Independent UKIP

There seems to be a consensus here that he has quit the NEC (regrettably in my opinion). It is quite surreal that this forum knows this information but the UKIP website still shows Batten as a member of the NEC and no information has been provided on the matter by the party. At least the other resignees photos were rapidly removed from the website; that was deemed enough to inform the world of their resignation.

In the absence of any press release by the party I presume some journalist will now make a simple phone call and ask whether Gerard Batten is on the NEC or not. And if not why not. And why has this information been witheld from the media and party members until the question was asked. I would hope the answer is that Gerard is still on the NEC and has not resigned at all. I won't hold my breath.

brian lee

Petrina wroteIf one takes the view that the NEC is all knowing, and believes it has the right to take major decisions without any form of discussion with the Party generally, that is a recipe for many people in the Party saying they can't be bothered. After the nonsensical hype that UKIP would win seats at the 2005 General Election together with unrealistic and expensive campaigns resulting in pathetically few votes, what can the activists expect to get for their time and money?

Suppose a potential candidate X works his but off to get himself known for over a year and then at the last minute the sitting MP says I'm supporting BOO, Nigel will say, Sorry Mr X you now have to support the Tory candidate.

Why bother standing UKIP candidates at all? Why not wait till near the election and just support any candidates from any party who have signed up to BOO? Should UKIP exist? Why not close it down and everybody join CIB?

mkpdavies

?

Because (and this is damning), hardly any MPs support BOO.

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tammy_cat

At a meeting in the East Midlands on 27th November, Nigel said that he would ask the NEC to approve the following action:

that a letter be sent to all sitting MPs asking them to sign the BOO petition and GIVING A DEADLINE of July 2007 for them to do so.

that UKIP would not stand a candidate against any MPs signed up to BOO by that date.

B.A.Ware

What a load of ********, here we have Petrina and the rest twisting words applying rules when anybody that was at that conference knew the members wanted to stand every where they could.

Some of you are no better than the people that play the game of politics, does anybody actually remember what principles were.

Hartlepool

Gerard has most certainly resigned from the NEC.


Some of those remaining on the NEC are still dedicated to the Membership who put them there,and are hanging in there for them.


Gerard made a point in resigning,he did so in support of Party Democracy and some of those remaining are doing so for the same reason,DEMOCRACY.


Those who remain on the NEC will find it hard to survive but are determined to serve out their time and resist any pressure to leave.

C_steam

I'm with HP on this one.

Those on the NEC who stand for the will of the membership can help ensure this party becomes the party it should be.

If it - truly - becomes the Nigel party then all it takes is one slip, one indescretion and the house of cards comes down - presupposing that the media don't already have all the ammo they need on nigel and aren't just waiting to fire the gun.

harryaldridge

Nigel's position on fielding candidates, or not, against BOO MPs iinteresting. And from what i understand it is not BOO candidates standing that we will move aside for, it is only sitting MPs who have signed up to BOO.

As i understand it Nigel has said that until we have 646 candiates (one for each constituency) we should not stand candidates against sitting BOO MPs. as it is self defeating. When we have enough candidate sthen we will field candidates in all constituencies, but until then we should give BOO MPs a clear run.

When i first heard Nigel did not want to oppose BOO candidates i was quite worried, but it woudl appear that he is not talking about candidates but sitting MPs, and only until we have enough candidates to stand nationally.

SponPlague

I support Nigel's stance on this. I stood against Kate Hoey in Vauxhall, last time, with Gerard's full support, (it was the easisest place without a candidate for me to campaign in at the time) but vividly recall Chris Booker running a piece saying "suppport your UKIP candidate except in Vauxhall". I note, however, that whilst Kate has impeccable eurosceptic credentials, she hasn't signed BOO...

Petrina

Hang on BA Ware ,let`s just review the facts ,they are not b......s.

The 2004 conference DEBATED the question of standing against eurosceptics of other parties,it was not a motion and therefore under the rules could not bind the party -FACT

It did however act as a brake on NF`s views ,in the GE we did stand against Eurosceptics although many in the party thought we should not -FACT

RKS made an excellent speech ,the mood of the conference was totally behind him on this point .NF and Mn were soundly beaten -FACT

This issue has been a running sore in UKIP .NF made it abundantly clear at the election that if elected he would not stand against BOO candidates and he won the election -FACT

If GB and others felt so strongly about this point then why didn`t GB put his head above the parapit on this and stand for the leadership instead of supporting a candidate who was so obviously in the pocket of NF and therefore unlikely to take him on on this matter?QUESTION