MANY THANKS TO ALL KIPPERS

Well we did well across the nation on Sunday night didn’t we? 13 MEP’s is a great result!. It was a great shame it was not 14 as we only missed out getting a second MEP in the North West by 1,200 votes – a narrow squeak in an election involving hundreds of thousands if not millions of votes.

Nationally we rode a 3.5% surge for UKIP based largely on the Westminster expenses scandal. Unfortunately in London, although we got 188,000 votes this time as compared to 110,000 last time, our vote was actually proportionately 2% down (5.5% behind the National surge) so we only got one MEP and came within a few thousand votes of losing the seat. This means that if we want to retain the seat in 2011 we will have to really pull our socks up. And this is all the more urgent as the general election cannot be far off.

I was disappointed for London Region that I was not elected, however I am very grateful to all the volunteers who worked with me at the National Call Centre near St James's Park and to all the branches that supported me. Especially Croydon and Bromley Branches who got out on the street throughout. Many thanks also to former Greenwich Leader Arnold Tarling for the loan of the public address system and Bexley Branch who, through Paul Cronin, provided a vehicle emblazoned with flags and magnetic stickers for my tours of South London.

For me getting a whole hour on local radio and being invited back the following week to make a speech to community leaders that also went out live was a great learning experience. As was speaking for an hour without notes to Bromley Branch(sorry about the over-run Sid!)and successfully fielding every question on the EU the members could throw at me. I may not have got elected but I enjoyed every minute of the campaign.

Cheers everybody!

Q & A DAY BROMLEY WAY

Tuesday 2nd May – Bromley Branch kindly gave me a 45 minute slot at their monthly meeting. I intended to speak about my campaign but in fact most of the members wanted detailed information about the EU so I ran an off the cuff speech taking questions as I went along.

I recommend off the cuff speaking as it allows you to respond to what your audience want. The downside is that if it does not go well you can be quite reasonably blamed for not having prepared something. The answer is to have a broad and detailed knowledge of your subject to draw upon. Luckily I am ok there - Having had the good fortune to work for the cause of British Independence as a researcher backing up our MEP’s in the European Parliament for the last four years.

In the event things went so well and I had to field so many questions that we over ran to just under an hour. Indeed I found myself still answering questions between gulps of tea in the mid evening break. Many thanks to the lady who gave me a second cuppa. Public speaking is thirsty work.

Bromley Leader Sid Piggott was kind enough to praise me for speaking without any notes and ask if I could return to Bromley shortly.

After the break we all watched a video interview of Nigel Farage. I had seen it once before but was glad of the opportunity to study it some more and pick up the odd speaking tip from the UK’s fastest rising Political Leader.

Bromley Speech

I am following up my South London Flag tour with an ad lib speech on the campaign so far at Bromley Branch tonight at 8pm. The meeting is at the Evangelical Church on Park Road, Bromley at 8pm Tuesday 2nd June.

SOUTH LONDON FLAG TOUR

Monday 1st and Tuesday 2nd June - Many thanks to former Member Arnold Tarling for the loan of a of a public address system and To Paul Cronin of Bexley Branch for dressing up his car with UKIP flags and Magnetic Placards for me. We had a campaign vehicle ready in under sixty seconds.

Over Monday and Tuesday we took the UKIP message on the EU costing us forty million pounds a day and the unelected EU Commission in Brussels imposing 75% of our law upon us.

Our flag tour took us to visit the parts other Parties and our existing UKIP Branches cannot reach. On Monday we set off around Lewisham, Catford, Sydenham, Penge, Crystal Palace, Dulwich, Clapham, Brixton Wandsworth, Richmond, Putney, Battersea, and Lambeth, with several places in between and on Tuesday to Greenwich, Deptford, Bermondsey, Lambeth, Brixton, West Norwood, Streatham, Palace again, Streatham, Mitcham, Merton and home again. Only a short pit stop for a sandwich each day kept us from getting UKIP’s message out there back and forth through London’s streets. Judging by the waves and honking of car horns we have a lot of support out there. On route we have not spotted a solitary Labour or Conservative billboard. The Christian Peoples Alliance have quite a few – though nowhere near as many as UKIP.

ALL DAY ACTION IN CROYDON

Saturday 29th May – Tracey and I headed for Croydon High Street to join the branch campaign. We went via New Cross Gate Station and East Croydon (Predictably There were engineering works cutting off West Croydon). The Croydon Branch Gazebo had been moved from their usual pitch opposite the Alms House to make way for a Euro Fair. However, we were nevertheless getting so much support at the UK Independence Party gazebo that instead of clocking off at 2pm as intended we carried on until after 5pm. People were coming up for a chat about our policies and leaving with posters for their windows. A great many people told us they had already voted by post, for us. All in all I was leafleting on the street for over eight hours. My feet ache and hopefully what looks like sunburn now will turn into a healthy (non-orange) tan later.