Dear REDACTED,
You probably think this email is sent out of vindictiveness. It is not. I have always been concerned with the best interests of UKIP as it is the only viable anti-EU movement in British politics.
If you ever considered my submissions at the NEC over the fifteen years I was there to have had any merit then I ask you to now consider what I have to say in a spirit of pragmatism and honest opinion.
I think (very much) you are backing the wrong horse. Nigel has had his day. He is to be thanked for taking UKIP to where it is now – but I assure you all my political instincts say he is definitely NOT the man to take it forwards into this new era where there is a referendum campaign to be fought. Now is the time he should gracefully go and look back on a golden career. To continue he will descend into acrimony and in-fighting within UKIP and ultimately be deposed, or UKIP become more and more irrelevant in British politics. The public hate in-fighting in a party and it kills it in the public mind.
What IS important is persuading the British public of the issues so they understand it is not in the interests of the country to stay in the EU.
Note: the GBP (Great British Public) have already been brainwashed over the years such that a recent poll indicates that 54% of the public want to actually stay in. That means with the don’t know’s and those that don’t vote, a referendum if carried out now would be lost.
Nigel with his aggressive shouty personality is simply not the person to put the arguments cogently and assertively and quietly with authority – without appearing to be a right wing bigot. It now needs someone different to put those arguments that the public can trust – and I mean ALL political shades of the public.
Like it or not Nigel does indeed appear to be a right wing bigot, and puts off a large percentage of the people. That is why UKIP has never shaken off the image of being BNP-lite. He did not get in to Thanet because of this very reason. (Patrick O’Flynn put his finger on it when he said Thanet has a UKIP council elected – but did not vote for Nigel as MP). Nigel puts off the ‘Left’ wing people, and more importantly – women who immediately see through him straight away as a manipulating aggressive bigot. I have had heard several women, when he has been mentioned, say he gives them the creeps.
I admire your loyalty to him but in politics one has to be flexible. Leaders have their moment, their time in the spotlight – and the trick is in knowing when they should leave. They never do themselves. They always have to be pushed. NOW is Nigel’s time to go.
Listen to Stuart Wheeler and Hugh Williams – both quiet people who observe, digest and come up with sensible opinions. They are right. Patrick O’Flynn is right too, and his public denouncement will dog Nigel constantly if Nigel tries to stay in position as leader. Also Nigel does NOT have the mandate of the membership after this GE – he LOST – so he should go back to the membership – that is only right and proper. It is improper to cling on like a limpet and is another reason to go as the public don’t like that aspect of it either. Nigel is damaged goods now. He must go or the party, though it will of course continue, will slowly whither on the vine as support drains away with a damaged leader who will attract much criticism of his leadership – it will keep coming up..
UKIP needs new blood in the leadership if it is to continue as a viable force in British politics. I am very sorry that you cannot seem to see this.
Douglas Carswell is the only man with the qualifications to carry UKIP forward successfully.
Best regards,
Douglas Denny.
Greg Lance - Watkins (Greg_L-W)
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