And new leader of Ukip is... a former Eurocrat!
A FORMER Eurocrat and Liberal Democrat candidate was surprisingly elected the new leader of Ukip yesterday, beating the anti-Islamic favourite.
Henry Bolton, 54, who was virtually unknown even within his own party, is a former Army officer who worked for the European Commission.
Former party leader Nigel Farage voted for him and said he was ‘ delighted’ he had won, adding: ‘He is a man of real substance. If you look at this bloke’s experience he has more life experience than the other party leaders added up together and multiplied by ten.
‘Is he a solid, sensible, decent, nonextreme human being? Absolutely. I voted for him and I will help him. Do I think tonight that Ukip has a chance? Absolutely.’ However, the election of the former soldier and policeman who was once decorated for bravery came as a shock to many.
Mr Bolton, from Folkestone, Kent, once stood as police and crime commissioner for the county, was awarded an OBE in 2013 for services to international security and was paid by the Foreign Office to work in Brussels.
Bookies’ favourite Anne Marie Waters, who has said that Islam is ‘evil’, came second. Many had opposed her candidacy because of her extreme views and there were fears a victory for her would have triggered the resignations of 18 of the party’s 20 MEPs. Earlier this month, Mr Bolton warned that Ukip was in danger of becoming the ‘UK Nazi Party’ if it picked the wrong leader. He has, however, previously said that Islam is a ‘problem’. The new leader told party members at the annual conference in Torquay, yesterday: ‘Brexit is our core task, however it is not the end of the line.’ He called on members to rally around the party, saying: ‘ Without being united, we cannot lead.’
Ukip has struggled to find a purpose since the Brexit vote. Its vote share fell to 1.8 per cent at the general election from 12.6 per cent in 2015. It has no MPs and millionaire donor Arron Banks announced earlier this year that he was to stop funding it. There was controversy at the conference after it emerged that a member of the far- Right AfD (Alternative for Germany) would be speaking. Dr Hugh Bronson spoke days after his party finished third in Germany’s elections on a promise to fight ‘an invasion of foreigners’. ‘Great Britain United Kingdom Sovereign State.’ This was less catchy than the ‘ OUT NOW’ campaign Mr Crowther announced. It will demand that the political elite blinking well gets on with Brexit.
Mr Bolton’s election will ensure that that campaign has a good chance of catching on with non-Ukip voters who might have been frightened by Muslim-basher Miss Waters.
Speakers stood in front of a purple curtain which covered only a small part of the stage. Shades of an old-fashioned passportphoto booth. Michael Nazir-Ali, former Bishop of Rochester, did a turn, more sermon than speech (‘as a bishop I am not a party man’). The platform chairman introduced him to the audience by saying, ‘above all, you can be quite sure he is a Christian’ – as if this was not something one could necessarily say of all Anglican prelates.
Bishop Nazir-Ali hoped that the British people could ‘recover our sense of destiny’. When activists clapped, the bishop looked sweetly surprised and murmured: ‘It’s very good, this applause. You don’t get it when you’re preaching.’ He recalled that one prime minister had told him, ‘well, all religions are the same, bishop’. That must surely have been Cameron. Blair, Brown and May – and Anne Marie Waters – would never have said such a silly thing.
The attendance gate (800 activists), dated pop music and over-anxious applause gave the conference the flavour of a non-league football match. But the intensity of belief was much the same, even if the impetus has faded a little. And at the door was a sign with the instruction ‘no perfumes, no powders’. Heaven knows how fragrant Christine Hamilton made it through the security checks.