STATING THE BLEEDIN’ OBVIOUS

There’s an old joke about the Russian, American and British navies being on joint exercises and three of their captains begin boasting about the courage and nerve of their crew. The Russian captain, to prove his point called one of his men and said: ‘Ivan, I want you to jump off the highest point of this ship into those freezing waters below and swim once around the ship.’ Ivan completes this task and returns to his captain to ask if there are any further orders. ‘How about that for nerve’ says the Russian.

Not to be outdone the American calls one of his crew and says: ‘Elmer, I want you to jump off the highest point of this ship into those freezing waters below and swim twice around the ship.’ Like the Russian before him Elmer completes his task and half drowned and freezing returns to his captain and asks if there are any further orders. Filled with real pride the American captain says: ‘Well guys, how about that for real nerve?’

This leaves the British captain with a point to prove, so he calls one of his men and says: ‘I say Jenkins, be a good chap old man and jump off the highest point of this ship into those freezing waters below and swim three times around the ship. There’s a good fellow.’ Jenkins looks over the side into the freezing waters and twenty foot waves and replied: ‘Bugger off – do it yourself’ and storms off. ‘Now how about that for real nerve’, said the British captain.

You ask what’s this ancient joke has got to do with the EU? Nerve, bloody nerve, that’s what. The sheer nerve of the EU and its rotten Lisbon (constitution) Treaty and the recent reaction to the Irish EU Commissioner, Charlie McCreevy’s blatant nerve over this. The Irish Commissioner has shown nothing but a crass attitude to the democratic will of not only his fellow Irishmen, who are being forced to vote on the Lisbon Treaty again, but to all the people of the 27 member nations.

He stated the bleedin’ obvious when talking about the possible date for the next Irish referendum on the treaty, which is expected to be the 2nd October 2009. He said that had all the nations within the EU been given a referendum on the treaty 95 per cent of those nations would have voted ‘No’, also. He added that all the political leaders in the various EU countries know quite well that their electorates would have turned Lisbon down – so if the EU leaders know this why are they still pushing forward with, what we all know will be the eventual outcome, a new country called ‘Europe’.

The EU talks a lot about democracy and the rights of the people whilst at the same time ignoring those things. If the EU really cared so much about democracy and our rights then why has it done everything within its power to deny us a democratic choice over this treaty that no one wants. Why does the EU not consider our right to tell it to stuff its revolting treaty where the sun don’t shine? The answer, it only cares for its own aims and ends, talk about democracy is just that, talk. Now that is bleedin’ obvious.

AN HOUR ON THE WIRELESS

Do you ever think back to how the wireless has changed over the years? It has gone from that polished wood piece of furniture with valves that glowed and took an age to warm up after you had turned it on, to compact little transistors and digital boxes in my lifetime.

When I think back to my childhood in Lupin Street, Birmingham, remembering grandma Wilkes leaning against the sideboard with an ear against the old valve wireless, listening intently to the Archers, I never imaged that fifty or so years later the Archers would still be broadcasting or that I would be an occasional guest on a local politics show on the radio.

Every now and then a young man named Matthew Revell invites me along to take part in studio debates on his ‘Politics Show’ on Wolverhampton Community Radio. Over the last couple of years I have taken part in some interesting and enjoyable debates with other politicians from the Wolverhampton area, and last night (Friday 26th June 2009) I was back again for, what Matthew and I thought, was to be a debate with an activist from the Wolverhampton Communist Party. That promised to be interesting and I was looking forward to it – but the comrade failed to show leaving Matthew and I with an hour of air-time all to ourselves.

After the other shows with political banter going back and forth and, naturally, political point scoring, as is the way of these things, this one seemed really strange with just Matthew and I in the studio, especially as we tend to agree on a number of issues.

The topics we went through were: should MPs and Ministers have other jobs outside Parliament? Plans for road pricing, a chat about the decision by Sandwell Council to have a Gypsy awareness and history month in all its schools (Labour controlled council of course!) and should we be shocked by the expenses being claimed by BBC executives? Added to that, I was asked to bring some recent news items I thought of interest. Well, that gave us a bit to have a go at between the two of us.

Naturally the press clippings I took all related to the EU and its influence upon us, I also had the chance to explain the way MEPs debate then vote, sometime later, and that when they do vote it is so rushed they plough through and implement masses of legislation in a very short period. I related UKIP MEP, Mike Nattrass’s comment that they were recently congratulated by the President of the EU Parliament for breaking the record and getting through 900 votes in one hour. Even this shook Matthew who is no political slouch.

Regarding the MPs having other jobs, in my opinion I think it should be compulsory just to make sure they learn about life outside the Westminster bubble. Nor should the jobs be company directorships or some sort of political consultancy, but they should be made to take up a trade. Just imagine having your MP fixing your boiler? He would soon learn a thing or two about earning a living and life away from Parliament.

The topic that amazed me was the one on the Sandwell schools ‘Gypsy Month’, which apparently all the schools in the Sandwell area (this used to be mostly West Bromwich until Ted Heath and his Euro regions turned up) are compelled to hold.

Matthew had picked this up from the Taxpayers Alliance which is an excellent organisation. As their article states: “Forget the Tudors or the Italian Renaissance, Sandwell Council’s lightening-hot Equality and Diversity Scrutiny Panel are recommending that every school in the borough celebrates a “gipsy and traveller history month” – I had to agree with the TPA and said so.

Sadly, Matthew, who does the politics show as a hobby rather tan full time, will not be doing any more shows for some time due to the imminent arrival of his second child. I hope it is not too long before he returns to the airwaves of Wolverhampton, he and his ‘Politics Show’ will be missed by many local political activists of all political colours and leanings, all of whom have a high regard for Matthew who should be in broadcasting full time.

GRIPING ABOUT THE GROUPING

Initially the Tory break from the rabidly federalist pro-EU group in the European Parliament was going to be carried out within three weeks of David Cameron taking the Conservative leadership in December 2005. After that we waited, and waited, and waited and later wondered if his second promise to deal with this after the European elections would turn into yet another long wait.

But wait no more, lo and behold it has happened, a new European Parliamentary group called the “European Conservatives and Reformist group” has suddenly appeared and not all the Tory MEP’s are too happy about it.

Raving Euro fanatic Edward McMillan-Scott, a fully paid up member of the EU Taliban, has been griping about some of his new colleagues from other EU states within this new group of fifty five MEPs. He considers some of the members of this group to have unsavoury connections and have links to extremist groups, despite the fact many of his own constituents in the EU would consider him a pro-EU extremist. He said it was “humiliating” for the Tories to be “scrambling around” for new members for the group.

Another Tory EU-fanatic, Christopher Beazley who stood down from the EU Parliament at the recent election, accused David Cameron of trying to “rip up thirty years of work by Tory pro-Europeans”. It has obviously not quite dawned on these Tory dimwits that over the last thirty or so years the EU has been ripping up a thousand years of British history and our constitution, independence and freedom that has grown from it.

In reality it is hard to wonder why these EU fanatics are getting their blue and gold star knickers in a twist about this trivial issue as this new grouping will not make a jot of difference. The Tory party will remain a sham EU-sceptic party, we will remain trapped in the EU no matter who is the PM, Cameron or Brown, and David Cameron is still pro-EU and prone to dishing out a load of testies about reforming and changing the EU from within. Nothing will change until we leave the EU because the EU itself will not allow change – even though Cameron is fluent in bullshine and McMillan-scott and others are throwing their toys out of Euro nannies pram.

POOR BRITAIN

We have all known for many years now that Britain is subservient to its new masters in the European Union, despite Conservative and Labour Governments trying to give the impression they are in charge, but what could be more humiliating for the no longer sovereign British Government than being told by the EU to get its budget deficit in order.

There is no secret in the fact that Gordon Brown was just as bad as a Chancellor as he is as a Prime Minister, and the fact he and his Government have created a fiscal nightmare in this country, but for the EU to start telling him and his Ministers to get their acts together is a real slap in the face and more evidence that those we elect ar no longer in control.

Reported in the Daily Telegraph on the 24th June 2009, it stated that “Britain has been censured by Brussels for the size of its budget deficit and ordered to bring it back under control immediately.”

This is a real embarrassment for Chancellor Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown who have been told by the EU Commission that it had lumped Britain alongside Latvia and Ireland as having the biggest increase in public debt and felt these were the most worrying figures.

Poor Britain, it just hasn’t learned that it can’t do as it pleases and its head boys have been dragged before the EU headmaster for a good dressing down.

AND THE NEW SPEAKER IS:---

We are all so used to watching TV quiz shows where the contestants get knocked out, such as ‘Weakest Link’ and ‘Eggheads’, observing the election of the new Speaker for the House of Commons felt like a similar experience. The process looked as if had been designed more for its entertainment value rather than for the practicality of electing the best person for the job, to make the Commons work better or sort out the sordid mess its occupants have created.

There can be little doubt that the old working class Socialist, Michael (Gorbals Mick ) Martin had been a disaster – the bloke hadn’t a clue, so what of the newly elected Speaker John Bercow, who was dragged to the Speakers chair after three ballots over a six hour period?

He certainly ain’t Mr Popularity amongst his Conservative colleagues who have seen him transform from a Tory right winger to a Labour leaning softie. This was one of the reasons why the Labour MPs used their Parliamentary majority to elect Bercow as they knew how much it would upset their Tory opponents.

How John Bercow will perform and what stature he builds is an unknown quantity, he has been elected at one of Parliament’s most difficult times and the job isn’t going to be an easy one. The question is, will he have the strength of will to control the Commons and does he have the knowledge of how the institution within Parliament and the Commons work to show that he is capable of the job? In his final dog-days in office Speaker Martin revealed, in reality, he was clueless and had to be guided by his officials and advisers.

One person who put his name forward and was knocked out in the very first round was Richard Shepherd, the Member for Aldridge Brownhills. It is sad that tribal instincts took over amongst our elected Members as, in my opinion, he was without doubt the best man for the job.

Mr Shepherd is a Parliamentarian through and through, he knows and understands the institution and has the knowledge and stature to take on the roll – he is also well respected by most MPs even if his Euro-sceptic views may not be to all tastes – especially within his own pro/anti-EU schizophrenic Conservative Party.

When the position was up for grabs the last time round he did better in the election process than this time. When I met him at the validation for the European elections in Walsall Town Hall on the 4th June I asked him if he was going to put his name forward. He was unsure then, and like many others urged him to go for it. I just wished that our Members of Parliament had been grown up enough to put point scoring behind them and considered our Parliament, democracy and the people they represent. Sadly, Parliament and its institutions has become so trivial to them they chose silly games. And the winner is John Bercow, the losers are you and I my friends.

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST

This is not usually the sort of blog that likes to gloat, but on Monday 15th June I posted  an atricle, 'Lisbon First', in which I made the comment that the reason Lord Peter Mandelson was doing his utmost to save Gordon Brown's political skin had nothing to do with trying to save Brown or the Labour Party, but more to do with saving the Lisbon Treaty.  I even sent a version of the posting to the Daily Telegraph letters page - it was not published.

Then, in the Sunday Telegraph (21st June  2009) up pops Conservative MEP Dan Hannan more or less saying the same thing in an article.  Although Dan Hannan's article is much better written than any posting you will find on this blog, you still read it here first.

FISCAL FOLLY

The press and media have recently revealed how the Kinnock’s, after years in the EU, him as a Commissioner and her as an MEP, have made a mint in pensions and perks, as revealed by Open Europe, which has claimed they have made up to £8 million out of the EU - or rather our taxes channelled through it.

So, what should our loaded Lord and his Lady do with their EU plunder? Well, the last place to invest it will be anywhere in the EU which is heading for all sorts of economic problems created by European Union regulations and sheer bad management of its economy.

Unemployment in the Eurozone has risen to almost one in ten people being out of work, that is 9.5 per cent. According to Ambrosia Evans Prichard writing in the Daily Telegraph (6th June 2009), this is due to the “delayed effects of recession and the overvalued currency” which has triggered a wave of lay-offs. He reported that the picture in Spain is particularly dire were the jobless rate among the younger members of the population has reached 36 per cent.

The recession is creating concerns for the European Central Bank (ECB) who fear that there will be a bank crisis in 2010. The ECB is giving its attention to twenty five banks which it deems are crucial to the health of the Eurozone’s financial system. Some financial experts are concerned that there could be defaults in several Eastern European states.

Here in the UK we have a special interest in the well being of our financial institutions as the City of London is a leading world trading centre. If anything undermines that position and our UK investment trade moves away Britain could lose a major part of its wealth creation. Sadly the EU is on course to be the undermining factor.

The EU is putting into place its own controls over finance, insurance and securities. It wants to shift regulatory powers away from the nation states to full EU control and under QMV Gordon Brown will not be able to veto it. Once control goes away it will never be returned - fiscal folly indeed.

PRESIDENT BLAIR

One of the issues I have not tackled on this blog is the looming possibility of a President of Europe, which many predict could be none other than Tony Blair. Apart from the fact there should be no EU President - or an EU, the thought of President Blair lording it over all twenty seven EU nations sends a shiver down the back.

If the Irish are conned into voting ‘Yes’ in their second referendum on the Lisbon (Constitution) Treaty this autumn, then everything will be in place for the selection of the EU’s first President.

As we all know, the EU and its acolytes are very good at talking about democracy and democratic principles, but don’t quite seem to have grasped exactly how democracy works, which usually means when the people say ‘No’, that should be an end to it rather than ignoring the inconvenient votes of an inconsiderate electorate and finding another way of implementing their plans anyway.

So in true EU democratic form its first President will be appointed by the EU’s leaders rather than the people to add another tier to the sham of the EU Parliament and that the EU is somehow or other a democratic institution. It will also add another to trapping of nationhood to all the others it has acquired such as a: Parliament, flag, anthem, passport, driving license, laws, embassies and so much more – despite the constant lies that it has no intention of becoming a single nation.

Naturally the majority of Labour Party members and activists would be delighted with the prospect of an EU President Blair, apart that is from a beleaguered Gordon Brown who would, if he survives that long in office, have Blair as his new supremo. What better reason could Gordon Brown have to become a convert to the EU-sceptic cause and take Britain out of the EU – that would really stuff Tony.

But what of the useless Tories? Is David Camoron jumping up an down in rage at the prospect of Blair as President – or even an EU President? Er – not quite. William Hague has made a few whimpish protestations but on the whole the Tory leadership is doing some calculations over this matter.

Cameron is obviously fretting that should Blair become President after a lot of Conservative opposition, and then he becomes the PM next year and is allowed to sit in the big chair and play with the desk in Number Ten Downing Street to pretend he is running the country, how would his real boss, Blair then treat him? That’s a tricky one for Mr Cameron.

Tricky too would be the reaction of the mostly EU-sceptic Conservative grass roots who would not be happy if their Europhile leader let Blair take the post unchallenged. Others in the Tory heirachy see advantages of letting Blair go through unopposed. Once approved as President Blair would then be forced to take a politically neutral stance which would prevent him from being active in any future general election – without his support the Labour Party which is struggling anyway could really bomb.

All this depends on what the Irish do when they vote on the Lisbon Treaty – again. Will they be conned into voting ‘Yes’ by the false promises being made about the EU army, Irish neutrality and abortion, or will they see sense and tell the EU exactly where to stuff its treaty? Hopefully the latter.

If this happens then Camoron has other problems dropped in his lap, this means he will, if elected to play in the big chair, be forced to honour his promise to hold a referendum on the treaty – and if the Irish shove the treaty where the sun don’t shine the British electorate will ram it even further up with rode and pole! This, of course, will create apologetic fits in high places all across the EU and Camoron will not be a very popular PM at all in the rest of Europe. Naturally, as a Europhile who would never consider taking Britain out of the EU, this will give him a very unpleasant time when dealing with his EU masters.

But what of Blair, will he sail into the job if the Irish lose touch with common sense and vote for the Lisbon Treaty? Well, it’s still not in the bag for him. Brooding away and still nursing his wounds after the attack from the EU delegation that told him to fly the EU flag from the Czech Presidents Palace is Vaclav Klause who may still refuse to sign the treaty even though his parliament has approved it. Then there is Frau Merkel, what if she loses the Presidential elections in Germany later this year? If so she will be looking for another job and Tony Blair may find he has some very determined and serious opposition. Oh what interesting times we live in – they would be much easier if we just quit the EU and got back to the business of looking after Britain, its people, its sovereignty, democracy and trade and let the EU go on its merry little back-stabbing way.

DOING NOTHING ABOUT THE OBVIOUS

There was a time when people who were elected to our once sovereign Parliament in Westminster used to give their time unpaid and without drawing expenses. For this group of people, usually the wealthy and influential, they gave their time free of charge as a way of giving something back to the nation.

The only problem with this was that the ordinary working man had no chance of standing in elections or going to Parliament as he could not afford it, that was until the Trade Union Movement began to sponsor those it wanted elected to represent the Labour movement.

In those distant times Parliament did a great deal less and made far fewer laws as its Members did not have to be seen as earning their money, they gave their time for free, there was no money for them. Generally speaking we had fewer laws and the laws that were made were well considered and better for it compared to the mass of legislation which is dumped upon us these days.

In the last few years, especially since Labour came to power, the number of ministers and junior minister has increased dramatically along with the number of new laws being made. Suddenly waking up to the blindingly obvious a committee of MPs have come to the conclusion that there are too many laws being made and that there are too many ministers. This committee has concluded that there is an “excessive” number of initiatives aimed at meeting “short term political pressures” at the expense of stable, effective Government.

Well that’s the obvious bit, so what do they intend to do about it and what exactly will be done? The simple answer is sod all - they won’t be allowed to by our real Government which none of us elect in Brussels which now makes around 75 to 80 per cent of all our laws.  Sadly, this mass of legislative crap spews out of the EU ceaselessly.

So what happens when it hits the scrutiny committee in our Parliament? They are swamped and just shove it through without looking at it to save themselves from drowning in a sea of legislation as the incoming tide of EU bureaucracy pours in like water from a burst pipe. It simply becomes law and it is not until then, as the people and businesses begin to suffer and fail because of its effects, that the harm becomes obvious. Sadly, because this law originates in the EU it cannot be repealed or amended by our Parliament because we are not allowed by the EU to do so - and so the misery gets worse and worse as tie goes by.

It is sad to say that although this committee have seen the problem of far too many laws, it can talk about the problems into all eternity but will do nothing about the obvious, which is to take Britain out of the EU - that is the only way the problem can be solved.

LISBON ABOVE PARTY

Lord Mandelson, known for his Machiavellian ways.

The Daily Telegraph today (15th June 2009) published several letters referring to the power now held by Peter Mandelson but none really touched on why he is doing everything in his power to save the political skin of his old adversary, Gordon Brown.

Knowing the devious little ways of Lord Peter many suspect he is putting the protection of the Lisbon Treaty above the well being of Gordon Brown and the fate of the Labour Party. The longer he can keep Brown in office the more chance there is of the Lisbon Treaty being ratified if the Irish can be bullied into voting for it in their second EU enforced referendum.

If this can be achieved by the time a future Conservative Government takes office, as that other Europhile Ken Clarke MP pointed out, once the Lisbon Treaty is ratified no British Government will not be able to repeal it without leaving the EU - something David Cameron will not do.

By the time of the general election the Labour Party will face its biggest electoral disaster yet, Gordon Brown will go down in history as one of Britain's worst Prime Ministers, but to the Machiavellian way of Lord Mandelson it will not matter a jot if he managed to gain enough time for Lisbon to be ratified. By delaying Gordon Brown's doom and making Labour's electoral defeat even worse than by not going for an early election, he will have served the EU well by saving the treaty and will surely be rewarded for his services to EU federalism. There might be something in it for Ken Clarke too.

PICKETING FOR PASSPORTS

British citizenship is getting easier and easier to obtain these days. For many it was just a matter of waiting for your country to join the EU and under its rules on free passage and open borders anyone from another EU country has as much right to live in the UK as any British born subject. If and when Turkey joins the EU a whole new wave of instant citizens will be created.

For those from none EU countries who go through the process legally, rather than by jumping in the back of a UK bound truck in Sangatte, the waiting time for citizenship will be reduced from eight to six years for those who are willing to undertake 50 hours of voluntary work.

There is a politically motivated catch, however. The Labour Government have deemed that standing on picket lines or political canvassing will also count for ‘earned citizenship’. No doubt the campaigning will have to be for Labour votes!

FROM ELECTIONS TO DIGGING HOLES

Derek Bennett, digging after victory.

One week it was campaigning for UKIP in its most successful election yet as the election agent for UKIP in the West Midlands, the next it was back down to earth digging holes in my front drive - what a come down.

In my first break this year, now the election campaign is over, I had little option but to tackle the mess that my drive had become with cracked and sunken slabs - no MPs expenses for me to get someone in to do the work at the taxpayers expense, in fact campaigning for UKIP costs all of us who are dedicated to the cause of saving our country from EU domination quite a bit of our earnings - and savings - hence the drive digging being done by yours truly.

Between digging holes in the ground and mixing concrete, there was still a little time to read the daily papers and wonder in total amazement what planet Lord Mandy was on.  The ex sinister Minister of spin, ex EU Commissioner and regular resignee after being caught getting up to things he was not supposed to, has declared that Britain should join the euro.  Does his lordship have cloth ears?  Is he blind to the facts?  When the Euro election results came in on Sunday night UKIP came second after the Tories - his useless Labour Party was relogated to fourth place - surely that should tell this dimwit something - hello your Lordship, when those people who voted UKIP, and even those who voted Tory under the delusion that it is somehow anti-EU, they voted to leave the EU, not get drawn deeper into the Euro mire.

According to Lord Mandelson Britain "obviously" remains committed to joining the euro following the currency's "success" in helping its members to weather the economic crisis.  I wonder if he has been hitting the LSD and hallucinating?  That's the only conclusion I can come to - what success?  Most of the people living in those nation states who have lost their economic sovereignty after joining the euro hate it.  They moan about the cost of everything going up and the fact their governments can't do anything about it as they no longer control their own interests rates.

However, if Lord Mandelson wants to dig himself into a hole deeper than the one I have been working on, then all I can say is keep digging old chum, it will work wonders for UKIP when the general election comes around.

A TURKEY OF AN ARREST WARRANT

One of the things I noticed during the election campaign for the European Parliament was how pally and supportive of each other were the Labour, Tory and Liberal Democrat candidates in the West Midlands. Everytime they spoke together at a hustings meeting or during TV debates the only odd one out was the UK Independence Party candidate, Mike Nattrass.

Everytime he spoke out against the folly of EU membership the other three, usually Michael Cashman for Labour, Malcolm Harbour for the Tories and Liz Lynne for the Liberal Democrats, would all join forces and attack Mike in unison. It was hard to believe that these three were, or are supposed to be, politically opposed to each other as they were all singing from the same pro-EU hymn sheet.

One of the things they all supported was the EU arrest warrant, that nasty bit of legislation that now means no British subject can expect their own Government to come to their defence from arrest by foreign courts on suspect evidence, as seen with the Andrew Symeou case. No matter who we are or where we are in this once sovereign land of our, we can all now fear the knock on the door and face a British bobby who has come to clap us in irons acting under the orders of a foreign court for a possible crime that may not even be a crime in our own country.

We all remember a few years back that bunch of plane spotting anoraks who went out to Greece to watch planes taking off and landing from the perimeter of a Greek airport - rather than doing what most Brits do when in Greece which is to cook themselves on the beach during the day and get well and truly sozzled by night. This lot were locked up not for behaving badly, but for watching planes.

I often wonder what would have happened had the EU arrest warrant been in force and they had returned home to Blighty before the Greek authorities had found out what they had been up to - would a British police officer been sent to arrest them for the crime of plane spotting which is not a crime here?

The thing that struck me even further when listening to our pro-EU Tory, Labour and Lib Dem Euro candidates prattling on about cross border crime was that the Tories have been promoting Turkish membership of the EU for quite some time. As we all know Turkey does not have the best record on earth for an impartial justice system, so what would they do as members of the EU and have their mits on the EU arrest warrant?

As an Islamic nation whose laws and customs are very different to those of our Christian culture, could the Turkish courts, if and when Turkey joins the EU, begin to demand the arrest of British subjects for contravening their Islamic laws while on holiday of visiting Turkey? The whole thing from my point of view is a legalistic minefield. What if Turkey joins and then becomes more militant if fanatical Islamists take over - could we see demands from them for the arrest of British people who they suspect had intimate relationships out marriage while in Turkey? Or for drinking alcohol? 

The more I think about these things the more evident it becomes that the whole concept of European Union with its mad laws and even madder arrest warrant is a seriously bad idea. As the Freedom Association never fail to say, we would be far 'Better Off Out'.

RECAPPING ON THAT ELECTION

Now that the dust has settled and the results of the European elections are sinking in, it's time for a little recap of the whole UKIP campaign that gave us so much success.

Like all campaigns it did not just happen, the planning for it had begun a long time in advance and like all the plans of mice and men, not everything went as planned along the way and there were several rethinks and changes, but in the end it finished up with a cracking result for UKIP - helped greatly of course by the antics of our MPs and their expenses.

All over the country UKIP activists worked hard delivering leaflets, a great many of which were supplied and paid for by Alan Bown who has been as solid as a rock for UKIP. We in the West Midlands started campaigning at the beginning of last autumn by targeting areas, stepping up the campaign to having our leafleting days from once month to once a week. Some of our members were there week after week no matter where in the Midlands we were, they just kept coming back for more.

Our UKIP candidates, especially Mike Nattrass, Nikki Sinclaire and Jill Seymour, worked like Trojans. A major driving force for UKIP in the West Midlands, without doubt, was Nikki Sinclaire. As a the organiser for UKIP in the West Midlands I was impressed with the sheer dedication and devotion of our UKIP members to our cause to save Britain from EU domination. Old and young alike got stuck in. There were characters such as Richard Lamerton from Hereford who, despite his heart condition, worked tirelessly, also one of our more mature members, Ian Robinson from Leominster who spent two hours driving from the south of the region to the north to help out on one of our leafleting days - then spent two hours driving home again.  On the young side two of our UKIP Youth members, Steve Fowler and Josh O'Nyons, could always be relied on to turn up and run the rest of us ragged trying to keep up with them.

The UKIP bus, decked out in UKIP colours, was something else too and was a fantastic campaigning tool.  However, one of our biggest assets in the campaign was our UKIP leader, Nigel Farage himself.  

That man just performs to perfection the moment a microphone, audience or camera is placed in front of him - no question seems to faze him - he is a professional through and through.

Other things which added to our success was the capability of our press an media teams who were provided with a fantastic computer programme that helped them to monitor and comment on situations as they arose.  All this attributed to UKIP's most successful campaign yet.  After that success, we now face the general election whenever Gordon Brown has the guts to call it - UKIP won't be found lacking - all it needs now is for the people to learn from this success that UKIP can win elections and have the courage to vote for what they want.

TICKLED PINK

It's 3.33 am on Monday morning the 8th of June and I have not long returned home from the West Midlands count for the European elections which took place in Birmingham - and what a night it has been.

To say I am tickled pink with the results and UKIP's second place in these elections is an understatement. UKIP in the West Midlands where the total number of MEPs has gone down from seven to six (this is known as having more influence in Europe!), has doubled the number of MEPs from one to two - what a fantastic result.

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of a lot of UKIP activists in the Midlands not only did we see Mike Nattrass re-elected, but Nikki Sinclaire too - congratulations to both of them.

I'm off to bed now, but I just had to blog this before going to the land of nod - with a big smile on my face.

NOW THE WAIT

The votes have been cast, now we wait until the evening of Sunday the 7th June for the results of the European elections.

The sign are looking good for UKIP, in fact extremely good when you look at the the UKIP vote in the County Council and Council elections around the country.  Almost everywhere UKIP has put a candidate up they are consistently taking second or third place, beating the Liberal Democrats quite easily and also Labour in a large number of seats.

In the West Midlands UKIP has gained three County Council seats.  UKIP activist, Steve Povey, has taken Leek from the Tories on Staffordshire County Council, Dave Nixon and Derek Huckfield from the Newcastle Under Lyme area also join him on Staffordshire County Council too.

For UKIP at this stage to be getting such good results bodes well for the European elections and is a sign that UKIP could well be the second party in this election pushing Labour into third place with the Liberal Democrats trailing in fourth place.  If this is the case what better proof can there be to this failing Government and the useless Tories that the British people want out of the EU - so what are we waiting for?

THE BIG DAY IS HERE - VOTE UKIP

The big day has arrived, its polling day for the European and local elections and UKIP's chance to create a political earthquake by beating the Labour vote.  If this happens then Prime Minister Gordon Brown is doomed as the Labour leader.

However, as earth shaking as that will be when UKIP storms the polls, even more important will be the message a large vote for UKIP will send to our three Europhile political parties - the Lib, Lab Con, the pro-EU trinity.  These parties that have, over the years ignored the will of the people, will have no choice but to take note that by voting for the UK Independence Party large numbers of people will have voted to leave the EU - this is your chance to do so too.

To ensure they get the message rammed home and shoved up their majorities, VOTE UKIP on the 4th June.  Go to the UKIP web-site for more information and news.

WILLIAM HILL BACKS UKIP AS EURO CAMPAIGN COMES TO A HEAD AT CAMBRIDGE HUSTINGS

David Campbell- Bannerman, spoke at Cambridge hustings meeting.

The Bookmakers, William Hill, are giving odds of 5/4 on UKIP taking more seats in the European Parliamentary Election than the Labour Party.  Their odds on the Labour Party doing better than UKIP are a mere 11/8.*

 

David Campbell Bannerman, the Party’s Deputy Leader and Lead Candidate in the Eastern Counties, speaking after a NO2ID/Oxfam/Amnesty International Hustings meeting in Cambridge last night (1st June 2009) said:

 

“The William Hill odds chime with what we are finding out on the streets talking to people.  Our clear message that Britain should leave the EU so that we can stop paying £40 million a day to Brussels and regain control of our borders and our democracy is really resonating with voters.  They are genuinely shocked to learn that 75% of new legislation passing through Westminster originates with the unelected European Commission.

 

“Richard Howitt, Labour’s Lead Candidate, who also took part in the hustings meeting, clearly has no interest in listening to the views of the voters.  He dismissed any debate about EU membership as ‘stupid’ and remarked ‘you had your referendum in 1975’.  I think it really is about time not just Richard Howitt but also Gordon Brown started listening to the voters because UKIP is on course to pick up more seats than Labour, the governing Party.

 

“The message is clear – vote UKIP, to get Gordon Brown out”.

PUSHING AT OPEN DOORS

One of the reasons the postings on this blog have not been as frequent as they should be is down to campaigning in the European elections for UKIP, which is best election campaign I have ever been involved with since first campaigning in 1997.

Going out delivering our leaflets and meeting people promoting UKIP is like pushing at an open door - the support we are getting is amazing - especially after the years of apathy and hearing people tell me the same old thing over and over again, such as 'It's not worth voting for UKIP because you won't win'.  Now the feedback is: 'I am sick of that lot, you've definitely got my vote' - It's absolutely wonderful.

However, nothing can be taken for granted, the polls may be showing UKIP in second place beating the Labour vote, but we won't really know until Sunday night (7th June) when the counting of the votes take place - then we will see.  Until then I am going to bask in the warm sunshine and the glow of success as people are giving their support to UKIP.