John Page

What should a work programme for the party's UK leadership look like?

In my mock manifesto (real candidates, you're welcome to copy) I suggested some important administrative changes.

One other task for the UK leadership is to build a series of UKIP themes which MEPs and local spokesmen can use as pegs for comments to the media, through releases or letters.

Looking at some news items just from today, they could include -

Better law enforcement

Personal responsibility, for instance on asbos and housing benefit (good but why wait till 2008?), and possible supply restrictions on the 15%! of people who do not pay their water bills, safe in the knowledge they will not have their supply cut off.

These and other themes should be put out to branches and regions in a consultation exercise. Then UKIP should work one of them into every comment it puts out nationally or locally, so that the public become familiar with UKIP's themes well before any election campaign.

The policies - which would come later - would apply the themes in various areas.

It's a bit late to be writing a full set of themes tonight. It's really a process for the leadership to follow that I'm trying to sketch.