IDENTITY CRISIS FOR GORDON BROWN

Gordon Browns remarks to Labour Party Conference today on ID cards are 'the same misleading line as before' according to NO2ID.

Mr Brown said: 'We will reduce the information British citizens have to give for the new biometric passport to no more than that required for today's passport.

'And so conference, I can say to you today, in the next Parliament

there will be no compulsory ID cards for British citizens.'

The campaign pointed out that ministers have repeatedly denied the ID scheme is compulsory throughout the last five years. Instead it has been designed to force people to volunteer for a system they cannot leave.

Mr Brown's words cannot be true even if taken literally, since

biometric passports must have at least the biometrics in addition to the information already on existing ones. But he is also contradicting the plans published by the Identity and Passport Service to build a biographical database that will be shared between the passport and identity schemes, and integrated with the DWP's systems. They are also at odds with the raft of regulations defining the information to be held and the masses more information involved in the application process, set out in regulations passed earlier this summer.

Guy Herbert, General Secretary of NO2ID said: 'Mr Brown is a Lewis Carroll character: he imagines 'What I tell you three times is true.'

'But even if it repetition makes it easier for ministers to delude

themselves, this is the same misleading line as before. Whatever

he says about a card, the plan remains the same: to treat the entire population like dangerous sex offenders and keep us all on a Home Office database for life.'

NOBBLING THE REFERENDUM

Although this blogger has been short of time to do any blogging over the last couple of days, the EU does not have such problems and always manages to find the time for its nefarious activities - nobbling the Irish referendum being one of them.

The campaigners working hard for a 'No' vote in the Irish Republic are not at all happy with the EU Commission's latest interference into their already biased referendum.  So far the 'Yes' side have received far more funding than the 'No' campaign, making it a very lop sided vote, added to that several big names with financial interests tied up in a 'Yes' vote have also done their bit for the 'Yes' campaign, and now the EU commission has done its bit to tilt the vote its way and has been accused of unlawful interference.

Reported in the Daily Telegraph (29th October 2009) the 'No' campaign in Ireland have threatened a legal challenge after the EU Commission paid for a 16 page guide to the Lisbon Treaty to be inserted into national newspapers at a cost to the taxpayers of £139,000.

The guide is full of the usual EU bullshine about how wonderful the EU is and how the Lisbon Treaty will help it to work more efficiently - it conveniently fails to inform the Irish voters that once ratified there will be no more treaties as the treaty, which in reality is a constitution for the EU, will become self amending and hands enormous power to the EU removing it from national governments.  All it tells the Irish people is how it will improve life in Ireland and all the jobs that will come their way because of it, it fails to tell them how,

Patricia McKenna, a former Green MEP and a leader of the People's Movement, which is opposing the treaty, said: "This is unlawful use of European taxpayers money since the EC has no competence whatever in the ratification of treaties.  It is gross interference."  She added: "I am taking legal advice.  We will take out an injunction if they attempt to put the booklet elsewhere."  Sadly, knowing the bullying nature of the EU it will take little notice of such threats.  We all now await the result after the poll takes place this coming Friday and hope, against all the EU biased odds, the people of the Irish Republic see past the EU's nonsense and nobbling tactics and vote 'NO'.

THE IRISH REFERENDUM

Anthony Coughlan of the Irish National Platform writes: There has been massive interference by the European Commission in Ireland's Lisbon referendum re-run over the past month, as never happened before in the country's EU referendums.  The re-run referendum takes place on Friday next. 

This culminated in a 16-page propaganda Supplement on the EU being inserted in every Irish Sunday newspaper today. This must have cost several million euros - using European and Irish taxpayers' money to influence Irish voters to ratify the Lisbon Treaty and in the process expand the power and functions of the Brussels Commission itself.

The European Commission  is acting unlawfully under European law, as the Commission has no function whatever in relation to the ratification of new Treaties. These are exclusively a matter for the EU Member States, which are  called upon to ratify new Treaties "in accordance with their own constitutional procedures".  The EU Commission's functions relate only to Treaties that have been already ratified.

 

Mr Jens-Peter Bonde, former Danish MEP and editor of "The Lisbon Treaty: The Readable Version", has written the article below analysing the content of the European Commission's 16-page suppelment inserted in today's Irish Sunday newspapers.  You  may find it of interest.

The European Commission's action is almost certainly unlawful  also under Irish law, as some of the money used to finance this newspaper Supplement will have come from Irish taxpayers on both sides in the referendum.  The Irish Supreme Court's decided  in the 1995  McKenna case that it was  unlawful to use taxpayers' money to further one side in a referendum.  

Below is a criticism by Jens-Peter Bonde of some key points in the European Commission's propaganda Supplement.  Mr Bonde is an acknowledged authority on the EU Treaties and was a member of the Convention which drew up the original  EU Constitution which was rejected by the French and Dutch in referendums in 2005 and which is  now embodied in the Lisbon Treaty.

He is not interested in making partisan points about  the Treaty, but in drawing attention to the legal facts of what is in it.

The European Commission acts illegally in Ireland

By Jens-Peter Bonde

Member of the European Parliament 1979-2008 and member of the two Constitutional conventions, editor of "The Lisbon Treaty: The Readable Version" and the internet lexicon: euabc.com 

On Sunday 27 September the European Commission placed a 16-page propaganda supplement in all Irish newspapers as a paid insert.

This is an unlawful use of European taxpayer`s money, since the European Commission has no competence whatever in the ratification of treaties.

The Commission is positively misleading on the single topic it should know best about, the appointment of the Commission itself.

"Contrary to the existing (Nice) Treaty, the Commission will continue to be formed of one Commisisoner from every Member State", the first page of the Introduction states.

On the contrary, the Nice Treaty provides in Art. 213.1 TEC: "The Commission must include at least one national of each of the Member States". This is the law today. The European Commission`s statement about the Nice Treaty is simply false.

The aim of a smaller Commission can be found in the Protocol on Enlargement. This proposes a reduvtion in the Commission when the EU reaches 27 member states. This is only a proposal. It is still not the law.

The Protocol states in Art. 4.2.1: "The number of Members of the Commission shall be set by the Council, acting unanimously".

There was an attempt to achieve the aim of a smaller Commission by the draft Constitution reducing the number of Commissioners to 2/3 of the member states. This attempt failed when the Constitution was rejected by 55% of French and 62% of Dutch voters.

The attempt was then repeated in the Lisbon Treaty. It failed in the first Irish referendum when 53 % of the Irish voters rejected it on 12 June 2008.

Therefore, Ireland and everyone else can keep their Commissioner until the Irish and all other Governments vote for a reduction in the Commission. This is the simple fact in the existing Treaty.

The Lisbon Treaty reduces the Commission to 2/3 of the number of member states on a rotation basis. That will become the law after a Yes vote.

Then there is a political promise from 27 Prime Ministers to keep one commissioner for each state. This promise binds the current Prime Ministers politically, but not necesarrily their successors.

This compromise may also be altered if there are further enlargements, as suggested by the Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt on 6 September in the Irish Times.

"One Commissioner for everyone" is not in the Treaty which Irish voters are voting on. I guess it may come about when all member states will formally agree on a later amendment. But it is not part of the Lisbon Treaty, as the Irish voters are being told by the European Commission.

I expect all member states to agree to have one Commissioner for each member state in the next Commission - but not for ever.

The political reality is that the next Commission will have 26 members PLUS an EU foreign minister who will either be a kind of observer if there is a No vote or a full Commission Vice-President if it is a Yes.

The Swedish Prime Minister and President of the European Council told the Irish Times that this 26+1 formula had already been agreed informally among diplomats.

All member states will therefore be represented in the next Commission, or else one of them will have the more attractive job of foreign minister whether the Irish vote Yes or No.

There is legal certainty about having an Irish Commissioner with a No vote. There is uncertainty with a Yes - not now but after further EU enlargement. This is a fact. The Commission`s propaganda supplement is fiction.

It is also worth noting that the non-elected Commission finds no space in its 16 pages to explain how it will increase its powers and its monopoly of initiating EU laws in a wide range of new areas.

It does not explain how the new Art. 290 TFEU gives new implementing powers to itself.

It does not explain how Art. 217.7 TFEU may permit the Commission to change international agreements without the approval of the elected members of any parliament.

It does not mention the most important change regarding the Commission, its own mode of appointment. Under Nice each member state Government "proposes" its "own" Commissioner. Under Lisbon they can only put forward "suggestions".

The decision on who will come from each country will lie with the Commission President and 20 of 27 Prime Ministers representing 65 % of the EU`s population.

This radical and important change will make the Commission even less accountable to voters than it is today. It replaces the present bottom-up procedure by a top-down one post-Lisbon. There is not a word about this in the Commission`s supplement.

The content is handpicked for Irish voters. The new clause on "distortion of competition" on taxes in Art. 113 TFEU and the new Art. 311 TFEU providing for new taxes for the EU itself are disguised by the sentence: "...it protects the rights of each Member State, especially in sensitive areas such as taxation and defence".

The supplement entirely ignores the new "solidarity" clause on mutual defence in Art. 42.7 TEU and the clause requiring states "progressively to improve their military capabilities" in Art. 42.3 TEU.

There is not a word on the most important change in the Treaty, the shift of voting power from small to big member states.

Under Lisbon, the six largest member states will increase their share of the vote in the Council from 49% today to over 70%. The 21 smallest countries will reduce their combined share from 51% to less than 30%.

Ireland will halve its vote from 2.0% today to 0.9%. This is being kept secret from Irish voters in all public information being issued to them - paid for by their own taxpayer`s money - before their Lisbon referendum re-run on this Friday, 2 October 2009.

 

The Lisbon Treaty can be downloaded for free at euABC.com 

BOOKER AND THAT TREATY

Christopher Booker, points out the danger of the Lisbon Treaty.

Although he does not write quite as much about the EU problem quite as much as he once did in his articles in the Daily Telegraph due to concentrating on the suspect data put out by the advocates of global warming, every now and then he goes back to the topic that worries so many of us in increasing numbers these days, which of course is the European Union and its ceaseless quest to take full control over our lives.

Today, Sunday 27th September 2009, writing in the Sunday Telegraph, he hit top form when writing about the appalling nature of the Lisbon Treaty and the shameful way the people of the Irish Republic have been treated.  They quite rightly voted 'No' in their first referendum but now they are being bullied and intimidated into voting again.  Sadly, it looks as if they will cave in this time when they go to the polls on Friday and vote 'Yes', not because they want the Lisbon Treaty, nor because their opinions have changed since their last referendum, but because they know that if they vote 'No' the EU will be back and make them do it again, and again, and again until they submit.  In the meantime the EU will continue to implement all that is contained in the Lisbon Treaty anyway regardless of the fact that it may not have been officially ratified.

To read Christopher Booker's article and view the master in top form, click HERE.

CAMPAIGNING IN BUCKINGHAM

West Midlands campaigners in Buckingham, from left to right, Derek Bennett Liz Hazell, Steve Fowler, Tim Melville & Peter McHugh.

At the Southport UKIP conference a at the begining of September Nigel Farage MEP, the UKIP leader, announced he was to step down as leader in order to give the time he needed to campaign in the Buckingham constituency against the sitting MP, John Bercow who is the current speaker of the House of Commons.  At the tail end of September just over 100 UKIP campaigners turned up at the UKIP office in Buckingham to get his campaign under way and distributed leaflet around 75% of the constituency.

The support for Nigel in the area is looking good, although there are a few ruffled Tory blue feathers.  Nigel certainly likes a challenge, his opponent John Bercow has a very substantial 18,000 majority, but he is seriously going for it.

Our team of West Midlands UKIP campaigners set off from my home at 8.20 am on Saturday morning, in my old Rover with me was Elizabeth (Liz) Hazel, Time Melville and Steve Fowler.  In Buckingham we met up with other UKIP activists, some we know who are old friends, others we have not met before, and after sorting our area and collecting maps and leaflets we set off for the very attractive small town of Wimslow with Fred Rolph who joined our leafleting team.

It was an excellent day with lots of activity, the sun shone, Nigel Farage was in good form shaking hands and meeting people in Buckingham and we arrived back home tired but felt we had a good and worthwhile day.

LITTLE JOY FOR EU MOTORING

Peter Roberts of the Drivers Alliance, EU implications for road pricing.

Peter Roberts of the Drivers Alliance has recently confirmed that there has been a lot of discussion recently about intelligent vehicle systems where cars communicate with each other and also roadside systems. He warns.

Regular readers of the Drivers' Alliance website and newsletter will have seen our concern about this technology for some time but now it looks like the wraps are coming off. 

A conference in in Stockholm has been planning the widespread integration of this system into new cars with the press statements highlighting the positive benefits of intelligent cars communicating with each other.

The technology is underpinned by a European Union project known as Co-operative Vehicle Infrastructure Systems, which is backed by a 61-strong consortium of companies and Government bodies including Transport for London.

In Europe the project is likely to pave the way for more pay as you drive road pricing schemes, such as the national programme planned for the Netherlands. Hardly surprising then that Transport for London would be involved as they are one of the most anti-car bodies in the UK.

You need to ask why 61 companies are involved and the only answer is they are looking to make vast profits from drivers. Why would we need to have all our movements tracked which is the underlying reason for introducing this technology.

When the 1.8 million petition against road pricing stopped their original plans, a new strategy to introduce it was needed and this looks like their latest plans. Tempt drivers with nice little technical applications whilst building the vehicle tracking and road pricing technology into the background and forcing every car manufacturer to build it in as standard.

This is a corrupt and sinister use of corporate power and influence designed to track every drivers movements and charge for every movement of your car. It is highly likely if this technology is ever introduced is there will be a much higher price charged for the first 2 miles driven with the cost reducing with the more miles you drive.

The EU's plans are to reduce car use and force people to walk, cycle or take a bus for shorter journeys. If they can increase the cost of using your car for targeted trips it will go a long way to fulfil their aims.

GOODBYE TO PIERS

Piers Merchant, passed away at the age of 58.

Piers Merchant who ended his political days in the UK Independence Party has sadly passed away at the age of 58 on the 21st September.  He had been diagnosed with cancer.

Piers was not someone I knew well, although I had met him at several UKIP events and took the above photograph of him at a past UKIP conference in Westminster.  

He campaigned vigorously for UKIP, especially during the general election campaign in South Staffs which had been delayed due to the death of the Liberal Democrat candidate during the election period.  Piers had a reputation as being a ladies man, as mentioned in the Daily Telegraph obituary to him.  The UK Independence Party has also paid tribute to him too.

INVESTING IN DIRECTIVES

It seems that the EU’s plans to regulate hedge funds could, according to the think-tank Open Europe, prove to be very expensive indeed.

Those contacted by Open Europe said that only 2 per cent of their clients supported the EU directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers. The study found that the EU directive, which is set to come into force in 2012, would drastically reduce European investors’ choice of funds by as much as 80 per cent. The directive would also reduce the managers’ ability to deliver returns by as 5 to 10 per cent.

As Open Europe put it, “this would make European investors billions of euros poorer - cost which will be passed on to individual savers and pensioners.

Once again the actions of the EU proves that membership of the European Union is a luxury the people of the UK can no longer afford. Unfortunately, the EU's insistence in investing in directives makes us all poorer.

A LOT HANGS ON IT

The last time the people of the United Kingdom found themselves in such a perilous position was just after we withdrew our battered and beleaguered troops from Dunkirk and awaited a possible Nazi invasion to come charging at us across the English Channel. Now our future freedom and democracy awaits in the balance on the decision of the Irish, the constitutional courts of the Czech Republic and the whim of the Tory leader, David Cameron, who has been too afraid to discuss the EU problem who may, or may not, give us a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

It’s not long now to the day the people of the Irish Republic return to their polling stations to vote, once again, on the issue of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, which in reality is the EU constitution. On the 2nd October we will discover if the EU’s brawn, bullying and bullshit has won the day, or simple common sense and the people have thought this through and sensibly voted ‘No’.

Despite telling the EU thanks, but no thanks in their previous referendum, the EU has decided that they must have made a mistake and have very generously told the people of the Republic that they can do it all over again - and please get it right this time – or else!

However, what is right for the EU and its ambition to create a very undemocratic nation called ‘Europe’, isn’t right for the people of Europe who want to retain their national identities, their currencies, passports and just about everything else the EU is systematically stripping from them.

The campaign in Ireland is extremely lop sided with some very powerful bodies such a Price Waterhouse Cooper, Intel, Ryanaire and others who are pumping money into the ‘Yes’ campaign as well as instructing their employees to vote ‘Yes’. Sadly, the poor old ‘No’ campaign have far less to spend, as pointed out in a posting on the UKIP web-site which also shows Nigel Farage attacking the Irish Minister, Dick Roche.

If the Irish do cave in to the enormous pressure and EU bullying, then our future as a (just about) free and democratic nation will hang on the thinnest of threads. Dave Cameron has said he won’t offer a retrospective referendum if the Lisbon Treaty has been fully ratified by the time he gets into office, all that can stop it being ratified is the Czech courts which will most probably delay it – but not stop it. If they delay it enough and Britain goes to the polls to elect a new Government, and if Cameron makes it to number 10 Downing Street, and if, unlike Gordon Brown, keeps to his promise of giving us that vital say on this issue, then Britain may just be saved from an EU fate worse than death. This though has a lot of ifs in it.

However, if you read the UKIP posting, there is a glimmer of hope the people of the Irish Republic may vote ‘No’, we hope they see sense and the enormous responsibility which has been placed upon them and give this EU treaty the thumbs down – a lot hangs on it.

BIG BROTHER EU

Questions should be asked as to why the European Union would want to spend millions of taxpayers money on developing what many call “Orwellian” technology.

The EU has set up a five-year research project called Indect which, once up and running, will systematically process information from web-sites, internet discussion forums, file servers, peer-to-peer networks and will even poke its nose into the computers of many individuals.

Once again the EU is using the threat of terrorism to become ever more intrusive. Like many past convenient disasters and fortunate threats, the EU is stating that these plans are to act against cross border crime and terrorism, but it is inevitable that it won’t be long before ordinary people will find their lives blighted and threatened by this system, as they did with the EU arrest warrant which was introduced on the same basis.

It does not take an expert to predict that the masses of state held information on each and every British subject will quickly become the property of the EU and its various offices. Once the EU has its hands on our UK police DNA database, our medical records and much else it will be privy to our most intimate and personal secrets.

Shami Chakrabati of Liberty said: “Profiling whole populations instead of monitoring individual suspects is a sinister step in any society. It’s dangerous enough at a national level, but on a Europe-wide scale the idea becomes positively chilling.” It looks as if Big Brother EU is with us.

THE RETURN OF BARROSO

West Midlands UKIP MEP, Mike Nattrass, who has been campaigning against British membership of the European Union for many years has informed this blog that he is shocked that Conservative Party support played a decisive role in re-electing the arch Federalist and former Communist Jose Manuel Barroso in a close run vote.

With all UKIP MEPs voting against the appointment, Mr Barroso received enthusiastic support in Strasbourg last week from many Conservative MEPs including West Midlands Con MEP Malcolm Harbour who stood and applauded when the result of the vote was announced.

Mike Nattrass said: “It was particularly shocking to see Tory MEPs on their feet applauding the re-election of an avowed federalist and anti-democrat.

“This is the man who once infamously threatened the Irish people, should they dare to vote against the Lisbon Treaty.

“In his victory speech Mr Barroso said that his appointment would bring forward "The exciting journey that is the integration of Europe."

Mike added: "The man that says that the EU is the New Empire."

"It beggars belief that a Party that campaigned on a reform of the EU platform in the European Elections can, at the first opportunity, so openly support the federalist agenda.

“Barroso's manifesto promises ever more EU interference in our domestic affairs through three more Commission posts covering justice, migration and climate action.

“He wants a common immigration policy and for Britain to accept another 30,000 immigrants a year.

“How can any Tory rise to applaud this new attack on British national control?

“Like the con of Cameron's insincere referendum promise and vague claims of ‘not letting matters rest’, the Conservatives seem willing to sign up to anything, no matter how bad it is for our country. It's like being back in the 1930s,” he added.

CORRESPONDENCE WITH KLAUS

Walsall UKIP campaigner, Alan Sheath, recently wrote to the President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus. Below are copies of his letter and the reply from the President's office.

Dear President Klaus,

You are to be congratulated on your stand against the European Union, and their so-called Lisbon Treaty. Despite the E.U. saying that the revised Treaty is different, it is not, perhaps it may differ in the slightest detail, but that is al1. Even Valery Giscard D'Estaing admitted that it is the same as before. And as for demanding in your own office that you fly their E.U. Flag of Occupation over Prague Castle, it just shows the arrogance of the E.U., who think they can ignore aDd ride roughshod over anything and everyone else.

We were on holiday in Senj, Yugoslavia, with our family when the Russians invaded your country in 1968, and we could'nt understand why people were huddled in groups in the streets, some crying. It was obvious that there was some form of disaster. We soon found out, the Germans in particular were getting out of Yugoslavia as fast as they could, because they thought that Yugoslavia would be the next to be invaded. Make no mistake, the Czech Republic has been invaded, by the E.U., although they would'nt cal1 it that, but they will take every opportunity to dominate your country, as they have with the rest of the countries in the E.U. Thank goodness we did not go into the euro, for if we had, we'd have been in an even bigger mess than we are at present. And the latest E.U. proposals - E.U. Birth and Death Certificates, and contro11ing pension rights, with anything and everything regarded as a common resource.

At my age, nearly 81, I lived through the last war, and remember it wel1, when we very nearly lost to the Germans, and if Hitler had'nt opened the war on two fronts by invading Russia, we probably would have done, but we were helped by Czech forces, and your gal1ant airmen in particular. With the E.U. it is not a shooting war, but it is a war just the same, and they want total domination.

We have friends in both the Czech Republic and Czechoslovakia, and I'm sure that they dislike what is happening as much as we do. We can only hope that you will delay signing the Lisbon Treaty until after our forthcoming General Election, (if you sign it at al1), when the Conservatives are almost certain to win the election, and they have promised us a referendum. Their promise should be worth more than that of Blair, who promised us a referendum only to ignore his promise, (because he knew full well that we would vote to pull out of the R.U.), and who took us into the war in Iraq on a pack of lies. Can you imagine Blair being the President of Europe??? Because that is what he is after. Heaven preserve us from that!!!

Thank you for your stand against the E.U., because if you did'nt, you would lose your country eventual1y. Finally, I enclose a photograph of the E.U. Flag of Occupation, suitably amended, which I bought during a visit to the European Parliament when in session some two years ago. It hung outside the bedroom window in the front of our house, and attracted some attention!! If anyone has any lingering reservations on the E.U., a visit to Brussels when the Parliament is in session will soon dispel them!!!! It is just a charade - they don't know the meaning of the word democracy.

With every good wish,

Yours very sincerely,

Alan Sheath.

Here is the reply from the Deputy Director of the Czech Foreign Affairs Department:

Dear Mr Sheath,

I would like to thank you, on behalf of the President of the Czech Republic, for your letter.

President Klaus shares your concerns about the future of Europe and in his view, the Lisbon Treaty is the old Constitutional treaty re-written. If ratified, it will represent an irreversible shift from "Europe of states" to "the State of Europe" and this cannot be "improved" by some cosmetic changes in article "x" or "y" of the Treaty or by giving the Irish some "guarantees" which guarantee nothing and are not worth the paper they are written on. The way the Lisbon Treaty came into being and the course of its ratification are not a good testimony at all to how the European Union functions. It certainly does not add to the Union's democratic legitimacy from the citizens' point of view.

President Klaus knows that many people in your country share his view on this topic and I appreciate you wrote to him. He does need to hear from people like you. I can assure that we know about the Conservatives' promise to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty and we are in touch with our British friends to look for every possible way to support each other.

I entirely agree with you in what you wrote about the European Parliament's sessions. We visited the European Parliament with President Klaus in February this year and the atmosphere was like on a soccer stadium. I enclose the President's speech he had on that occasion, pointing out that European parliamentarians and leaders are not listening to the citizens of the EU member states, at which 200 of them got up and walked out of the room.

Once again, I thank you for your kind letter. With all best wishes Jiri Brodskÿ Deputy Director Foreign Affairs Department.

REFELCTIONS ON THE WEEK

Here we are again, another Saturday and another weekend as the year hurtles past. As I sit in front of my computer looking at a blank screen wondering what to blog about today I thought it would be good to do a bit of reflection on the week gone by, the bits I have not mentioned on this blog.

Monday, the morning we all hate as we drag ourselves from our beds bleary eyed from the weekend’s excesses. The first thing I had to do was to get my ageing Rover car into the garage for a bit of TLC from Norman, who has been looking after my old bangers for over thirty years.

Norman runs, literally, a real little back street garage in Birmingham. It’s a small lock up that by the look of it would put many off using the place, but that doesn’t worry Norman as he has enough regular customers, like me, who have been benefiting from his mechanical skills and advise for years – he always has as much work as he wants. Part of his service is his willingness to drop what he is doing when you arrive and give you a lift to the office nearby where I do my bit most days. We always have a chat about things and I asked him if he had any thoughts on the EU’s intention to drop its rules on ‘Block Exemption’ from next year which will have quite a major impact on the little garages like his around the country. He had not come across this and despite my warnings he did not seem unduly worried. But I am if he packs up I will lose a really good mechanic.

Quite a few people in the car maintenance business are more worried about these changes, however, than Norman. They are predicting that the removal of this rule could see the closure of thousands of small independent garages around the country as the car manufacturers will no longer be obliged to supply the parts or computerised information required for the small independents to operate. This would force motorists to use the main dealers for their servicing and repairs who are generally far more expensive than the helpful chaps such as Norman in his lock up.

Monday evening I was chauffeur driven by my old UKIP pal, Alan Sheath, to attend the Halesowen UKIP branch meeting which Alan chairs. These UKIP meetings in a pub are always pleasant evenings where a couple of pints are enjoyed and campaign plans are made.

Tuesday was a particularly enjoyable, and successful evening with the setting up of a brand new UKIP branch in Tamworth. We already had a prospective UKIP Parliamentary candidate lined up for this constituency in the shape of Paul Smith who is a local postie. It was because the Royal Mail has been so hard hit by the EU’s postal directives opening up the postal services to competition that made Paul come to UKIP and offer his services as a potential candidate. He knows all too well that the trouble the Royal Mail is in can be directly blamed on the interference from the EU and our Government’s obedience to it by so slavishly implementing the EU’s destructive directives, no matter the cost and problems they inevitably bring.

Again the meeting was held in the back room of a very nice establishment that serves alcoholic beverages of the real ale type. A reasonable number of people turned up and plonked themselves down in front of Paul and I and expectantly stared at us to get things going. It fell on me to go into my public speaking mode to explain why we were there and the aims of UKIP and what the party expects of a branch. A few questions were fired at us, which I think were answered satisfactorily, and with a little coaxing three people put their names forward as branch chairman, treasurer and secretary. It is always satisfying when you know you have done what you set out to do, and in this case to get UKIP on the map in Tamworth.

Wednesday was Hereford college freshers day, which has already been covered on this blog. That was followed by Wednesday evening at the UKIP branch meeting in Edgbaston. Again that was a branch I helped set up and have watched grow from a small group to a decent sized branch in just a couple of years. One of their branch members, Maddy Westrop, has put her name forward as the by-election candidate for the New Hall ward in Sutton Coldfield. As the date of that election had not been announced there was some speculation as to when it would be. Blow me, when I returned home and checked my e-mails, there was one informing me of the by-election date – so it’s now all hands on deck to get her nomination papers sorted out.

Thursday was, or should have been, a free day for me, but the morning was spent in my father in law’s flat with a couple of nice young ladies from the hospital who had brought all sorts of equipment for Fred, my father in law, for when he leaves hospital after his nine week incarceration after fracturing his hip. They raised his bed, left him with some weird and wonderful equipment to help him around the house and a chair to sit in as his own was too low. They had planned to raise that too but they constantly referred to health and safety rules and decided against. One nice thing was all their measurements were taken in inches. As a member of the British Weights and Measures association I congratulated them on the use of sensible sizes.

After that I picked up my better half and headed for my favourite place, the Lyndon House Hotel in Walsall where I had arranged to meet UKIP campaigner, Sean Gleason, who is another UKIP by-election candidate in the Heath Hayes and Wimblebury ward in Cannock. As his deputy nominating officer I had to sign his nomination papers to give him consent to use the UKIP name and party emblem. After a pint and a chat he headed off to the Cannock elections office and I home where a bit later I got a call from him as his nomination papers had been rejected.

It seems that one person who signed, and apparently expressed his displeasure with Labour as one who had always voted for them but now felt badly let down, had also signed the nomination papers of the Labour candidate! The way things work is the first candidate in counts, if Sean had got there first it would have been the other candidate who would have had the job of getting a replacement signature. However, there was another small problem too which takes us into Friday morning.

As Cannock District Council had no paperwork to state that I was the UKIP deputy nominating officer, despite the fact I had been the DNO for a UKIP candidate in Cannock during the June county Council elections, it meant I had to dig out all the relevant paperwork and on Friday morning troll up the M6 through its roadworks and 50 MPH limit, through a vast array of speed cameras all to meet Sean in the elections office in the town where we finally got his paperwork completed with an hours or two to spare. Cannock could prove an interesting by-election for UKIP, in the June County Council elections our UKIP candidate, Bob Pitcher, gave the local Tories a real run for their money, in fact at one stage during the count they thought he may win – so look out for Sean in this one.

After that it was off to the Birmingham elections office to get the nomination pack for Maddy then back into the office to do a bit. Friday evenings are always the best part of the week, at the end of the day its into the Lyndon around 6 pm where Mrs B and I get to meet up with my brother and his better half for a beer or two and compare how our weeks have been. Then Saturday morning comes around and its back to a blank computer screen and wondering what to blog about.

A DIM VIEW OF POISONOUS LIGHT BULBS

A councillor from South Wales has laid blame on the new energy saving light bulbs for the death of his son. Tony Wyn Jones, a councillor for the Brynoch South ward lost his son in February 2007 after having an epileptic fit, Mr Jones blames the toxic substances contained in the EU enforced light bulbs for the fit. It seems that small amounts of mercury, which are contained in these bulbs, can induce fits in people who suffer from epilepsy.

Sadly, because of the EU directive banning our normal and highly popular incandescent light bulbs, many people in this country will find themselves exposed to poisons when these bulbs break. Toxic EU light bulbs are going to create an ecological problem as they have to be disposed of by specialists, leaving the rest of us with a dim view of these poisonous bulbs. To read the full article click HERE.

A MORNING IN HEREFORD

Richard Lamerton, organises UKIP presence at Hereford College.

It's been a busy couple of days which has not allowed for much blogging, although there was time to cut and paste a couple of items, one from No2ID and one from UKIP, but little time to do much else.  So it's time for a bit of catching up.

Yesterday it was a case of getting up early for an hour and a half drive down to Hereford to join the enthusiastic Richard Lamerton who is the current UKIP chairman of the Hereford UKIP branch.  Each your he organises a UKIP table at the Hereford College freshers day, or as they call it in dumbed down parlance: "Stuff for students".

For the last three years I have been going along to give my help on what proves to be a busy morning.  These event where we get to meet and chat to the students are very interesting, the previous two events I attended the majority of students did not seem that bothered about the EU, or know much about it, also many regarded UKIP as a racist party and would say so as if it was just something taken for granted.  This year things have changed

We handed out loads of information about UKIP and many students expressed support.  It seems their parents have come out in favour of UKIP and the students had taken notice.  However, that did not mean we had it all our own way, there were still some students who thought the EU to be a good thing, one young lady was so brainwashed by pro-EU propaganda she accused UKIP of being "Parasites".  Considering it is the EU that is the parasitic organisation living off the the life blood of of its nation states she needs to consider what she says.

The Liberal Democrats were there too, one of them came around for a chat and told us how wrong were were on the introduction of ID cards and the closure of Post Offices.  Despite the fact both UKIP and the Liberal Democrats are against ID cards and the closure of Post Offices, the EU has nothing to do with it - I know, I had a job to take this in too.  Despite the fact Liberal Democrat MEPs voted with Conservative and Labour MEPs for the EU's Postal Services Directives or for a common EU-wide ID card, it is not the EU's doing that these problems are now with us.  According her the fact the Royal Mail has lost its monopoly because of the EU directives and that foreign postal firms have cherry picked the profitable stuff, leaving the Royal Mail with a duty to deliver to the places that the others don't want at a great loss thus turning a profitable state controlled monopoly into a loss making organisation does not matter, the Government could bail out the Royal Mail with £128 million of state aid, capped at that figure by the EU of course, but has refused to give the Royal Mail that funding.  

The morning in Hereford made for an interesting few hours, encouraging too as the students are beginning to see the EU in a less than favourable light.

A TASTE OF EU SKULLDUGGERY

Stuart Agnew MEP, a taste of complexities in the EU.

Stuart Agnew, the newly elected UK Independence Party MEP for the Eastern Counties has had an early taste of the complexities of life in the European Parliament.  Attending his first full Plenary session in Strasbourg yesterday (15.9.09), the Norfolk farmer was presented with an opportunity to vote for funding for the supply of a vaccine for Bluetongue, a serious disease affecting sheep and cattle but was also presented with a major dilemma as the measure was part of a package which also included increased funding for Eurojust and Europol.  Voting in favour, meant supporting all three measures. 

 

Mr Agnew said:  “Naturally, I wanted to see increased funding for vaccination against Bluetongue, which is a very dangerous disease that can wipe out livestock and ruin livelihoods.  However, I could not, in good conscience vote for increased funding for Eurojust and Europol, which are fundamental aspects of the EU’s anti-democratic superstatehood ambitions.  Europol is the EU’s own police force with extraordinary powers including immunity from prosecution for officers crossing national borders and Eurojust, the EU’s fledgling prosecutorial system, which will ultimately over-ride the British legal system, if it is not stopped.

 

“I believe that this kind of procedural skullduggery is quite deliberate and I was left with no choice but to abstain and place on record an explanation of my vote, so my reasons were made absolutely clear.   My fellow UKIP MEPs also agreed to abstain. As a matter of principle, we will not do anything to assist the European Union to dismantle our country and its institutions.”

DECENT AND TRUE

Guy Herbert of No2ID, relies on facts.

Following a single complaint from a reader of the New Statesman in July, the Advertising Standards Authority has ruled that NO2ID's advert 'Database Man' is decent, true and substantiated. 

The ad, designed to highlight the threat to privacy posed by the proposed existence of a National Identity Register, specifically insider abuse, and indirectly to highlight the data sharing, collating and cross-referencing functions of the Register, has been run in various publications since 2005. 

This is the second adjudication to vindicate the campaign's adverts, the previous 'Blair barcode' ad [2] having been cleared in November 2006. NO2ID's current advertising campaign explains "How your next passport could own YOU".

Guy Herbert, General Secretary of NO2ID said: 'NO2ID aims to be controversial, because the Home Office's plans to change our whole way of life *ought* to be controversial. The facts of the ID scheme are shocking. So everything we do relies on the facts.'

LORD IN LEADERSHIP RACE

The UKIP leadership contest looks to be heating up somewhat with the announcement by Lord Pearson of Rannoch that he intends to stand too.

The choice for the UKIP members is becoming increasingly difficult as all those so far to declare have their good points and have done a lot for UKIP over the years.

Lord Pearson, who quit the Conservative Party over its lacklustre stance on the serious problem of the European Union has, to put it in his own words, been a “Come outer” for many years.

He has worked tirelessly against the imposition of the EU and exposed pro-EU bias by the BBC by monitoring their output on the subject. His commitment to the anti-EU campaign is unquestionable, he has asked a barrage of difficult questions about the EU in the House of Lords, including legitimacy of peers who take EU pensions voting on EU related subjects or declaring an interest when other peers are forced to declare on other matters. He would also give UKIP a powerful voice in Parliament.

LORD TEBBIT PUSHING IT

Lord Tebbit, calling on Cameron for a stance on the Lisbon Treaty.

Lord Tebbit has stated that the UK Independence Party (UKIP) could benefit from the Tory leader’s stance on the Lisbon Treaty which, if ratified, will give the EU unprecedented power over the member states.

The ex Chairman of the Conservative Party has challenged David Cameron to state what he will do if the Irish vote ‘Yes’ and the Lisbon Treaty is ratified before the general election. Norman Tebbit, as he was, is really pushing it with Cameron, he has come close to being expelled from the Conservative Party before for voicing his opinions on the EU and for his hinted support for UKIP’s stance on the EU problem.

Read the full article in the Times HERE.

CAR CRASH

Derek Bennett’s old Rover gets a wash and brush up at a charity car wash.

Considering the inquiry about the collapse of Rover was in the news last week, and that those of us who blog are supposed to be on the ball, this is a bit of retrospective posting.

There is a lot wrong and a considerable amount of twists and turns with all that has been going on in the car industry in recent years, most of which make the EU and the governments in its subservient member states seems rather hypocritical – not least our political shower here in the UK.

To start with the EU has a vendetta against the motorists of Europe, which in turn means our Government which always does as the EU says also has a vendetta against British drivers, as you will see from the Drivers Alliance web-site.

Those of us who sit behind the wheel of a car to enable us to go about our daily lives, do our work, generate business and travel to see family and loved ones are, in the eyes of the EU, polluting menaces who must be punished at all costs for needing the use of vehicles. We are taxed to the hilt on petrol and diesel, in fact when the EU tax,VAT, is added to the cost of fuel and fuel duty we are being taxed on a tax. We are being screwed to park our cars in towns and hospitals, we are being watched and monitored everywhere we go and daily we run a gauntlet of speed and other entrapment cameras – there certainly ain’t no pleasure in driving these days.

On top of this misery we still have the introduction of road tolling to come and black boxes fitted to our cars so that when the EU’s exorbitantly expensive Galilao satellite project eventually becomes operative we will be charged by the mile everytime we drive.

Naturally, as people are either priced, bullied or forced off the road due to this plethora of supposedly green nonsense, they get rid of their cars, especially now many are losing their jobs thanks to the downturn in the global economy – motoring is so expensive they have no choice.

Of course this then creates a viscous circle, if the numbers of people and businesses who can no longer afford to run or buy new cars falls, then cars sales plummet and even more jobs are lost and so the downward spiral goes on.

Governments hate job losses, they don’t look good as it costs votes, even though those votes these days are meaningless if all the political parties being voted for are in favour of being good little EU slaves. So we have seen the introduction of scrappage schemes to get the car trade moving and to put more cars on the road, which the Government will then moan about and say we must pay for the congestion in the form of green taxes thus pushing the cost of motoring even higher.

Then there was the Rover debacle – our last major British car manufacturer. When it was owned by BMW they wanted to invest in the company, but they also wanted a commitment from the British Government. As such a £150 million package was arranged to help sweeten things along – that was until the EU Competition Commissioner stepped in and said he wanted to consider this package as he considered it to be “unfair competition”. So Rover, a British company, employing British worker, steadily went down the pan whilst an unelected, foreign, EU bumblecrat wanted a few months to consider whether an elected British Government could help bail out a British business. As we all know BMW sold it off for a tenner and walked away with the most profitable bit, the BMW Mini.

So now we have had an enquiry into the Rover collapse, which at £16 million has cost the British taxpayers a fraction over 10% of what should have been used to save Rover. All this just so nothing can be done about it and the report ignored. The whole thing is so barmy not even Monty Python could have performed something so crackers – maybe Michael Palin and John Cleese could resurrect a dead Rover sketch?

Then of course, and not to forget, the Peugeot plant at Ryton near Coventry which was another EU generated fiasco. Again the British Government wanted to bail out the company to preserve the jobs of British workers, and yet again the man from the EU Competition Commission said “No” and jobs were lost and the plant closed. What happened next? Peugeot relocated to Eastern Europe, took on lower paid workers and the EU gave it a whopping great subsidy to do so. Yet another benefit of EU membership – for some.

Now GM are in trouble and are selling off their European sector to the Canadian auto parts manufacturer, Magna. This will affect our Vauxhall car manufacturing plants here in the UK as well as Opel and other parts of their business in the rest of Europe. Great uncertainty now looms over our Vauxhall plants, especially as our Government shilly shallies about, unlike the German Chancellor Angela Merkal who has obviously said bugger the EU Competition Commission, or words in German to that effect, and has ensured a massive 4 billion euro deal with Magna to save German jobs. It seems the Competition Commission is having a bit of a tantrum about this, but as Germany is really the boss in the EU no doubt it will calm down after its hissy fit and return to softer targets such as the UK – which always does as told.

Lord Mandy of the Darkness, our UK Trade Secretary, is being uged to come up with a £500 million deal package to ensure the jobs of the workers at Ellesmere Port and Luton. My advise to the workers at either of those plants is to start looking for new jobs or learn to speak German as there will be work at Opal.

As the motoring world heads for a major car crash, the message to us all is, keep buying cars to keep the economy afloat but don’t dare use them.

TIM AKER MOVING ON

Tim Aker to leave the Taxpayers Alliance.

Tim Aker of the Taxpayers Alliance is to move on to pastures new and is leaving the campaigning organisation, the Taxpayers Alliance.  He wrote on the TPA web-site: "After two and a half wonderful years at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, this is my final blog on my last day here as your grassroots coordinator.

To those of you I’ve met, corresponded with and campaigned with, thank you.  Getting to know so many of you so well has made this job a complete wonder.  Your ideas to how we can set this country free have influenced my own personal beliefs.  Your determination to fight on, regardless, has been inspirational.  Your calls and emails have made no two days the same.

I’m delighted to say that I leave our grassroots organisation bigger, stronger and more determined to fight those who squander our money.

We now have supporters watching out for, and applying to join council Independent Remuneration Panels.  What a great day it will be when our supporters control the pay of their local politicians.

We have our supporters our leafleting and writing letters, constantly putting the message over 24/7.

We have done ourselves proud by supporting those who make the stand to withhold some of their council tax.

We have done so much, but there is so much left to do.  Keep up the wonderful work.  Never give in and never let up in the fight for lower taxes.

Good luck and best wishes to all of you in the future.

Tim."

He leaves to assist the UK Independent Party MEP, David Campbell-Bannerman who was elected in the Eastern Region last June.  

PROMENADING WITH THE EU

There is something very special about the Henry Wood Promenades and the last night of the Proms, we all love the sea shanties and especially Elgar, the whole thing is specially British and a celebration of our country.

Sadly, over the last few years the unacceptable flag of the EU has become part of the event as the EU’s apologists wear t-shirts with the obnoxious thing on and others wave it alongside our real flag, the Union Jack. Naturally, the EU loving BBC thinks this a good thing which has prompted UKIP’s Chairman, Paul Nuttall, to make a complaint to the BBC..

In a question to the BBC’s Roger Wright, UKIP member Elizabeth Ann Biddulph asked: “On behalf of a great many music lovers and patriots, please can we be assured this time that the large EU flags will not be displayed as back drops and the rightful Union Jack flags usurped on the Last Night of the Proms, as has been the case over the past few years? The EU flag has no place whatsoever at the Last Night at the Proms.”

The answer she received was: “The Proms is an international festival and many of the audience enjoy the broad range of flags on display. I am confident that, as ever, there will be more Union Jacks than any other flags on display!

So there we have it, the Proms are no longer uniquely British now we are promenading with the EU.

SMART CHICKENS

Chickens are smart enough to suss out GM foods.

As genetically modified foods are being pushed upon us, often without our knowledge, a  South African publication has recently reported that chickens are smart enough to know when they are being fed GM maize and refuse to eat it - they are not so bird brained after all.

The publication wrote: Chickens refusing to eat the maize they had been fed has led to the discovery that their feed had been genetically modified to include a well-known weed and insect killer.

Strilli Oppenheimer was recently approached by Dawid Klopper, the head gardener at the family estate, Brenthurst, informing her that her indigenous African chickens were refusing to eat the mealies in the chicken feed bought from a large supplier. Concerned that the birds may be ingesting genetically modified maize, she instructed Klopper to have the maize tested.

The chickens' diet was immediately changed to include organic vegetables, Oppenheimer stopped consuming the home-grown eggs and the maize was sent to the GMO testing facility at the University of the Free State for analysis.

The results confirmed Oppenheimer's initial suspicion - the maize had been genetically engineered to produce proteins that are toxic to certain insects and weeds.

"It contained BT1 which makes the maize insect resistant, as well as Roundup which makes it weed resistant. This is the first report we have had of chickens not eating GM feed," said a GM expert.

While small quantities of BT1 and Roundup weed killer were found in the seeds, the concern remained with the cumulative effect of GM feed, not only on the chickens, but also on the eggs they produced for the family.

"This is of serious concern. Do you know that 96 percent of soya-based foods are genetically modified and that maize in South Africa is contaminated," asked Oppenheimer, pointing out that research by well-known scientist Dr Arpad Pusztai had shown that rats fed on GM potatoes suffered from a weakened immune system and stunted growth of their internal organs, including the liver, kidneys and brain.

Pusztai was fired by the Rowett Research Institute in the UK in 1998 after his research into the human nutritional consequences of GM. His findings had far-reaching implications for the biotech industry, which had contended that GM crops and products would not adversely affect human health.

International research has shown a direct link between certain types of genetic engineering and cancer.

Gundula Azeez and Coilin Nunan of The Soil Association, a UK environmental charity, stated in their paper, "GM Crops - the health effects", that international research had shown that milk, eggs and meat from GM-fed animals contained GM crop DNA, concluding that it was likely that people were frequently being exposed to GM DNA.

They concluded that because of the lapses in extensive safety assessments, there were "very good scientific reasons for being concerned about the safety of GM crops".

Rose Williams, acting director of Biowatch, said globally there was great concern that GM products had not been adequately tested in terms of their effect on people, animals and the environment.

"There has been no testing on humans, very limited testing on animals and very little research on environmental impacts. This is the case globally, but in South Africa even less work has been done, even though the commercial release of GM maize, GM soya and GM cotton has been approved."

Williams said concerns by NGOs such as Biowatch, the African Centre for Biosafety and SAFeAGE about the lack of control over GM crops and contamination of non-GM crops had largely been ignored.

"Government has not done enough to protect the public from the potential threats of GM foods. There is also the matter of liability - who will take responsibility for people's losses and any health problems relating to consumption of GM foods, whether they are for people or for animals."

Williams said the contamination of non-GM crops was a real problem, with the biotech industry leading people to believe that co-existence of GM and non-GM crops was possible. "But it is not," she said.

While the recently implemented Consumer Protection Act called for the labelling of GM foods, the regulations linked to the measure had yet to be finalised.

About her chickens' refusal to eat their maize, Oppenheimer said: "They're smart."

DELAYING THE RESULT

At the recent UKIP conference in Southport there was a debate about proportional representation, it proved to be an interesting debate.  Many people like our first past the post voting system as our election results are usually clear and concise, and the decision of the electorate is swiftly implemented.

Here in the UK we hold a vote on a Thursday chosen only by the Prime Minister and by the afternoon of following day the new Prime Minister is on the steps of 10 Downing Street waving to the media and thronged masses, or those they let through the security gates of Downing Street.  This is quick, clear and concise.

However, in those countries who use proportional representation to elect their new government very often the results are too close to call and behind closed doors deals are done, power struggles go on and eventually after a few days, or in some cases weeks, a new government is declared which is often a mish-mash of political affiliations very often with a disproportionate amount of influence going to smaller political parties.  Not hear in the UK though, election on Thursday and new government installed on Friday - or is that about to come to an end?

Many councils around the country are talking about delaying their general election counts until the morning after the election, this could mean that the long held tradition of the newly elected PM strutting his elected stuff on Friday afternoon will be lost, we may have to wait until late on the Friday night, or even Saturday morning, before we know which leader is to blight our lives for the following five years.  To those of us who take part in elections this does not seem right at all.

My first election as a candidate was the 1997 general election when I was the Referendum Party candidate in Walsall North, I was impressed with the way the election was handled.  The polls closed at 10 pm and within ten to fifteen minutes later the ballot boxes began turning up in Walsall Town Hall.  by 2 am it was all over and the New Labour landslide was well on its way.  By messing about with the traditional Thursday night count so much will be lost, including the buzz of watching the results come in until late into the night.  All this will do is delay the result and another one of our British traditions will vanish - as have so many in the years since the New Labour wrecking machine came to power.

A PUPPET LEADER IN THE MAKING

The Daily Telegraph today (8th September 2009) has listed David Cameron’s policy profile of eight policy areas. These are on the economy, education, defence, welfare, health, crime, environment and transport and immigration. Have you noticed something missing from that list?

Surely, the ninth and most vital policy area is our relationship with the European Union? Dave must know that unless we leave the EU and curb its power over us he, nor any other leader come to that, can implement policies on anything without the hot, halitosed, breath of the EU breathing over his shoulder. He can hug as many hoodies and have as many policies as he likes, but he may as well as whistle in the wind for all it matters.

If he as the newly and democratically installed Prime Minister of Great Britain contravene the mass of EU directives and laws, then any home grown policies he may dream up become worthless as EU law overrides British law, especially if the Lisbon Treaty is ratified.

If Mr Cameron gets into office he will find he is well and truly stymied by the EU and in reality little more than a leader in name only. Before he can tackle anything else he will have to deal with the EU problem first – the only option will be to leave. But of course Dave won’t do it, he’s just another puppet leader in the making.

THE UKIP CONFERENCE

Nigel Farage MEP, resigned as UKIP leader but not going away.

Because father in law Fred is still in hospital and no one else was available to for dog sitting duties until Friday afternoon, it meant that that year Mrs B and I missed most of the first day of the UKIP conference and, of course, the announcement from Nigel Farage that he was resigning as the leader of UKIP to give all his time to his campaign against the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow.  

As you will have noticed from my previous posting I was not all that happy about this, so by the time we turned up in Southport for the last 45 minutes of the first day of conference I was wondering how the other members had taken it.  You have to hand it to Nigel, he is a master politician through and through and he handled it beautifully. The general consensus was that no one really wanted to lose him as our UKIP leader, which is how I felt, but they all understood his reasons and backed him 100 per cent.  This is obviously another of Nigel's gambles but he is such a lucky gambler it would not surprise me in the least if it pays off - and I for one hope it does.

Southport is a charming place, and the conference centre itself was a wonderful venue for this year's conference.  A dinner was laid on for the Friday night and everyone who attended had a very enjoyable evening, although the buzz and talk was who will be our next UKIP leader?  There was talk of either Paul Nuttall or David Campbell-Bannerman.

Paul Nuttall has risen though UKIP's ranks very quickly, he has proven to be a popular Party Chairman and is a very capable man.  My first encounter with him was during the Crewe and Nantwich by-election when we were campaigning for Mike Nattrasss.  I got on well with, and like, Paul from the moment I met him there and spent an enjoyable afternoon campaigning with him.  His knowledge of the EU and its devious little ways is very impressive, as I found out when he and I chatted  to some postal workers and he knew all the postal directives and had all the answers without any delay.  

Then there is David Campbell-Bannerman who stood in the UKIP leadership contest last time around.  David is a solid and dependable person who, once again, I have always liked and got on with.  He too would make an excellent leader and like Paul he knows his stuff.  David has been steadily putting party policy together with the various policy committees, there is no doubt he is a dedicated soul.  There is no doubt that the choice and vote is going to be difficult and near impossible for most UKIP activists.  This is presuming Paul and David put their names forward, added to that who else may decide to throw their hat into the ring?

Once again the conference was a good event and well organised, as was the second day of the event.  Policy was discussed, motions debated, old friends met up once again and the members left ready for the next stage of the campaign.  And Nigel?  He is about to embark on the biggest adventure of his life that could put him in our Westminster Parliament - maybe he has made the right decision after all - the UKIP members are backing him and are gathering to campaign for him.

Enjoying the conference.