brad12jy

Stuart Gulleford reports

Speaking in front of a packed house at Bar Hill, Cambridge, on 5 April, Jeffrey Titford, Dr John Whittaker, Lord Stoddart of Swindon and Nigel Farage gave fascinating speeches about the future of the country and the Party.

Jeffrey Titford opened the conference with a speech in which he looked ahead to the competition for places on the ballot for MEP. He described in some detail the kind of sacrifices that those that are elected as MEPs will have to make. He mentioned two new speaking engagements he had just accepted both of which clashed with family commitments. Jeffrey explained that, harsh as it sounds, the Party even has to come before family, once you are elected. He called upon the audience to be careful to choose candidates willing to make such sacrifices and with long track records of hard work for the Party. He also surprised the audience by announcing that he would not be seeking election himself.

Dr John Whittaker, the Party Chairman, spelled out how the EU is damaging Britain’s economic future and looked ahead to the prospects for the Party, calling upon it to rise to the challenges ahead with unity. He spoke at length about the development of the Party’s policy platform and the hard work that had been invested in it. He said that new policies in specific areas would continue to be rolled out over time, as had the recent one on energy, in which the Party had strongly supported the development of nuclear power. Dr Whittaker said that, as a scientist, he saw no future in wind turbines but would like to see a lot more research into the development of tidal and wave power.

Lord Stoddart of Swindon gave a very warmly received speech in which he painted a bleak picture of the way the Labour Government is dismantling Britain and changing the whole relationship between the people and their elected representatives. He pointed out the thousands of new criminal offences it had created and said that this Government is intent upon creating a situation in which the people of Britain will become subservient to those it elects, the opposite to the traditional relationship upon which our Parliamentary democracy has been built. He highlighted the importance of UKIP continuing to seek representation at Westminster. Lord Stoddart received a lengthy standing ovation from an audience which clearly wanted more.

Party Leader, Nigel Farage gave his usual barnstorming performance in which he looked ahead to the future of the Party. He said that getting UKIP MPs to Westminster must always be a fundamental target for us and that we must not be sidetracked by distractions, including those provided by malicious articles in national newspapers. He told the audience that UKIP members were generally very sceptical about things they read in the newspapers except when it came to material about the Party and its MEPs, which they tended to take far too seriously. He highlighted the “pack of lies” written about him recently in a Sunday newspaper, about which he was seeking legal redress. Nigel said there would be more of this mischief and that it wouldn’t always be possible to fight it out in the courts. He recommended that members should develop “a thicker skin”, when it comes to material denigrating the Party.

A report was also given on the Party’s finances in the Eastern Counties by Treasurer, James Carver. He asked members to continue to donate towards the European Election fund, through standing orders, some of which he handed out during his speech. He also asked the audience to give generously toward the expenses of the event and more than £400 was raised. Young Independence Chairman, Lisa Duffy gave a report on the excellent progress being made with the new organisation for young people interested in politics. Mrs Duffy highlighted the special meetings held for young people, representation at events all around the country and the creation of a website

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chikrodah

As posted on another thread, the late appearance of this report is apparently due to Steve Gulleford going on holiday for a week. With the best will in the world, I find it difficult to believe that it is actually possible that the only person deemed capable of writing the official report was the one person with a pre-booked holiday immediately after the event.

My thoughts on a conference that I only know through a late report from a UKIP staff member:

1. I'm sure that the politically ambitious in UKIP have already decided that it's "party first, family second". Presumably, therefore, this message was aimed at those selecting those candidates rather than the candidates themselves. The conspiracy mongers will have a field day with the suggestion that candidates are chosen according to Titford's criteria.

2. Dr. Whittaker's speech seemed to be a case of preaching to the converted. Nothing wrong with that at a party rally.

3. Lord Stoddart is an excellent speaker, of both prepared and ad-hoc speeches, as I discovered when we both shared a platform where the meeting rules were changed literally at the last minute.

4. Was NF's speech in the tradition of "travelling around the country giving political speeches" or "to appear at country fairs and carnivals performing stunts"? Both are valid definitions of barnstorming. Many will associate the phrase with the stunt flying of antique aircraft. Not necessarily the image UKIP would want. The report gives the impression that he's obsessed with both his own image and the adverse reports about himself in newspapers. I'm sure that's not the case.

5. £400 raised towards the expenses of the meeting? How expensive are village halls in Bar Hill? Our local hall costs £20 per hour.

charlie endell

I have heard Farage referred to as a stunt on a number of occasions.

Legin

Bar Hill must be a small hall!! I understand there were only 90 members there and 10 visitors!!