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

Tom Wilde · 11-10-2005, 05:11 PM

Thank you Mark for taking the time to set out your objections to the Members Association so clearly and frankly. The only trouble with posts which contain so many substantive points ("And seventhly...") is that they take so long to reply to adequately. And yet that is what is needed - a substantive discussion on this matter.

As a sympathetic bystander, it looks to me as if the Members Association could be the best opportunity for UKIP for quite a while - an additional way to harness the surplus energy and ideas of a large number of members and responsibly turn them INTO phpbb_positive benefits for the party. I hope you'll seize that opportunity and work with the MA rather than try to discourage it.

In any party, there must be a balance between strong central control and encouraging initiative by the members. Too little central control, and the left hand will undermine what the right hand is doing. Too much central control, and you'll get dissattisfied members quietly drifting away, plus a certain rigidity and reluctance to try new things. I think this Members Association is clearly on the right side of the line, because of the highly responsible way in which it has been set up. However, plainly I could only hope to convince you of this by addressing your individual points - something I just don't have time to do now. I'm sure others willl, though!

Look at the Tories - 200,000 members. If they could have harnessed the efforts of all those members, they'd have won the last election by a landslide!
8)

Incidentally, I don't think the comparison with Reform UKIP holds up at all - fortunately! Just because that group sometimes made some similar criticisms to those made by some MA members, that doesn't mean it was the same kind of creature.

BTW, I just looked at the Members Association newsletter and couldn't see anything about any legal arguments concerning Mote. There was a mention of his case, but nothing to which any lawyer could conceivably object. But this is such a senstitive area, that of course anyone mentioing the case should err on the side of caution.

11-10-2005, 05:11 PM	#26 (permalink)
Tom Wilde Moderator Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: London. Posts: 2,924	Thank you Mark for taking the time to set out your objections to the Members Association so clearly and frankly. The only trouble with posts which contain so many substantive points ("And seventhly...") is that they take so long to reply to adequately. And yet that is what is needed - a substantive discussion on this matter. As a sympathetic bystander, it looks to me as if the Members Association could be the best opportunity for UKIP for quite a while - an additional way to harness the surplus energy and ideas of a large number of members and responsibly turn them INTO phpbb_positive benefits for the party. I hope you'll seize that opportunity and work with the MA rather than try to discourage it. In any party, there must be a balance between strong central control and encouraging initiative by the members. Too little central control, and the left hand will undermine what the right hand is doing. Too much central control, and you'll get dissattisfied members quietly drifting away, plus a certain rigidity and reluctance to try new things. I think this Members Association is clearly on the right side of the line, because of the highly responsible way in which it has been set up. However, plainly I could only hope to convince you of this by addressing your individual points - something I just don't have time to do now. I'm sure others willl, though! Look at the Tories - 200,000 members. If they could have harnessed the efforts of all those members, they'd have won the last election by a landslide! 8) Incidentally, I don't think the comparison with Reform UKIP holds up at all - fortunately! Just because that group sometimes made some similar criticisms to those made by some MA members, that doesn't mean it was the same kind of creature. BTW, I just looked at the Members Association newsletter and couldn't see anything about any legal arguments concerning Mote. There was a mention of his case, but nothing to which any lawyer could conceivably object. But this is such a senstitive area, that of course anyone mentioing the case should err on the side of caution.