition. No evidence is required.
Henry Bolton finally took to the stage with the observation that his experience of dealing with the Albanian mafia, Serbian paramilitaries and the like had well prepared him for the role of UKIP Leader … almost … He got straight down to the business of explaining what he has been doing since his election. There have been a lot of internal issues to deal with and strategy and objectives need to be in place before the party can start to operate effectively.
First of all the finances. UKIP cannot operate without funding. Day to day running costs will be funded by membership subscriptions. Branches must ensure members pay the full £30 or our main party funds will deplete. Campaigns will be fully costed prior to launch and will be presented to donors for sponsorship. Donors so far have been pleased with that approach as they know where their money is going.
The Save our Services campaign was launched a week ago in London. Given the Tories appear to be prepared to bolt our armed services to the EU permanently, any requirement the UK had to build new tanks or contribute to the European Defence Fund must be addressed before it is too late. Support is found in Veterans for Britain. That in 2016-2017 the government gave 6500 homes to ‘asylum seekers’ and we have 7000 homeless veterans on the street, is indefensible. Moreover, the Home Office has just suggested giving 7000 homes to returning Jihadis. No further comment is needed.
A couple of thorny questions were asked. What will happen to the current structure of the NEC? Henry said there was a potential conflict with the constitution. There is some support within the NEC for regionally elected representatives although the main line of thought is to convert the NEC to a board of Trustees. This board would review the accounts and instigate audits but would not have any responsibility for hiring and firing or telling branches what to do, nor have any involvement in policy issues. If this approach does not work, Henry is quite prepared to take the matter to the party.
The logo was the other question. In a vote put to the room, 10% like the lion, 80% preferred the pound. The same 80% preferred a simple refresh of the pound. The problem is the way in which the new logo was voted in. The NEC approved the process of selecting the logos and presided over which should be presented to conference. There is no time to get out new campaign material with the lion logo in time for the local elections and we can’t campaign with two different logos, we need brand continuity. Of course branches equally don’t have the funds to invest in a complete new branding and merchandise. The option of giving the membership a referendum on some new logo designs was quickly discounted – the media interest in a second referendum would be more painful that the lion logo launch….
Henry ended on a high note. Yes, the party should have regrouped 17 months ago and ridden high on the success of the referendum. But we didn’t. Now is the time to take control of our own destiny and work to support a confident, optimistic and secure nation. UKIP is not divided. We are the only party that is unequivocally pro-Brexit, the only party that is committed to preserving British identity and of course, the only party with a former service police officer at the helm.
As Henry decisively concluded ‘we will never re-join the EU’, the audience rose as one, clapping their approval in a resounding standing ovation.
“Campaigns will be presented to donors” for their approval. Considering there are only 3 main donors, Mills, Boon and Wheeler, then it means these 3 people basically decide everything that happens in UKIP. This is completely wrong and simply allows their favoured minions in the ‘management team’ to keep control of the party on their behalf. I don’t know how anybody can bear to remain part of such an obviously corrupted (I mean spiritual corruption rather than financial) organisation.
I assume you refer to this passage:
“Campaigns will be fully costed prior to launch and will be presented to donors for sponsorship. Donors so far have been pleased with that approach as they know where their money is going.”
1) ‘Donors’ are not just the three whose names you name – there are many others, not as big but certainly willing to give – ‘once they know where the money is going’.
2) To state that this means Messrs Wheeler, Mills and Boon are ‘dictating’ to the Party what we should do is not born out by past experience, but comes perilously close to defamation.
3) You imply that all members, over the years, have been unaware and following blindly some machinations of these three big donors. That is so far from the truth it is bordering on Conspiracy theories.
Where is the role for members in all of this, who are the biggest donors after all? When do the policies get presented to the members for their approval?
The facts, as per Electoral Commission register of donations, is that since Banks departed the only 3 individuals making any substantial donations. Hence it can only be a reference to them. I am sure they are very pleased with that approach. I would imagine members, who don’t get any say-so in any policy making, are less happy.
Who said dictating? I said deciding. If a campaign is costed, put to them but they don’t like it, then they can refuse. The decision is theirs, and without their money, nothing can happen. Dictating would be them coming up with the policies and campaigns themselves.
Let’s look at how campaigns have been run: hand-to-mouth, branches scrabbling for financing, leaflets reduced to one because more were unaffordable.
Look at the way the Stoke by election was run, with donations pouring in, mostly from ordinary members, who didn’t know what for – the halal leaflet rings a bell? AFAIK, no ‘big donors’ demanded this needed to be done.
So now, with UKIP running on deficit month after month, with campaigns not eating for us to rectify our finances, here’s a plan to set out what is needed for a campaign, not on the policies, FFS, but on the ordinary stuff, like paper, leaflets, more leaflets, a campaign paper to get things out in a timely manner. You are in fact insinuating that donors would decide not to donate because they dislike – what exactly? The fact that there are leaflets, the candidate, what?
Yes, there are only those three who have made a substantial donation. It might interest you to learn that of the ca 400 Patrons (at a minimum of £1,000 p.a.) in June 2016 200 had left during 2016 and early 2017 – well before Henry Bolton announced his candidacy. You do the maths – and ask yourself if it is justified to blame the misery we’re in on HB alone when this had started way before his election. I was made aware of in in January 2016, which is before the referendum.
I am not aware as to how these three donors have shaped UKIP policy during that time, but I’m sure you’ll give me chapter and verse.
First, Stoke. Check the donations register. Stuart Wheeler donated £130,000 to cover the costs. Who do you think had the wonderful idea of sending the new leader into an early death? So risky to have PN stand for Stoke, but that was the quid pro quo for the donation.
I don’t blame HB at all except for not being able to see that the only way to transform UKIP into a truly grass-roots driven, member-led party is to break the corrosive links with these donors.
Housing is a huge issue. Perhaps the biggest of all. The May government has done nothing except inflate house and rental prices – the last budget a prime example of what NOT to do- Rosie makes a good point that to give housing to migrants and murderers before ex-soldiers is utterly mad. This can all be changed. UKIP needs first to imagine what it wants before cracking heads together to work out how.
We will then have a potent policy to take before the electorate.
Real issues.
Real solutions
Right now.
Is there a YouTube posting or transcript of this meeting? I didn’t know about this meeting until the Sunday night when I found a review of it on Kippercentral.
It doesn’t look as if there’s a video, but the invitation to the event was publicised on UKIP Daily, and we did publish this report, before ‘kippercentral’, btw.
My bad. When I read about your servers being down, I probably didn’t look on UKIP Daily over the weekend. Apologies. Thinking about it, and then checking, I didn’t get an e-mail about this meeting. Midlands, Surrey and Devon, yes, but not London.
A sane and balanced view of UKIP’s priorities and objectives following on from Henry’s much-needed and as far as I can tell; very sensible, business-like UKIP restructure.
From my perspective things appear to be heading in the correct direction even better than I’d hoped!
And as for “PM Maybe has no big plans or big strategy to …”
Why, she’s just like the gift that keeps on giving. Pure grist to the UKIP mill!
So is the plan for UKIP to stop being a limited company?
“There have been a lot of internal issues to deal with…”; is getting rid of the carpetbaggers on the agenda?
250,000 immigrants = 250,000houses.
My goodness. At last. Now to the next lesson.
Those who signed the Fisheries Petition 204098 have received an email from the Petitions Team inviting them to make a submission to the Select Committee’s Fisheries Inquiry by 13th December.
Note that the deadline as stated on the Inquiry web-site
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/environment-food-and-rural-affairs-committee/inquiries/parliament-2017/fisheries-17-19/
is 27th November !!
You may need to get your skates on.
Is the net immigration figure here correct? The Sun is a bit more robust than most of the MSM.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4999442/its-the-humbling-of-apocalypse-frau-as-angela-merkels-controversial-policies-have-left-germany-paralysed/
Richard Littlejohn in the Daily Mail, recently and bravely, became the first journalist, at least of whom I am aware, to mention the unmentionable and tell it like it is, under an article whose title says it all: “We don’t have a housing crisis – we have a population crisis.”
How can Ukip let the Mail, of all papers, get there first. That aphorism is the perfect, catchy heading for a new policy and party position.
In my neck of the South East, it is impossible to go anywhere at almost anytime without planning for and checking for delays. And the District Council has just published consultations on what areas they will further ruin and further congest for all time, to meet government requirements, by squeezing in some 14,000 minimum and 25,000 maximum new homes over the next decade.
Actually, R Littlejohn is NOT the only MSM journalist to make the point about the housing crisis being directly attributable to MUI ~ in today’s Sunday Times even Rod Liddle ~ avowedly socialist and Labour voting makes the same point under the heading ‘We can concrete over Oxfordshire ~ or we could just limit immigration ‘. If MSM commentators are starting to see that 2 plus 2 still equals 4 ~ how come UKIP’s Leader seems determined not to make the point ?
I hope they get a move on….Aunty Theresa’s planning a secret deal…
http://www.theunituk.org.uk/2017/11/26/brexit-sell-out-may-to-keep-final-deal-secret-from-uk-public-to-avoid-political-row/
“Aunty”? More like “Traitor”.
> “Aunty”? More like “Traitor”.
Sharia May’s like the other “Aunty” – the Brussels Broadcasting Corporation.
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This article was very fair and balanced.