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Lord Pearson elected leader of UK Independence Party

Lord Pearson: 'A new form of direct democracy' Lord Pearson of Rannoch has been elected the new leader of UK Independence Party. He will succeed Nigel Farage, who is standing down to focus on running for Parliament at the next election. UKIP came second to the Conservatives in June's European elections and is hoping to build on this success. Lord Pearson defeated MEPs Gerard Batten, Mike Nattrass and Nikki Sinclaire, and Alan Wood, a councillor from Wiltshire, in the contest. 'EU deception' He gained nearly half of the approximately 9,900 votes cast by UKIP members. Lord Pearson, who defected from the Conservatives in 2007, said it was an "enormous honour" to lead the party. The EU can do almost anything and will Lord Pearson of Rannoch Profile: Lord Pearson of Rannoch He accused the main parties of "deceiving" the public over Europe and said withdrawing from the EU would save the UK billions of pounds, describing the move as his "top priority". "With the Lisbon Treaty, you really see the last nail in the coffin of our democracy," he said. "The EU can do almost anything and will." The party's objective at the next election - in which it plans to field more than 500 candidates - would be to force a hung Parliament and bring about a "realignment" in British politics. He said the party would still be "majoring on leaving Europe" - but he also pledged to campaign on a range of other issues including Swiss-style direct democracy, which he described as a "serious system of national and local referendums". "I am convinced that is the only way now that the people can get round the stranglehold of their political class and take back their democracy." He said the party's first referendum was likely to be on EU withdrawal but he envisaged plebiscites taking place on other issues when sufficient members of the public wanted them. He promised policies "in all areas", notably tightening border controls, reforming the training of teachers and nurses, building more grammar schools and preventing the closure of post offices. He also pledged to improve the party's organisational structure, modernising its campaigning and fundraising operations. Mr Farage said he was "delighted" by the outcome of the election and was standing down at a time when the party had "never been more successful". Campaign anger Leadership ballot papers were sent to UKIP members earlier this month and they had until Thursday to vote. UKIP LEADERSHIP RESULT Lord Pearson: 4,743 Gerard Batten: 2,571 Nikki Sinclaire: 1,214 Mike Nattrass: 1,092 Alan Wood: 315 The contest had seen some controversy, with Mr Farage claiming that Lord Pearson, a former insurance broker, was "head and shoulders" above his rivals and any other winner could prove "tricky" for the party. Mr Batten said that such comments were an "insult" and might "unduly influence" the outcome. UKIP, which wants the UK to withdraw from the EU, took 13 seats at the European elections but has no MPs at Westminster. Mr Farage is running for the seat of Buckingham at the next general election, where he hopes to oust Commons Speaker John Bercow. Despite relinquishing the party leadership, the BBC's Political Correspondent Iain Watson said Mr Farage was still likely to remain UKIP's main spokesman and most prominent figure.

Shock news: UKIP is not suicidal - by Helen... Friday, November 27, 2009

We are, of course, very pleased that UKIP members or, at least, those who have bothered to vote managed to elect the best candidate, to wit Lord Pearson of Rannoch, something of a hero to this blog.

The most exciting development will be, as I explain over on Your Freedom and Ours, reading positive comments by the Boss about the Leader of UKIP.

Now that's something we have not seen in these parts before.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Shock news: UKIP is not suicidal

The BBC reports that Lord Pearson of Rannoch, whom this blog and EUReferendum has supported (for instance, here and here), has been elected to be Leader of UKIP. The votes cast were as follows:

Lord Pearson: 4,743
Gerard Batten: 2,571
Nikki Sinclaire: 1,214
Mike Nattrass: 1,092
Alan Wood: 315

Whether that is the entire membership or some could not be bothered to vote remains open to question but, as ever, one can repeat: if you can't be bothered you have no right to complain. Undoubtedly, they will, though.

Naturally, I think this is an excellent move. Pearson will be much better at organizing the party and raising money as well as not putting people's backs up than Nigel Farage ever was. On the other hand, Farage will remain the main spokesman, the known face and very articulate voice of the party. Unless they fall out (and I do believe Mr Farage knows the importance of keeping Lord Pearson and his colleague Lord Willoughby de Broke on side) this should be a good working relationship. One hopes that the losing candidates will not spend too much time sulking in their tents, if for no other reason than that nobody is going to bother to win them round.

Iain Dale has a very friendly and positive posting while Tim Montgomerie contents himself with reporting the news though he cannot restrain himself from posting a silly and irrelevant comment about a peer not having democratic legitimacy. Dear Mr Montgomerie, the leader of a party does not have to be an elected politician; it is when the government is run by them that we have problems. Most of the comments are the usual silly rubbish.

However, the most interesting development will be reading friendly words from the Boss of EURef about the Leader of UKIP. Woo-hoo!