Campaign kicks off

This week saw the unvieling of our billboard campaign. We are invoking the spirit of one of our greatest leaders, Winston Churchill who was at the helm the last time the sovereiginty of the UK was at risk.

We are inviting the electorate, whatever their usual political loyalties. to lend us their vote on the 4th June.

By doing so they will get the chance to have a say on the EU successive governments (Labour and conservative, supported by the Lib Dems) have denied them UKIP will be giving the British people the opportunity to:-

SAY NO to giving the EU £40million every day!
SAY NO to unlimited EU migration
SAY NO to no say

The photo above shows myself, Mike Nattrass MEP and Jill Seymour, the three leading UKIP candidates for the West Midlands has the launch on Monday 20th April.

Later in the afternoon I went to Solihull town centre to campign.

Rusties voice is missing!

My mother once told me 'That you don't always get what you deserve in this world' and today another example of this was on the West Midlands Politics Show

Labour run Sandwell Council has withdrawn funding from a St Georges Day event, claiming it was used for right wing poliical extremism, notably the BNP making it's deplorable presence apparent. Fellow UKIP EU Election candidate, Rustie Lee (pictured here with me) voiced her support of the event to celebrate the patron saint of England - not for any nationalistic purposes but to celebrate our national identity regardless of race. By reclaiming the day for these purposes we reject the hate and bile of the extreme right wing. Rustie and the organisers of the event requested the assistance of West Midlands, UKIP MEP, Mike Nattrass who highlighted the petty political correctness of Sandwell Council. As a result, the issue has received exposure in the Daily Mail and on BBC's WM Politics Show. Both Media outlets chose not to highlight Rusties or Mikes efforts.

Campaign rolls into Kidderminster

Today I attended another one of our successful campaigning days. More than a dozen activists including former MP, Christopher Gill and NEC member Jill Seymour blitzed the area with information packs. These days are proving more and more successful and the requests for information are increasing. No doubt due to the publics growing realisation about the corrupt and doomed EU. Over 7000 packs were distributed this morning. Our volunteers were received well by the general public who took time to ask questions and offer their support.

As momentum is building towards the campaign these days are becoming more and more frequent. If you can help, please contact the number above or send me a message. One more thing, Many thanks to Alan Bown who generously donated the information packs.

Russhall Shelfield By-election

A big well done to UKIP candidate, Tim Melville, Walsall Branch Chairman, Derek Bennett and his team for all their hard work in the above by-election.

It was a shame we didn’t get a few more votes to push the Lib Dems into 4th but the result (UKIP scored 10.2%) bears out the recent YouGov opinion polls and shows that UKIP are on course to retain its seat here in the West Midlands. And we haven’t even begun trying yet!! In the coming months our campaign will be unveiled and with the ground swell of opinion against the EU – UKIP are bound to do well and maybe I’ll get elected!

We must and will remain focussed and put in every effort – we cannot and must not fail.

Immigration & Asylum at Warwick University

Sometimes you get the feeling that you are being stereotyped - pigeonholed or expected to live up to an expectation. Today I took part in a debate at Warwick University on Immigration and Asylum. Maybe they were expecting a racist rant - if so they were disappointed. I explained it was about space not race, I stated UKIP's policy on following International Law and in particular 1951 Convention on Refugees that states that such people should claim asylum in the first 'safe' country they reach. That the UK had a proud reputation for giving a safe haven to those fleeing persecution and we must adhere to our international obligations - our fair share but no more. I explained that the the issue is often clouded by immigration and Eastern European EU migration. I slammed the EU Immigration policy as racist and that the EU was responsible for a great deal of economic migration to the UK due to its disastrous Common Agricultural Policy and its over fishing in African waters. I also reminded them that the EU restricts the amount of aid we can give to these countries. I called for the UK's withdrawal from the EU and its shackles to assist and aid nations to provide a stable prosperous home for their own nationals

The young Tory Boy (who did fit the stereotype) came across as the right wing hardliner despite his pre debate prediction that he was glad UKIP was there to "come out the worst".

Europhile bashing!

Some days are interesting, some days are boring, some days are mundane and some days get the adrenalin pumping and makes me eager for the fight. Today was such a day.

Caroline Boyle who works for the European Parliament Office in London visited my home town of Solihull. Caroline was giving a presentation of the EU to the Solihull pensioners group – Now I know I’m not of pensionable age but I do have an open invitation to attend their meetings. The usual EU propaganda was been spouted, this time the pensioners of Solihull hit back, armed with my contributions on the real facts of the EU. The Euro employee was left very isolated. Indeed her presentation soon turned into a full debate on the UK’s membership of the EU. I am happy and heartened to report that this vote supported the UK’s withdrawal – almost unanimously. Only one person (from about 50) voted for membership- and one other was undecided.

After the meeting we distributed our newspapers and spoke to many well-wishers. Bring on the Election!
Buoyed by this, myself and my two young helpers, Josh and John rushed over to Walsall to give our candidate Tim Melville a hand with his Council By-election campaign.

Hello! This is my first posting of the campaign. This week has been a very busy week. Last Friday, I hosted a successful fundraising dinner here in Birmingham attended by UKIP Party Leader Nigel Farage MEP and our own local MEP, Mike Nattrass. It was a very enjoyable event that raised a significant amount of money for the campaign.

The next day I travelled to London to meet up with colleagues from across the country for the UKIP Candidate Conference. It was a two day event that was informative and the social side was fun too!