gimlet

Thoughts on this, I think it has good potential.
Taken from Stop the Treaty

Battle for Britain March

Objective

Both UKIP members and the general public either want a referendum (90%) or are in total opposition to the Lisbon Treaty (80%). At this time other groups, e.g. the Campaign for an Independent Britain, the Freedom Association, and members of other political parties have identical aims. They need an opportunity to make their collective voices heard.

The key initial objective is to force this government, via the House of Lords, to hold a referendum via an amendment to the current Treaty Bill going through Parliament. That needs a demonstration of public resolve and a large dose of adverse and potentially damaging publicity. It needs something that captures the public imagination, unites the various groups, and demands media attention.

The concept

During the depression of the 1920’s a group of the unemployed in Jarrow marched to London. It achieved huge public attention and became part of the history of that period. Could a similar effort succeed again? Why not if done effectively.

To gain attention needs a theme. During that last Battle for Britain the Spitfire was the key weapon that achieved a victory against the odds and remains an icon of the period. Stoke-on-Trent happens to be the place where Reginald Mitchell, designer of the Spitfire, was born and commence his engineering career. Could there be a better place to start a march for the new Battle for Britain? It even has a pub in the central shopping area called “The Reginald Mitchell”. It is a theme that can be built on and expanded. What if we could start the march with a real Spitfire flying overhead?

How to do it

A march from Stoke-on-Trent could be routed to take in some major population centres. Stafford, Wolverhampton, Dudley, the Birmingham conurbation and on to Coventry, Rugby, Oxford etc.. It would be a march through the backbone of England. culminating in the Capital.

It would need a hardcore of people prepared to walk all the way supported by a logistics team. The overall distance would be about 190 miles. Taking 15 days, that would mean an average of about 14 miles per day if a rest day is included. Starting on a Saturday would mean a Sunday arrival in London.

What is far more important than the “hardcore marchers” is that they are joined en route by as many others as possible if only for the day. Ways must be found to gain maximum impact and publicity.

Organisation

It would need the detailed planning of a battle campaign. Initial thoughts are:-

• A Co-ordinating task group consisting of individuals responsible for key areas including, but not limited to, overall project management, logistics, liaison with outside bodies (police, local authorities etc.) media relations, security and crowd control .finance etc.
• Segment task groups to take on responsibility for each day of the march. They would need to be active in advance of the day to alert local media, hand out leaflets, liaise with local police etc and provide food and accommodation. If various branches of UKIP could either alone or with others take on responsibility for a segment this could work well.

A key initial task must be to obtain finance. Through collection buckets en route it is hoped that once started it can become self financing but kick start funds are essential to get the project off the ground. The first key task is to find generous sponsors.

Timing

Currently it looks as if the Lisbon Treaty Bill will be going through the House of Lords during June. Starting the march on Saturday June 7th (almost exactly 44 years after the original D-Day) would see a London arrival on Sunday the 22nd). This would need some co-ordination with supporters in the House of Lords.

Potential Support

The idea was floated at the Stop the Lisbon Treaty conference near Bristol on 5th April and was very well received. A number of people signed up immediately. It seemed to capture the imagination. Obviously we need many more to move ahead particularly those in a position to:-

• Do the whole march.
• Offer extended help
• Organise a segment
• Offer specialised skills and experience.
• However, no offer of help is too small!

To offer help, find out more etc. contact David Howell on;

01630 674206 or 07782 623915 or e-mail hillside_osprey@yahoo.co.uk

chikrodah

Just a thought, but local Round Table, Rotary and Lions branches may have people with the logistical planning expertise that's required by this.