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!