News: NEC meeting of 12 May 2008 (from ukip.org)

Independent UKIP · 25-05-2008, 01:24 AM

UK Independence Party - NEC meeting of 12 May 2008

Quote:

NEC meeting of 12 May 2008
Thursday, 22 May 2008
Bob Spink MP
The chairman welcomed UKIP's new MP, Bob Spink, who had been invited to address the NEC, and he emphasised the value to the party of gaining our first representative in the Commons.

Giving his reasons for joining UKIP, Bob Spink expressed his disillusionment with the attitudes of all the major parties to the vital issue of the EU. He intends to raise the profile and brand image of UKIP in the UK Parliament to help publicise UKIP’s domestic policy portfolio. He will fight hard at the next general election to retain his Castle Point seat for UKIP.

Elections
Local Elections
Reviewing the Party's results in the recent local elections, the party leader pointed to a number of very creditable scores by UKIP candidates. He said this demonstrated that, where we had taken on board the lessons of how to fight elections properly and make UKIP relevant to local issues, we were doing much better.

London
Mayoral candidate Gerard Batten gave an overview of the election for the London Mayor and Assembly. He felt that all the elements, the UKIP bus, the election address, broadcast, website, policies etc were excellent but the result had been disappointing. There was an overwhelming push by the Tories to capitalise on the desire of the electorate to "get rid of Ken". This meant the smaller parties had been squeezed and their share of the vote had suffered. Immigration had been a major issue and UKIP needed to address this vigorously if we wished to do well in 2009.

By-elections
The NEC gave its approval in principle for the party to fight the by-election in Henley when this is called following Boris Johnson's election as London mayor. NEC approval to contest the by-election in Crewe and Nantwich (22 May) with Mike Nattrass as the candidate had been previously obtained.

The Independence and Democracy group
The party leader advised that Jens-Peter Bonde had now retired as co-president of the Ind-Dem group in the European Parliament, saying this was a great loss to the group and would result in more work for him. There had been some discussion on the benefits of UKIP MEPs remaining in the group. Besides the opportunities that the group had provided for UKIP publicity, he felt that one of the most valuable things membership of Ind-Dem gave us was to refute the allegations of insularity which were frequently levelled at UKIP.

The Lisbon Treaty
The party leader noted the events in respect of the Lisbon Treaty that would take place in June:
9-10 June – Stuart Wheeler’s judicial review case: he felt that the principle Wheeler was fighting on might well be upheld and it would be helpful if this was the case, but he did not expect that the government would be ordered to hold a referendum.
11 June – House of Lords vote (which would approve the Treaty)
12 June – Referendum vote in Ireland, which might well be a "No"

Young Independence
Lisa Duffy (YI co-ordinator) reported that YI is continuing to expand its activities, with a summer funding campaign and stands at five University Freshers Fairs planned for the autumn.

John Whittaker
Chairman
22 May 2008

As per usual noone other than me appears to be interested in the NEC reports. That doesn't stop any of the moaning from some people here about that exact same NEC and what they supposedly are and aren't doing.

(this May report was published at ukip.org on Thursday)

So confirmation from Spink that he will fight for UKIP at the next general election. The lengthy discussion about whether he'll try to be a MEP now redundant I think as he can't be both. Did Spink addressing the NEC leak? I don't recall so. If I'm right that is good evidence of a reducing leak culture. Hopefully an ended culture. Spink concentrating on the UKIP domestic policies is excellent news. I am very pleased to hear that.

On local elections I cannot but agree with what Farage says. I doubt he is best placed to say it though. On London I would say that the website was utterly abysmal so Batten is very wrong about that. Who was my constituency UKIP candidate?; the website didn't even imply there was such a person let alone name him. I don't disagree with the rest of his comments.

I hope UKIP are already active in Henley and are aiming to beat Labour. We were beaten by the Greens last time and if a certain former constituency chair expresses his personal views at any Henley BNP election meetings then we have no realistic hope of doing well. I will be very happy if Aardvark is the candidate.

On Ind/Dem Farage says insularity I say and have said Little Englander. Same difference; same reality. Young Independence - 5 fairs is not many but as throughout the history of UKIP, unless there are students on the ground willing to create/develop the groups nothing can happen regardless of what the advocates and particuarly detractors of Lisa Duffy may wish to pretend. She can't create something out of nothing.

Anthony Butcher · 25-05-2008, 11:06 AM

Quote:

London
Mayoral candidate Gerard Batten gave an overview of the election for the London Mayor and Assembly. He felt that all the elements, the UKIP bus, the election address, broadcast, website, policies etc were excellent but the result had been disappointing. There was an overwhelming push by the Tories to capitalise on the desire of the electorate to "get rid of Ken". This meant the smaller parties had been squeezed and their share of the vote had suffered. Immigration had been a major issue and UKIP needed to address this vigorously if we wished to do well in 2009.

Hmm, UKIP has used a bus in London and C&N now, and there doesn't really seem to have been much effect. It can't be particularly pleasing to the eye of environmentalists either, but since UKIP is Global Warming Denialist, that doesn't really matter I suppose

His website was OK, but certainly not 'excellent'. I didn't watch the broadcast, but most people here agreed that it was good.

Immigration may have been a major issue, but UKIP has been plugging this line to no effect since 2005. So either UKIP is marketing their immigration policy really badly, or this just isn't an area where UKIP can make any headway. Addressing it 'vigorously' from now on just sounds like doing more of the same and it will achieve nothing beyond reinforcing the BNP-lite image.... which isn't particulrly useful if the BNP is standing in the same election.

What UKIP really needs is a complete relaunch with a fresh, imaginative approach to spark some interest.

Anthony Butcher · 25-05-2008, 11:11 AM

What I note is missing from this NEC report, and every other previous one, is a long term strategy from the party leadership. I have mentioned this many times before, but it seems more important now, after the disappointing performances in London, Crewe & Nantwich and the mixed results in the locals.

HM · 25-05-2008, 11:48 AM

If I was on the UKIP NEC this would be my 'action plan':
* Get a decent website
* Arrange as many TV interviews as possible
* Get out there 'snatching' more Eurosceptic Tories
* Campaign more on high taxation and the smoking ban
* Keep up the anti-EU tirade
* Get rid of the image that UKIP is an internally crumbling oldies' party

kernow · 25-05-2008, 03:51 PM

Quite a number of people on this forum have said in the past we should concentrate on local issues to eventually get into Government. Surely the Lib' Dems' who are expert at this have never got closer than third place and never will! Third spot never has any influence on major issues! If we have to wait until we battle our way through to third spot, by the time we get there, we'll probably have a Russian prime Minister!
In my opinion we have to continue expose how the EU is affecting how our Country is governed! Getting our message across in the strongest ACCURATE terms possible, especially about how mass immigration to this Country is totally down to us being a member of the EU. Of course we must have policies to run the Country, but we must EMPHASISE, that unless we leave the EU, they're not worth the paper they're written on and neither are any of the OTHER Party's policies!

kernow · 25-05-2008, 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harris Morgan

If I was on the UKIP NEC this would be my 'action plan':
* Get a decent website
* Arrange as many TV interviews as possible
* Get out there 'snatching' more Eurosceptic Tories
* Campaign more on high taxation and the smoking ban
* Keep up the anti-EU tirade
* Get rid of the image that UKIP is an internally crumbling oldies' party

Well said! I agree with all your points except the Smoking ban! In my opinion we'd be idiots to have that as part of our Manefesto!

gc · 25-05-2008, 03:59 PM

Kernow, the Tories and Labour are also increasingly concentrating on local issues now in their campaigning, as are the Greens, who are experiencing a bit of a rennaissance at the moment.

Politics is changing to reflect shifting societal values.... Understanding this shift is the key. A year ago I would have said that the Tories don't get this anymore than UKIP does, but they seem to have woken up.

Bob FM · 25-05-2008, 05:48 PM

The Tories have far from woken up, the Labour supporter has, the trouble is as I have said before we do ourselves no favours by this constant winging, about this person, or that person. It's like children in a playground. If you don't want to be part of the game, find another one, Harris, totally agree, including the smoking ban, 14 million potential votes cannot be overlooked.

mrabody · 25-05-2008, 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kernow

Quite a number of people on this forum have said in the past we should concentrate on local issues to eventually get into Government. Surely the Lib' Dems' who are expert at this have never got closer than third place and never will! Third spot never has any influence on major issues! If we have to wait until we battle our way through to third spot, by the time we get there, we'll probably have a Russian prime Minister!
In my opinion we have to continue expose how the EU is affecting how our Country is governed! Getting our message across in the strongest ACCURATE terms possible, especially about how mass immigration to this Country is totally down to us being a member of the EU. Of course we must have policies to run the Country, but we must EMPHASISE, that unless we leave the EU, they're not worth the paper they're written on and neither are any of the OTHER Party's policies!

The problem for the Lib Dems, is that they generally agree with the Tories and Labour on most issues? They don't have a very distinctive message on taxes, immigration, crime, the environment, our membership in the EU and so on and so forth. As a friend of mine likes to say "If the Lib Dems are the answer, what was the question?"

It is no coincidence that the Lib Dem's best ever results were achieved in 2005 when they had a distinctive message on Iraq.

I would like to think that UKIP's policies differentiate us from the "big three" and are more in tune with a large part of the electorate.

Of course this doesn't mean we shouldn't try and educate people about the effects of the EU. But if we want people to seriously consider voting for us, we need to have a comprehensive domestic policy platform and we need to contest local, and county elections.

prober · 26-05-2008, 12:10 PM

Pathetic NF comment (in the face of poor to mediocre results and being thrashed by BNP) on local elections where UKIP as a party with years to get it's act together is totally amateur with no plan, LG spokesperson, councillors association, strategy, or material ( apart from JA's good work) either to connect with the public (on EU AND domestics) as a party or raise capability and impact potential of branches or target key seats. Weak branches are left to sink with only a handful of strong ones capable alone of reinventing the wheel sufficiently to do reasonably well. The professionalism of Tories & Lib Dems makes UKIP an embarrasment. As UKIP has no real interest in being a 4th domestic party while NF is in charge and 2009 will soak up all strategic attention, maybe its time to stop pretending, abandon local elections and put everything into 2009 IF UKIP does well 2009 its back to single issue anyway. If UKIP fails 2009 NF will have to resign and an apportunity is available to start to build a desperately needed non racist 4th domestic party uncluttered by the single issue.

25-05-2008, 11:11 AM	#3 (permalink)
Anthony Butcher Administrator Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Long Ashton, Bristol Posts: 9,823 Party: None	What I note is missing from this NEC report, and every other previous one, is a long term strategy from the party leadership. I have mentioned this many times before, but it seems more important now, after the disappointing performances in London, Crewe & Nantwich and the mixed results in the locals. __________________ If you care about what's in your food and where it comes from, then get it labelled! Label My Food - http://www.labelmyfood.org.uk

25-05-2008, 11:48 AM	#4 (permalink)
HM Senior Member Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 933 Party: None	If I was on the UKIP NEC this would be my 'action plan': * Get a decent website * Arrange as many TV interviews as possible * Get out there 'snatching' more Eurosceptic Tories * Campaign more on high taxation and the smoking ban * Keep up the anti-EU tirade * Get rid of the image that UKIP is an internally crumbling oldies' party __________________ Respice post te; hominem te esse memento!

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25-05-2008, 03:51 PM	#5 (permalink)
kernow Uber Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 5,016	Quite a number of people on this forum have said in the past we should concentrate on local issues to eventually get into Government. Surely the Lib' Dems' who are expert at this have never got closer than third place and never will! Third spot never has any influence on major issues! If we have to wait until we battle our way through to third spot, by the time we get there, we'll probably have a Russian prime Minister! In my opinion we have to continue expose how the EU is affecting how our Country is governed! Getting our message across in the strongest ACCURATE terms possible, especially about how mass immigration to this Country is totally down to us being a member of the EU. Of course we must have policies to run the Country, but we must EMPHASISE, that unless we leave the EU, they're not worth the paper they're written on and neither are any of the OTHER Party's policies!

25-05-2008, 03:59 PM	#7 (permalink)
gc Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 504	Kernow, the Tories and Labour are also increasingly concentrating on local issues now in their campaigning, as are the Greens, who are experiencing a bit of a rennaissance at the moment. Politics is changing to reflect shifting societal values.... Understanding this shift is the key. A year ago I would have said that the Tories don't get this anymore than UKIP does, but they seem to have woken up.

25-05-2008, 05:48 PM	#8 (permalink)
Bob FM Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: South Marston Swindon Posts: 1,126	The Tories have far from woken up, the Labour supporter has, the trouble is as I have said before we do ourselves no favours by this constant winging, about this person, or that person. It's like children in a playground. If you don't want to be part of the game, find another one, Harris, totally agree, including the smoking ban, 14 million potential votes cannot be overlooked.

26-05-2008, 12:10 PM	#10 (permalink)
prober Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 836	Pathetic NF comment (in the face of poor to mediocre results and being thrashed by BNP) on local elections where UKIP as a party with years to get it's act together is totally amateur with no plan, LG spokesperson, councillors association, strategy, or material ( apart from JA's good work) either to connect with the public (on EU AND domestics) as a party or raise capability and impact potential of branches or target key seats. Weak branches are left to sink with only a handful of strong ones capable alone of reinventing the wheel sufficiently to do reasonably well. The professionalism of Tories & Lib Dems makes UKIP an embarrasment. As UKIP has no real interest in being a 4th domestic party while NF is in charge and 2009 will soak up all strategic attention, maybe its time to stop pretending, abandon local elections and put everything into 2009 IF UKIP does well 2009 its back to single issue anyway. If UKIP fails 2009 NF will have to resign and an apportunity is available to start to build a desperately needed non racist 4th domestic party uncluttered by the single issue.