Independent UKIP

That sounds a rather defeatist question Mr Warry. Swindon alone cannot get us out of the EU but it can help us on our way. What, Mr Warry are your wholly positive suggestions for how UKIP Swindon can campaign to help ensure that the UK does leave the EU? I'm sure the branch would welcome them.

Aardvark

Credit where credit is due, 50,000 leaflets conveying our collective view on the EU is worthy of praise. Well done Swindon.

Niall what would you suggest we do? I would, have, put my reputation on the line, as you have, to further UKIP's cause. I got kicked in the teeth, rather than thanked, by members in Witney, such as Dave Barnby and James Robertshaw. I lost thousands of pounds because of my candidacy and was prepared to stand again. I will give the movement one more go, but I want to know what to do to be most effective (in Witney our new candidate is a non-driving, septuagenerian, former bankrupt Russian aristocrat who has been ordered to pay the largest libel damages in UK history). I do ask 'what is the point?'. There is no point fighting Cameron with a Russian Jacobite aristocrat who has never raised a finger to assist a single constituent in Witney; where do I put my efforts?

__________________
When in Woking do as the Wokes do.

"I do not wish to form my opinions by thoughtlessly quoting others; I wish others to support their opinions by sensibly quoting me." Paul Wesson (Aardvark) 13th April 2008

Bob FM

In Swindon the final say on our candidates was the members of Swindon group, was that not the case in Witney, if it was then surely the group should accept the democratic course, if it wasn't then surely there must be party rules on this. And before someone says I should know, I have a deputy chairman and secretary that are very able with regard to the finer points of UKIP rules. Were it of concern to my group I would ask them.

Aardvark

In Witney neither candidate was allowed to campaign other than a hustings, with a copy of speeches and answers to questions circulated. I played it straight, but one of Tolstoy's supporters 'phoned people on his behalf and said some things about me that were not true - I am not a supporter of Nazis or a member of the Illuminati.

At the hustings Tolstoy made some 'errors of fact' and said things that are not credible, but I was not allowed to critique his speech - he said his vote in Wantage was increasing, when it declined last time out; he said he got over 500 votes in Barnsley when he got just over 300; he told a story of EU expenditure in Chad where the figures he gave suggested that a multiple of the entire EU budget was spent on one small African country; he said his children would campaign in the forthcoming election, but didn't point out that the one who runs a riding school near Moscow would be unlikely to travel to Witney to push a few leaflets; he said he couldn't canvass in Barnsley as the BBC spent 2 hours getting a shot of him knocking a door and talking to an elector (in other words he allocated 2 hours to canvassing in an entire election campaign); he forgot to mention the thing he is most famous for - having record libel damages awarded against him and not paying a penny of the million plus he owes the estate of Lord Aldington; he forgot to mention having been a bankrupt; he mentioned he couldn't drive and Dave Barnby offered to drive him around for the entire campaign (that's a lot of commitment and could not be sustained if Tolstoy became MP); as he can't drive he has never canvassed or leafletted and won't be doing so next time (he will be 74 after all). Despite living in a large Georgian farmhouse and having acres of land, he has refused to pay his deposit as he doesn't expect to get it back - good start, a candidate who is targetting less than 5% of the vote. He can afford to attend the Russian Summer Ball, of which he is a sponsor, at several hundred pounds a ticket for him and the Countess. He can afford to be a member of the Beefsteaks. He devotes time and effort to Russian campaigns and supports the return of the Romanovs. He is also a leading light in the society to restore the Stewart monarchy in Scotland. His Pravda interview slags off the English middle-classes and he makes it clear he doesn't really like our type. He is a member of a Cossack horde. A lot of this was not known to any Witney member, but is known to the local press.

The vote was 10 each for myself and Tolstoy, but 7 members hadn't followed the voting instructions and their votes were discounted leaving the vote at 7-6 to Tolstoy. The branch chairman had not voted as he intended, in the event of a tie, to cast a unique vote (as opposed to exercising a right to 2 votes). The Chairman would have supported me. The result is that Tolstoy won the candidacy by one vote where had all votes been accepted and had the Chairman's vote been cast in my favour I would have been the candidate.

We now have the absurdity of a candidate who did not command the support of the majority putting himself forward. He will prove to be a liability.

I have thought about the situation and have decided that at the moment Tolstoy knocks his 1000th door canvassing then I will canvass 2000 doors for him if time allows. Once he has pushed 5000 leaflets I will do the same. This actually means I will not be required to canvass or leaflet at all.

I have of course knocked thousands of doors in the constituency as both a Tory and Independent. I have even been an elected local councillor for 9 years (an overlap of 4 District and 8 Town) and have campaigned on a number of issues locally. I was a non-executive director of the local NHS PCT. I sit on the local schools admission appeals panel. I am well known in the local folk scene and would continue to dance out during an election campaign as people like to see their candidates doing normal things. I still have a residue personal vote that will come out for me as a local campaigner and activist, but will not vote for a carpetbagging Russian aristo who does not live here and has no intention of ever doing so. Such is life. My daughter and her mates, who were too young to vote last time, will not cast their votes for Tolstoy nor will they tell anyone to do so; they would vote for me and would tell all their friends to vote for 'Bex' dad' - that's a couple of hundred votes out of the window.

I predict a poor UKIP campaign in Witney.

__________________
When in Woking do as the Wokes do.

"I do not wish to form my opinions by thoughtlessly quoting others; I wish others to support their opinions by sensibly quoting me." Paul Wesson (Aardvark) 13th April 2008

Richard Allen

I have no idea what Niall would do but we know from past experience that it wouldn't involve fighting elections.

Geoffrey Collier

Richard Allen: I am being informed that fighting elections, is not something that UKIP intends to do, other than a few 'nominal seats', in the next GE. I am sure that gaining MEP seats (2009) is still our intention, but we are living in strange times; bet on nothing.

Richard Allen

I am sure that the fact we are only going to fight a few seats will come as big shock to our 200+ PPCs who have been selected and to those going through the selection process.

Geoffrey Collier

Richard Allen: I do hope that neither shock nor disappointment will be their reward.

Aardvark

Is this fight as opposed to being a paper candidate? Last GE we 'fought' 550ish seats. 200+ candidates is nothing in comparison.

If we have a ggod run at the Euros ahead of the GE then we can expect more candidates to come forward, but if we are wrongfooted we could end up with less candidates than at the last GE. The message would get out that we are in decline. We have to have more candidates than the BNP otherwise we're finished.

__________________
When in Woking do as the Wokes do.

"I do not wish to form my opinions by thoughtlessly quoting others; I wish others to support their opinions by sensibly quoting me." Paul Wesson (Aardvark) 13th April 2008

Richard Allen

The 200+ figure is based on those PPCs currently listed on the website. I understand the figure is actually higher. This far out from the election 200+ isn't a bad figure and doubtless we will more by the election.

As for fight V stand. It is clear that we do not have the resources to run a proper campaign in every constituency. We should focus resources into target seats while having candidates in as many seats as possible.