Letter from Roger Knapman

Anthony Butcher · 01-09-2005, 03:58 PM

Quote:

30 August 2005

Dear Members/Supporters

During the last few weeks, together with my fellow UKIP MEPs and the NEC, I have been working on a number of initiatives to take our Party forward over the next 12 months.

It is important we keep up our level of activity and our political momentum with two general objectives in mind – to increase the political strength of our Party and to campaign for our main goal of withdrawing Britain from the EU.

I appreciate that you have had an exhausting 18 months and that our members have put a great deal of hard work and financial support INTO phpbb_our election campaigns. It has been an unusually intense period but we must not under-estimate what we have achieved. We now have a strong team of MEPs, a body of professional staff and we have significantly moved public opinion in our direction.

I would like to thank everyone for the support they have given. Now we must look firmly to the future.

PETITION CAMPAIGN

On 12 September we will launch a major national petition campaign. The aim is to collect at least two million signatures calling for a referendum on EU membership. This is designed to raise EU membership itself as a major political issue, promote the arguments for withdrawal and give ordinary people a vote on the subject. It will also identify thousands of potential new UKIP members whom we can approach to recruit.

The campaign is being financed by the IDG (Independence and Democracy Group) which is the group of like-minded parties set up by UKIP in the European Parliament. It will be organised under their banner; directing the campaign will be Nigel Farage MEP who is co-chairman of the IDG and David Lott, who now is our team leader in Brussels.

The campaign will be supported by a major series of national newspaper advertisements, by thousands of drop-cards and backed up by our call-centre and a website. Full details will appear in the September issue of Independence News.

I hope all branches will play a very active part by distributing cards, setting up petition stalls and collecting signatures door-to-door. This is an ideal opportunity to build up grassroots support and give your branch members some practical activity.

BY-ELECTION

I would also like to appeal to all branches to give support to our Parliamentary by-election campaign in Livingston. We have a general aim of fighting all by-elections we can but this is important as it gives us an opportunity to build up support in Scotland ahead of the Scottish Parliament elections. These latter elections use a PR system which give us a good prospect of winning some seats.
The by-election team needs manpower for deliveries. Edinburgh is a long way for many members but we hope to lay on transport from various English cities at weekends. Please try to encourage some supporters from your branch to take part. If you cannot provide manpower, the next best thing is money. By-elections are expensive and we need to raise £20,000 for a viable campaign.

PARTY ORGANISATION

During the Summer I have been working out ways of improving our central administration without diverting funds that are better spent on campaigns. Our first step has been to appoint a General Secretary who will oversee the running of the Birmingham office and liaise between regional organizers. I am delighted to welcome Geoffrey Kingscott to this post and wish him every success.

We have also appointed Stephen Allison as our By-Election Campaign Manager. Parliamentary by-elections are like no other elections and we need to use the best expertise and experience we can muster in order to fight effective campaigns. We won more than 10 per cent of the vote in the last two we fought, which is only slightly less than our results in some regions in the European elections. By-elections can also be an excellent way of drawing attention to our cause and putting pressure on the old Parties.

Another organizational change has absorbed the Ashford call-centre, previously a stand-alone unit, INTO phpbb_the Party’s central structure. It has now become a central Party resource working fully in conjunction with our Birmingham head office. It will also be an integral part of the Party’s central financial structure. Ashford has a team of highly professional operators who will help develop the Party in a modern way. In the immediate future Ashford will lead the operation to renew lapsed members as well as take the thousands of calls, which will be generated by our petition campaign.

BRANCHES

We will press ahead with further improvements in administration, including our computer software, but there is only a certain amount that can be done from the centre. At the end of the day our Party’s strength lies in the grassroots and this depends on the work that is done by the branches.

We must aim to have a branch in every constituency. Where a current branch extends over more than one constituency it should set as a prime objective the task of becoming strong enough to split INTO phpbb_new constituency-wide branches. Able organizers should be encouraged to begin new branches.

All branches should have an active programme. This programme should include money-raising functions and political campaigning. It is not hard to hold raffles, house parties or bring-and-buy sales. Many may not know that the Tory Party almost entirely finances its local Parliamentary campaigns from such branch events.
Political work is equally important. Even if this is simply delivering national leaflets, a small delivery exercise is easy to do and helps our work.

Next Spring there will be local elections in most areas and branches should begin drawing up plans. Identify potential candidates and good wards to fight. Begin working those wards and taking a stand on local issues. We have scored some real successes at local level and our work here builds us firm foundations.

UKIP has some very exciting opportunities in the immediate future and we must all pull together so that we can make a real impact.

Yours sincerely

ROGER KNAPMAN MEP
Leader

Percentage · 01-09-2005, 04:49 PM

So,plans for elections,national petitions,improvment in admin,apointments & apeals for help,these were the main thrusts of the initiatives outlined, however no mention of new policy initiatives,in fact the word policy wasn't even used............Interesting as he'd only just personaly given the go-ahead for research groups 5 days previous.

Lets hope he understands the importance of new policy initiatives otherwise i'm convinced the rest of his initiatives in respect of a political party will meet that of a cull de sac

B.A.Ware · 01-09-2005, 05:00 PM

Exactly what I thought and no mention of pushing Ukip forward as a fully fledged party.

Quote:

for our main goal of withdrawing Britain from the EU.

One of our main goals would have been nice, but if you are only interested in being an EU protest party I suppose it is our main goal.
:cry:

WindupMerchant · 01-09-2005, 05:02 PM

Doesn't mention a candidate to contest Livingston.
Labour; LibDem and SNP have named their candidate I believe.
Charles Kennedy has already started LibDem campaign.
There has been items on the Scottish News about the by-election, but no memtion of UKIP contesting it, anyone got any info. :?:

Percentage · 01-09-2005, 05:33 PM

C'mon Mr Mc Merchant,Steve Allison has been updating everyone as best he can,thats been practically one of the few positives in recent weeks! :?

We've even had a geography lesson on the Livingstone area!

C_steam · 01-09-2005, 06:13 PM

And if we don't achieve 2 million signatures then essentially its a win for the yes camp.

A petition not a good strategy IMHO. I hope to be proved wrong.

Apart from 'the troops' organising this from the ground up and going round knocking on doors, having stalls etc, what ideas and support is there from HQ on this? _ we should know by now if we are to hit the ground running on the 12th.

C_steam · 01-09-2005, 06:15 PM

Quote:

David Lott, who now is our team leader in Brussels

Our what? Perhaps Bella can illuminate us on this.

WindupMerchant · 01-09-2005, 06:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Percentage

C'mon Mr Mc Merchant,Steve Allison has been updating everyone as best he can,thats been practically one of the few positives in recent weeks! :?

We've even had a geography lesson on the Livingstone area!

C'mon Mr Mc% you were the first to moan about no policy (*note hardened black to stress your point) in this first post statement. What do you want, suger on it :?:

Milo · 01-09-2005, 08:08 PM

Ha, at lest he has bothered to write a letter.

I think Roger should write one every month. 8)

Alex McKee · 01-09-2005, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Milo

Ha, at lest he has bothered to write a letter.

I think Roger should write one every month. 8)

Would be nice, I agree.

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01-09-2005, 04:49 PM	#2 (permalink)
Percentage Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: N.Ireland Posts: 1,729	So,plans for elections,national petitions,improvment in admin,apointments & apeals for help,these were the main thrusts of the initiatives outlined, however no mention of new policy initiatives,in fact the word policy wasn't even used............Interesting as he'd only just personaly given the go-ahead for research groups 5 days previous. Lets hope he understands the importance of new policy initiatives otherwise i'm convinced the rest of his initiatives in respect of a political party will meet that of a cull de sac

01-09-2005, 05:02 PM	#4 (permalink)
WindupMerchant Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 1,508	Doesn't mention a candidate to contest Livingston. Labour; LibDem and SNP have named their candidate I believe. Charles Kennedy has already started LibDem campaign. There has been items on the Scottish News about the by-election, but no memtion of UKIP contesting it, anyone got any info. :?:

01-09-2005, 05:33 PM	#5 (permalink)
Percentage Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: N.Ireland Posts: 1,729	C'mon Mr Mc Merchant,Steve Allison has been updating everyone as best he can,thats been practically one of the few positives in recent weeks! :? We've even had a geography lesson on the Livingstone area!

01-09-2005, 06:13 PM	#6 (permalink)
C_steam Super Moderator Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Paddling up 5hit creek..... Posts: 7,797	And if we don't achieve 2 million signatures then essentially its a win for the yes camp. A petition not a good strategy IMHO. I hope to be proved wrong. Apart from 'the troops' organising this from the ground up and going round knocking on doors, having stalls etc, what ideas and support is there from HQ on this? _ we should know by now if we are to hit the ground running on the 12th.

01-09-2005, 08:08 PM	#9 (permalink)
Milo Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Leicestershire Posts: 134 Party: UKIP	Ha, at lest he has bothered to write a letter. I think Roger should write one every month. 8)