My name is Alan Piper
Joined UKIP 2009
Stood as PPC 2015 & 17
Ready to stand again and doesn’t need the Party’s money to campaign.
But would like to know that North, South, East and West, we’re all on the same page.
This was my first conference attendance (for UKIP anyway, I spoke at the Tory one in 2001).
First Impressions. Great venue once we country hicks found our way there through the mass of building re-developments taking place in central Birmingham (despite Brexit!). Inside lots of grey heads, about a dozen stands in the large concourse area, lots of leaflets to peruse, gifts, ideas, etc., great fun meeting people and putting faces to names I’d only seen in print and at a guess, around 6 or 700 attendees, certainly enough to put a decent sized audience into the conference hall. Not surprisingly the coffee break catering struggled a bit when the entire hall emptied but the venue was big enough to cope, the mood was excellent and everybody was up for a quick chat about all matters UKIP.
Format. The format of the conference was a series of speeches over 2 days, most restricted to around 15 minutes each, variously chaired by Tony McIntyre, Piers Warchope and others and at first it began to feel like a school stage production where every member of the chorus had a few lines so as not to offend their mums. But gradually it all took shape, there were some stand out performances notably Gerard’s speech at the end of the first morning session when he and we were able to express our mutual gratitude that the Party has survived and found new direction under his leadership. Issuing the Interim Manifesto immediately afterward, which is excellent by the way, was a very welcome contrast of leadership styles.
Likewise David’s rousing speech on the second day when finally somebody mentioned and put the phrases Cultural Marxism and Common Purpose into the same sentence…! I cheered at that point but I’ll come back to the significance of this below and invite you all to consider it.
There was another stand out performance that first day for a different reason. When one speech was short enough to leave a few minutes available before the next speaker was due, Piers, chairing at that point, invited the audience to ask questions and the acoustics of the hall were good enough for a dozen or so people to ask and receive spontaneous answers. It didn’t happen again and yet I would class that as one of the better parts of the proceedings which I commend to the organisers to consider encouraging for future consideration. It’s also a considerable plaudit for the venue that the acoustics (and seating) was so good.
The course of both days. During the two days there were great presentations and a positive torrent of knowledge, scholarship, and facts, inside and outside the hall, added to supportive filmed pieces from Lord Pearson and two of the pro-UKIP social media stars, Paul Joseph Watson and Carl Benjamin (Sargon..) then in person the “Count Dankula”, Mark Meechan who I, amongst others, follow on Twitter.
Something else very refreshing about the whole event was the access to senior Party figures and their willingness to mix and engage with us mere mortals. Compared to previous events where self-important pygmies scuttled about like members of a secret squirrel society, the contrast now couldn’t be greater and is most welcome.
The Dinner. Frankly, excellent and I speak as a caterer for nearly 20 years. Over 200 people present, great atmosphere, well staffed, superb food for that number and great company (thanks Peter). Jill Seymour was very engaging, haranguing the assembled company into donating thousands, Nigel appeared as part of the 25th anniversary which was an unexpected treat and while his comments about Tommy Robinson didn’t receive universal acclaim, he’s entitled to a view even if others disagree with him. We’re led by Gerard now, long may that continue.
Focus of the Conference. Almost every speech I heard one way or another maintained the emphasis on saving Brexit and the consequences of having it, not having it and fighting for it.
Gerard made the point that had we won the 70 or so seats our 2015 vote count would have been worth under PR, the Brexit position now, 2 years later, would be in a very different place because the influence that 70 or so UKIP MP’s would have brought to bear. But we don’t have PR, we didn’t win 70 seats, so we’re left fighting over the scraps and by comparison, our current influence is much reduced, aimed at rattling marginal seats and doing what we can. I mentioned earlier the excellence of the Interim Manifesto but, coming from UKIP, getting the electorate to read it will be a challenge.
Save Britain, rather than Brexit
At risk of being shot down, I suggest there’s another way to fight for Brexit, which could operate concurrently and may exert considerably more pro-Brexit influence, saving Britain (while saving Brexit in the process)
Ed ~ Part II will be published tomorrow.
For goodness sake. A dozen times now I, have suggested a flow chart to show Branch Chairmen how to arrive at the correct action. Surely there’s a thousand people who could do one. I can’t because I’m not learning any more comuter crap at the age of 85 and I can’t do vertical lines. Is there no one of the gilded favoured few who reads UKIP D. If there is , stop making speaches to your convinced and adoring public. And do one. It’s kiddies stuff. And NOT a SECRET
UKIP still has the problem that it does not have a stronghold in any part of the country ,unlike Tories ,Labour and Liberals .Even the Greens have a stronghold ,Brighton , There is a danger here . If Remainers are targeted in an Election and the second strongest party in the constituency fields a Leaver are we going to stand and risk splitting the vote and allowing the Remainer in ?
So if we unseat the incumbent, he gets a P45; if the alternative is also a Remainer, then we might well profit from Leaver distress and thereby pile up the votes. Looks like a win-win.
Gerard was impressively convincing. UKIP now has a good leader for growing the party and more voters.
This poll commissioned by an ardent Leaver should give us all pause for thought about the idea UKIP will be able to unseat Remainer MPs in Leave constituencies. Regardless of the poll I’m not sure we have either the manpower or resources to do so, unless we can attract substantial donations i.e. £2+million
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/jeremy-hosking-s-leaver-poll-finds-voters-happy-to-keep-remain-mps-f8dgmfln9
A poll funded by a Brexit-backing multimillionaire has failed to find evidence of widespread support for deselecting Remain-backing Conservative MPs among their constituents.
Jeremy Hosking, a City financier who has threatened to launch a breakaway party to deliver Brexit as swiftly as possible, commissioned a survey of 4,110 voters in 13 constituencies that are home to MPs who voted to remain part of the EU in the 2016 referendum.
These included Broxtowe (Anna Soubry), Loughborough (Nicky Morgan) and Beaconsfield (Dominic Grieve). The poll found that 62 per cent of respondents disagreed with the option that Remain MPs who represented Leave-voting seats should step down, and 61 per cent disagreed that those MPs should face deselection.
The poll also found that 53 per cent would consider voting for a party with the single aim of putting pressure on the main political parties to conclude Brexit “as quickly and fully as possible”. Mr Hosking interpreted that as “illustrating very clearly the failure of our political classes to grasp the strength of feeling among their electorate”. He added: “The baker’s dozen are the perfect example of a wilful blindness caused by terminal arrogance. There is a chasm in the British political marketplace and the Brexit Express will continue to help to fill it.”
The exercise was called into question by polling experts. Nick Moon, of Moonlight Research, told The Times that the questions were “just unclear”.
“Because the poll has been commissioned by hardline Brexiteers they assume that everyone will interpret “in order to ensure the UK gets the best outcome possible” as meaning something akin to no deal, but people who are worried by the prospect of no deal may well interpret it as being about a party who will ensure a soft Brexit,” he said. “The same is true, though to a lesser extent, to the question about concluding Brexit ‘as quickly and as fully as possible’. You could argue that rolling over and saying we’ll take a Norway deal is both quick and full.”
Some pro-EU Tories have told The Times of a sharp rise in membership applications in their seats, raising fears that they were being targeted by Ukip supporters to unseat them and choose MPs who would elect a Brexit-supporting prime minister.
This is interesting and valuable information for incorporation into a flow chart as mentioned in my remarks above. I wouldn’t write the marginal 53% MPs off. Our basic 6 % are merely ” the convinced above all else ” irrespective of the total hash made of UKIP by earlier incumbents of the ukip aristocracy and listed and invisible MEPs. Mathematics won Trafalgar, Wolverhampton won and led the league for 10 years. Put polling and maths stats and pragmatics together. I have carried out many small polls for my bisinesses and there’s more. I would have expected the pollsters to be maths inclined and have given your donor much more information.
It would also be interesting to ask voters not local party members if they know how their M.P voted, if asking people to name their M.E.P is anything to go by, my guess the majority would have no idea.
I could disagree on some details, esp. the practical catering aspects ( I certainly don’t think the dinner was decent value for money [ unless the Party was getting a big whack of the charge, in which case fine I suppose ] and I never understand why these Conference places can’t have LOADS of coffee points during 20 minute breaks instead of just one or two with inevitable queue ) but those details are less important.
There was one presentation in particular, on video, which in my view exemplified why embracing social media stars is not likely to be as much as a plus for the Party as some make it out to be.
I ‘m not even sure which of the people it was but those who were there will recognize the description : it was a man who just SCREECHED at the camera in a kind of quasi American accent a load of sentences one after the other, all of which crecendo~ed up to end in the words ” FREE SPEECH !!! ”
Not only was the speed at which he declaimed too fast to understand any of it ( apart from getting the drift that he was in favor [ sic ] of Free Speech ) but every couple of sentences the camera switched to an image of who knows what ? ~it was just a flash for a couple of seconds – not long enough to even read what was on the screen.
On the evidence of that particular video the man’s an idiot and I find it difficult to believe he will be a useful recruiting sergeant for UKIP. ( Or that one would welcome whomever he might recruit, if they are all as daft as a brush as he is .)
Particular stars for me were :
1] the new Treasurer Dr Sebastian Fairweather who explained how he has managed to steady the financial ship, without which, of course there would be no UKIP ;
2] David Fraser, former Probation Officer with some excellent ( if frightening ) statistics about the way the criminal justice situation has deteriorated since the 1950s under a succession of know nothing Home Secretaries ( think waste~of~space incarnate T May, but there have been many others ) . He also did well in the impromptu Q and A session which there was time for ~ evidence that these should be incorporated much more into the main hall programme ~not left till the very end of the Saturday afternoon.
3] Tim Congdon super intelligent and original thinker economist, with persuasive presentation on international trade showing how on present trends the EU will pale into insignificance compared to the rest of the world ( shame no one in Government is interested ) ;
4] Neil Hamilton : still the most amusing and inspirational speaker ~ we need him at all Conferences I would say to help keep our spirits up if nothing else !
Rhys Burriss
Alan
I fully agree with your last comment, Save Britain, rather than Brexit. It nicely followed your comment on how to get the Great British Voter to read the interim manifesto. UKIP has to become a serious British Political Party that has to state and sell its vision for the future.
D.Turgoose
It does indeed David, getting the great British British Public to register to vote let alone actually voting seems to be an up hill struggle if according to one midlands newspaper the council reports 13.000 out of 60000 households haven’t bothered to even register. Are these the people who never register ( heard one say recently, never register because I don’t want to be called for Jury service) or people so fed up with the LibLabCon tricks and the Brexit con that they just won’t vote, several have told me that as well.
-“according to one midlands newspaper the council reports 13.000 out of 60000 households haven’t bothered to even register”
Do you have a link to this at all please, or could you tell me which town it is? It certainly asks more questions than many officials would dare to pursue, certainly when it comes to questions about where all these illegal immigrants are hiding out. Or where there is the possibility of voter fraud being carried out.
I recently moved house, after vacating a property which the landlord had put up for sale. Shortly after I moved into my new property, I received the forms from Birmingham City Council inviting me to update the householders details. I did it online, but there was every possibility I could have registered myself at my new property, without withdrawing myself from the previous address. I could then have potentially been registered to vote at both properties (in different wards and constituencies), so lets say there was a general election next month, as long as my old property was still vacant and no-one had moved in and updated the householder details, I could have had two votes, as you don’t need your polling card to cast your vote, I could have just turned up at my old polling station and given my name.
On reflection, I think it should be a requirement, not an option, to present your polling card when voting in person.