British Democracy Forum - View Single Post - Members Association banned from the conference

Anthony Butcher · 08-10-2005, 10:20 PM

Despite having widespread support from senior party members for our objectives, and despite having permission for a stall at the conference, we were banned from handing out any literature at all.

The order came from Mark Croucher. We believe that Mark deliberately waited until the Saturday morning to inform us so that we had no time to contact anyone to support our case. He informed us that if we attempted to hand out any leaflets they would all be confiscated. This is a terrible way to treat loyal party members, I think that you will agree.

However, we obliged, and duly didn't hand out any leaflets or kick up a fuss. That isn't what the Members Association is about.

Then, to our amazement, during his main speach at the end of the day Nigel Farage berated the Members Association for handing out leaflets outside the conference hall!

It is possible that he confused us with the Conservative party members (Richard North) handing out some anti-UKIP leaflets outside the hall, but I certainly don't feel that to be an adequate excuse. If you are going to have a go at another group of members, you should always check your facts first. Nigel did apparently apologise for this to David Lamb afterwards, but he had already damaged the group unfairly.

08-10-2005, 10:20 PM	#1 (permalink)
Anthony Butcher Administrator Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Long Ashton, Bristol Posts: 10,315 Party: None	Members Association banned from the conference Despite having widespread support from senior party members for our objectives, and despite having permission for a stall at the conference, we were banned from handing out any literature at all. The order came from Mark Croucher. We believe that Mark deliberately waited until the Saturday morning to inform us so that we had no time to contact anyone to support our case. He informed us that if we attempted to hand out any leaflets they would all be confiscated. This is a terrible way to treat loyal party members, I think that you will agree. However, we obliged, and duly didn't hand out any leaflets or kick up a fuss. That isn't what the Members Association is about. Then, to our amazement, during his main speach at the end of the day Nigel Farage berated the Members Association for handing out leaflets outside the conference hall! It is possible that he confused us with the Conservative party members (Richard North) handing out some anti-UKIP leaflets outside the hall, but I certainly don't feel that to be an adequate excuse. If you are going to have a go at another group of members, you should always check your facts first. Nigel did apparently apologise for this to David Lamb afterwards, but he had already damaged the group unfairly.