The AV Campaign Starts Now

I'm delighted Matthew Elliott will be heading up the anti AV campaign. He knows all there is know about grassroots campaigning, having made the Taxpayers' Alliance such a success. However, the success of this campaign will in part be determined by the campaign's ability to garner support from across the political divides. Matthew is not a Conservative Party hack, but because the TPA is considered to be on the right, he will be painted as such.

I'd say the majority of Labour supporters I know are opposed to AV too. It would be good if Matthew appointed a leftish deputy.

There's a reason only one other country in the world uses AV. It's a half way house. It tries to be a PR equivalent of the First Past the Post system, but in reality it is no more proportionate than straight out FPTP, and in some cases can be less so.

First Past the Post isn't perfect, but then again no electoral system is. But I would fight to defend it against STV. I just do not buy the claim by supporters of STV that it too can protect the constituency link. It doesn't. Multimember constituencies dilute the constituency link. They have to be big enough to allow representation from different partes, and the bigger they get the less likely people are to either know who their representatives are or be able to relate to them. Just look at the system used for European elections. I realise this is not pure STV, but even so, the effect is the same. Even I would struggle to name the MEPs in my region, and I suspect most people reading this blogpost would too.

So I will be campaigning against the Alternative Vote. It doesn't do what it says on the tin, and there may be faults in our existing system, but AV won't fix it.

Sunday Morning on Your Radio

I'm sitting in for Andrew Pierce this morning on LBC from 10am until 1pm. Trevor Phillips will be reviewing the Sunday papers from 11-12. This is what we will be covering...

10-10.30 Is crowd sourcing & using the wisdom of the crowds the way forward for government?
10.30-11 Are government ministers allowed to hold personal views & express them?
11-12 Paper review with Trevor Phillips & conversation about rights v responsibilities
12-12.30 Which pieces of anti terror legilsation should be repealed?
12.30-1 Should party conferences be scrapped?

By the way, several of you seem to think you can only get LBC if you're in London. Wrong. If you've got a DAB digital radio you can get it all over the country. It's also on Sky Channel 0124, Virgin 973 or you can also stream it via the LBC website. Just so you know!

A Year And Counting...

Tom Harris has done a great Downfall video spoofing Kenny MacAskill's role in the Al-Megrahi release.

Watch it HERE.

Those Kennedy Rumours

Last night a reader attended a Q+A session with Ed Miliband in Edinburgh because of his rumoured involvement in the Charles Kennedy rumour. He recorded Miliband's response to his question about the rumour. Here is the transcript...

Question: Rumours are gathering pace about Charles Kennedy defecting to Labour.
Would you welcome him to the party and considering that someone on your campaign team was one of the rumoured sources for this, is it a trump card for the
contest?

Ed Miliband

I’m going to be mysterious here. The rumours are good to encourage. I was as surprised as you were when I read the report. He’s not on the phone to me every hour or anything like that. I think it does reflect the fact that there were a lot of Lib Dems who are unhappy and I would welcome Lib Dems to come over to us because it has got to be good for us to have Lib Dems defecting. I think it reflects the fact that among Charles Kennedy, among Ming Campbell and potentially Simon Hughes, there is a lot of unhappiness among that wing of the party because the Clegg people are a
different breed. They are small state Liberals, small state when it comes
to civil liberties, when it comes to the economy. They are basically Cameron
Tory. I saw that absolutely clearly in the coalition negotiations because they
were deficit nutters. I think that in the end I don’t see that there’s much of a
future in one party for Clegg and those other people. But I am certainly
encouraging the rumours.

Er, so, why this morning, does Ed blame the "overexcited blogosphere" for this story? A neat deflecting tactic? Or another sign that his grip on reality if failing almost as quickly as his leadership campaign?

I wonder what the motivation was of the Labour insider who leaked it. Charlie Whelan is rumoured to be the middle man here. Go figure.

Kevin Maguire: Labour Activists Are "Cretins"

Kevin Maguire doesn't seem to think much of Labour Party members. On his talkup with James Max on LBC for his morning programme, James asked him what he made of the David Miliband Party Invite document I wrote about yesterday. His reply was very illuminating and showed the mindset of well paid lefty journalists...

"Written by a cretin, for cretins"

Wikipedia defines cretinism thusly...

Cretinism is a condition of severely stunted physical and mental growth due to
untreated congenital deficiency of thyroid hormones (congenital hypothyroidism)
due to maternal nutritional deficiency of iodine.

Now, can you imagine what Kevin Maguire would write in his column if David Cameron described a Labour MP as a cretin? 'Same old nasty Tories' would be the mildest form of abuse he would no doubt employ.

Dale v Bercow Round 1

Here, by popular demand is the second half of the Sky News paper review from Wednesday featuring your humble servant bantering with Sally Bercow. Enjoy.

It got such a massive reaction from the audience and on Twitter that we've now been booked for three more appearances together. The next one is on 1 September.

The Worst MP of the 2010 Intake?

I can almost forgive new Labour MP Yasmin Qureshi for her minor misdemeanour of using her mobile phone while at the wheel. But it has now emerged that she didn't have any car insurance.

Yesterday a court disqualified her from driving for six months. Which is exactly what the electors of Bolton South East should do when they have the chance.

She should be relieved that Recall Elections have yet to be introduced. She would be a prime first candidate.

UPDATE: Yasmin Quereshi has emailed me tonight and had the following comment...

Dear Mr. Dale

I read your comment regarding me. But as always press have not reported what has actually happened which court was told about.

Facts are that...

I have had comprehensive policy cover for over 20 years. Since 2003 I have been insured by auto direct (my brokers).

I have a roll on policy which only gets cancelled if ask for it be done.

I have also a standing order arrangement with them which I did not cancel.

I was stunned when told I was not insured. I rang the insurance company
who said the following

a. That I did have roll on yearly policy
b. That I had been told that I only need contact if I am rejecting policy
c. That they had cancelled the direct debit which led to policy cancelling not me
d. It was their fault but of course if they say I am not covered then I have no choice.
e. I am talking the matter up with the insurance company.

This is again a case of misinformation put about by journalists who don’t check their facts.

You are correct it is the individual's responsibility to ensure that they were insured and I have been driving for over 20 years on fully comprehensive policy. For last 7 years I have been with auto direct and the system that I understood operated and I followed it.

The interesting thing is that when I rang the insurance company and told them they accepted they had made mistake but they would not budge.

Since this incident I have had about 10 people contact me re this and said they had also had similar problems and got points and fine.

I think that there should be campaign to alert all drivers who have roll on yearly policy to stop them and have different system in place.

I was very upset and hurt that you think I am worst of 2010 intake.

Do you know that I have not even been on leave or holiday. I am still working full time in constituency, doing visits, holding drop in surgeries and campaigning.

And I have the biggest casework for a new MP. My constituency office was up and running on Monday after the election. And I had my first drop in surgery within a week of being elected.

Yes please either put my email re what happened on your blog or perhaps you can change the wordings now that you know the real position.


Yasmin Qureshi

Well, I can see why she's upset. Perhaps I shouldn't have believed everything I read in the newspaper.

When Your Mind Goes Blank

Nicky Campbell has written the Spectator Diary this week. In it, he tells how he is organising a memorial service for Allan Robb, the 5 Live presenter who died earlier this year. He recounts an anecdote which sent a knowing shiver down my spine...

Allan told stories with great comic precision. One of his best was how, when
interviewing John Major during the 1992 general election, his mind went blank.
In a panic, he remembered the Spitting Image portrayal of the PM as a grey man
obsessed with eating peas. 'And do you like peas?' asked Allan. Major didn't
have the faintest notion what he was on about. 'I like a variety of vegetables
but peas I am relatively neutral about,' he answered after a bewildered pause.

Your mind going blank is an interviewer's or presenter's worst nightmare. It happened to me once doing a Sky News paper review, about five years ago. I had worked out my next sentence, but when I came to speak it my mind went completely blank. I just looked at the presenter mentally shouting 'help'! At the end I profusely apologised but she reassured me it had happened to her the previous week when she was interviewing Jack Straw.

I had another episode last night on LBC. At the end of the second hour I started to explain that in the next hour we'd be discussing the catholic church and gay adoption. But the words just wouldn't come out in the right order. In the end I just said, 'this is a bit rubbish isn't it?' I know people always say listeners or viewers love it when something goes wrong, but at the time, the presenter feels a sense of total humiliation. The key is to recover quickly and move on.

Tonight is the last night of my four week stint covering for Petrie Hosken on the LBC evening show. As you have probably noticed, I have thoroughly enjoyed myself. I know quite a few of you have tuned in and some have even phoned in to the programme. So thanks for joining me and hopefully there will be other opportunities in the future.

I still have three other programmes before the end of the month. For the next two Sundays I am covering for Andrew Pierce from 10am-1pm and then for James O'Brien on Bank Holiday Monday from 10am-1pm, when Chris Mullin will be a guest on the programme, talking about the seconf volume of his diaries.

If you enjoy my shows, do join the I LISTEN TO IAIN DALE ON LBC 97.3 Facebook Group HERE.

How to Save Labour From Bankruptcy

So it isn't just ideas where the Labour Party is bankrupt then. I see that according to John Prescott in the Guardian that the Labour Party are close to going bust. This is not news. Peter Watt, in his bok INSIDE OUT revealed that during his time as General Secretary the Labour Party nearly went bust - twice.

Surely the solution is to borrow more and spend more. They say that it would work for the country after all. Just a thought.

Only trying to help...

Interviewing Matthew Parris

My Total Politics interview with Matthew Parris is now live on the TP site HERE. Here's an excerpt to get your appetite whetted...


Has a part of you ever thought you'd quite like to be an MP again in this government?
No, because I really wasn't very good at that either. Certainly not a backbencher. I'd still like to be secretary of state for transport but I'm not going to be. Where is there a better case for big government than in providing roads and railways? It's just obvious. I really disapprove of the way the Conservative Party has never thought that transport mattered.

Since you left Parliament in 1986, have you ever had any regrets?
Not for a moment. But that was only because I wasn't going anywhere. There have been times when prime ministers have been appointing junior ministers when I thought: 'If only I had been doing well as a backbencher, I might now be...'. John Major told me he would have made me a junior minister if only I'd had a bit more patience, and that he was fairly confident I would have made a hash of it.

That's a very nice thing to say.
He said he'd give me a try.

Rail privatisation. That would have been you!
Absolutely! Or I would have said something similar to Edwina Currie, that a good winter cuts through the bed blockers in the elderly population like a knife through butter. John Major said he would have defended me on my first gaffe but perhaps when it came to the second he would have let me go. I think he was spot on.

Do you recognise that you have become a bit of a role model for younger gay men in politics, or more generally?
I do hope not. I'm a completely crap gay.

But you've been completely open for years at a time that many weren't... when I wasn't. I think you underestimate that.
Yes, but I judge these things as everybody does. There were years when I wasn't open because I judged I would never get into politics and wouldn't have been selected. I wasn't! I wish now that I had come out when I was a Conservative MP. I think I could have got away with it in retrospect, but it would have been a close run thing. I had the nicest constituency and the nicest association and it would have given them an awful shock. A lot of them, I'm sure, had their doubts already and I think I could have ridden the storm. I so muchadmire Chris Smith for taking the risk.

Did Mrs Thatcher know you were gay?
Yes, because I went to see her.

She was always quite tolerant of things out of the ordinary...
I think she quite liked gossip. She thought that the things human beings do are really very strange and unknowable. I told her I was gay when I went to say goodbye to her and she put an arm on my wrist and said: "Matthew, that must have been very difficult for you to say." She meant it kindly.

Do you think we are a little bit obsessed in this country with anybody who might be gay? The David Laws issue wouldn't have been such a big story had there not been a gay element to it.
What gay men who are not really out need to beware of (and Peter Mandelson notwithstanding, this is a warning not a threat), is the status of being a little bit gay and suspected of being gay but not having admitted it, because it really whets the media's appetite. Either you stay right in the closet, or if you've edged a little way out, for God's sake, come all the way out quickly. There is no status, although Peter Mandelson hoped there would be, in your homosexuality being "private but not secret". It's public or it's nothing.




Read the whole interview HERE. I will post an extended version here next


UPDATE: I forgot to include this, er, revelatory excerpt...

Tell me something that few people know about you...
I have a rudimentary third testicle.
I wasn’t expecting that! What does rudimentary mean?
It never completely formed. Apparently it’s not uncommon!
Ok... pity we don’t have a cameraman here.
You’re blushing Iain!
What’s your favourite view? Don’t say ‘my third testicle’!
It’s the view of the City of London from Waterloo Bridge.

Geraldine Dreadful MP Writes ... to David Milibrother

To: Rt Hon David Milibrother MP

Dear David,

First of all, allow me to say how delighted we are at Sickle and Hammer East CLP to be hosting your keynote address "Labour: Adjusting change to metamorphose a modification in future transformations" next month. To say we're excited is as much an understatement as to say your interviews on the Politics Show make my seat slightly moist. It'll be like Songs of Praise - we expect to fill the hall at last!

It's an absolute delight to see a genuine hero of the previous administration coming to speak at our humble but active CLP; your astounding achievements as Foreign Secretary, and the sterling work you did for the Fair Trade Banana industry are legion, and it is only a budgetary constraint imposed by the new junta which prevents us from erecting a statue of you in Sickle's beautiful Lenin Square, opposite the Greggs and across from the Working Men's Knitting For Peace Federation.

As you know, you'll be following 'Mad' Eric Winterdale, who will be calling for a national general strike on the Tories' university places outrage, and you'll be given a rousing vote of thanks by Clare Strickland, who would have been launching the Labour Party Manifesto instead of Ellie Gellard, but who was pulled at the last minute when it became clear she was planning to assassinate Michael Gove.

The main reason I have for writing to you, however, is that I have noticed an opportunity for us to pull a flanking manoeuvre on the Tories, which could bear fruit very soon after you take up the leadership of the party.

The hated proto-Hagueite crypto-Thatcherist lickspittle and wearer of gaudy bourgeois silk ties (symbol of oppression of the silkworm) Iain Dale is seeking an executive assistant. This presents an opportunity to infiltrate his disgusting decadent operation and drain his all-too-potent power.

Imagine the things a well-directed infiltrator could achieve in Iain Dale's office. He or she could replace his ties with less mesmerizing ones, slightly rearrange meetings and cancel interviews he might conduct for Total Politics magazine. S/He could send bogus emails about his private life, destroying his reputation with the ladies. And finally, his affair with the hated Ann Widdecombe could finally be revealed to the world. The possibilities are endless.

David, please let me know if you think it's a good idea, and be assured that if you were to consider me for the Shadow Cabinet, great ideas like this will continue to be created.

With comradely but dastardly greetings, awaiting your visit,

Geraldine Dreadful MP


* With due thanks to Ben Archibald of Nabidana.com

David Milibrother Says "Ladies! Tidy Your House!"

Oh this is too hilarious for words.

Now I know were DD's campaign went wrong. It was because we didn't "give the place a quick vacuum"...

Click HERE to read the exhaustive instructions from the David Miliband campaign on how to organise a House Meeting...

UPDATE: Looks like Oona King is having her campaign troubles too. Her bloggers event wasn't a great success it seems, according to the Bad Conscience blog.

Middle Class Benefits: Luxuries We Cannot Afford

Laura Kuennsberg, who I hear is presenting Newsnight tonight, has tweeted that a senior government source confirms they are reviewing 'middle class benefits' like winter fuel allowance and child care.

Good. These should never have been universal benefits and should only ever have been directed towards those who really need the support. If you're income rich, why on earth should you expect the state to give you money towards heating or child care? We simply cannot afford such luxuries any longer.

UNITE: Tory Cuts Bad, Our Cuts Good

The quote below comes from Unite’s statement to members about their finances for the last financial year. As might be expected the Government gets a bashing in the first paragraph for making cuts in public expenditure, but if you read the second paragraph, they start patting themselves on the back for making ‘cost cutting’ savings by scrapping the Amicus section!

Oh the irony!

UNITE THE UNION
REPORT OF THE JOINT GENERAL SECRETARIES
YEAR ENDED 31
DECEMBER 2009
Review of 2009 to date

The service provided by
officers, employees and activists will continue to improve through the
consolidation of departments and properties. Recognising the need to provide
members with the ability to "fight back" against unscrupulous employers using
the excuse of recession to attack members' wages, pensions and other terms and
conditions, at its May 2009 meeting, Unite's Executive Council approved a 131%
increase in the dispute benefit to £30 per day from Day 1 of a dispute. This
level of support for members on strike against their employer is unprecedented
in the British trade union movement. Three years after the formation of Unite,
the industrial and political benefits of the merger between Amicus and the
Transport and General Workers Union are clear for all to see. These benefits
will be all the more valuable to members in the face of a Tory led coalition
government whose primary focus seems to be to cut public expenditure and, consequently, reduce front line public services and public sector employment and potentially jeopardising the fragile economic recovery.

From a financial perspective, in 2009, Unite recorded a £9,384,000 surplus out of income from members – a very significant improvement versus the surplus of £339,000 recorded in 2008. This improved performance primarily resulted from cost cutting efforts made by the Union in most areas of expenditure, especially by the former Amicus Section.

THose of an uncharitable nature might think the word 'hypocrites' is in order.

PS Did you see Bob Crow awarded himself a 12% pay rise? He's now on a basic pay f £133,000. I'm sure he provided great value for money. Not.

New Statesman Diary Column

Today sees the publication of my third and final New Stateman Diary column. Kevin Maguire is back from Mustique (or was it Skegness?) and will be taking over the reins again next week. Here's a taster.

*The left-wing blogosphere has struggled in its search for a left-of-centre equivalent to Guido Fawkes. (Remember Derek Draper's crash-and-burn efforts?) Perhaps the search can now come to an end. The Political Scrapbook blog is fast becoming a must-read site for left and right alike. It's pithy, rakes some muck, needles and irritates. The authors even seem to have a sense of humour - something not that prevalent among left-wing bloggers, it has to be said. But
the left-wing world online is in very rude health, as will soon become clear when the Total Politics blog poll results are released.

*There is clearly little personal love lost between the London mayoral rivals Oona King and Ken Livingstone, who came into the LBC studios recently. Barely had they sat down at opposite mikes than they were jabbing fingers at each other. Neither seemed to understand that it's not policy that will beat the incumbent - it's coming up with strategy to neutralise the phenomenon that is Boris. Tellingly, perhaps, Oona arrived with an entourage of five hangers-on, while Ken loped in on his own. Oona had a sheaf of notes in front of her, while Ken had a coffee. Interpret that to suit your bias.

*The rumour is that, whichever Milibrother wins the Labour leadership, Ed Balls will be offered the position of shadow home secretary. The post needs an attack dog, and whatever else you can say about Mini-Brown's leadership campaign, Balls has certainly been the only contender to sink his teeth into the Tories and to inflict any pain whatsoever. But I hear whispers that he may have plans to take some time away from the front line to think and write. Well, he always did take his lead from Gordon.

Read the full column HERE.

Job Advert: Staff/Online Writer for Total Politics

Staff/Online Writer

About Total Politics:
Total Politics is the UK’s leading monthly political lifestyle magazine and in just two years has established itself as the only magazine read at all levels of UK government and across the political spectrum.

Total Politics prides itself on being unremittingly positive about the political process, publishing agenda-setting interviews with the biggest names in British politics, sparking debate with hard-hitting features, and raising standards by informing readers about the latest in political campaign techniques and technology.

Core responsibilities
• Blog and write articles for the Total Politics website, producing timely and proactive content
• Construct special sections to be included in Total Politics magazine, from ideas through to completion
• Be available and willing to contribute to various sections of the magazine when required, producing well-written and accurate features and articles
• Interview leading political figures
• Attend political events
• Work alongside advertising to produce well researched articles that appeal to commercial interests

Essential attributes
• An undergraduate degree of 2:1 or above
• Experience of writing, including features and interviewing
• Excellent spelling and grammar
• Experience of subbing
• Experience of online journalism
• Ability to write in a descriptive but concise style
• A solid knowledge of British politics
• Ability to grasp concepts quickly
• Excellent computer skills
• Good project management skills
• An ability to work quickly against a constantly changing news agenda

Desirable skills
• A post-graduate qualification in journalism
• An ability to understand basic HTML coding

Desirable personal qualities
• Self-motivated and proactive
• Flexible and adaptable
• Good team-worker with ability to work alone
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• Quick-learner
• Good attention to detail
• Enthusiastic

Salary:
£18,000

To apply:

Please send your CV and a covering letter to Emily Sutton at emily DOT sutton AT totalpoliticsDOT com. Applications close at 5pm on 3rd September 2010.

Leeds Council Spend £10k on "Hand Massages" For Councillor

This comes under the category 'you couldn't make it up'. Leeds Tory councillor Alan Lamb, Shadow Executive member for Children’s Services, has discovered that the new Labour/Green administration in Leeds is planning to spend nearly £10,000 on ‘learning days’ for councillors throughout 20010/11.

The learning days will involve councillors gaining free access to a host of questionable activities such as hand and shoulder massages, advice about managing stress, a session on how councillors can learn to tweet and also further advice sessions on how to take up exercise classes and manage blood pressure.

Lamb said: “Given the financial difficulties being faced by families living both in Leeds and nationally I was utterly stunned when I saw that the new administration planned to waste nearly £10,000 to run 4 of these so called councillor’s learning days throughout 2010/11. There is nothing wrong with councillors receiving relevant training to perform their role but getting free massages and guidance on how to manage your blood pressure is simply unacceptable – I know that my blood pressure rose when I saw this scheme and could hardly believe it when I saw that the new Executive Member for Learning, Cllr Jane Dowson, had signed a letter encouraging councillors to attend the event.

Quite unbelievable. Yet another example of ridiculous expenditure in local government.

No doubt readers have further examples.

The Coalition: 100 Not Out

When the Coalition was formed back in May, the cynics said it wouldn't last. The media have spent the last three months vainly searching for signs of splits and laying bets as to who might be the first Cabinet Minister to resign. Every minute mistake was analysed to the 'n'th degree. Every prime ministerial comment was rated on a 'gaffe-ometer'.

And meanwhile the media missed the real story, which was that what Tim Montgomerie has accurately described as the "Breakneck Coalition" has quietly got on with running the country and making huge changes in the way we are governed.

Francis Maude and his implementation team ought to feel proud of themselves. They prepared for government in a way no previous Opposition had done. They and David Cameron were paranoid about throwing away the first term, just like Tony Blair had done. Blair was so intoxicated by the fact that Labour had managed to win an election, that he didn't get on with the reforms that had been promised until way into their second term. Cameron was determined not to make that mistake.

If you look at what's happened in virtually every government department, there have been a huge number of initiatives and reforms. Look at Eric Pickles at the DCLG. The way he has gripped his department and driven through a whole series of measures has been hugely impressive. He is the undoubted star of the first 100 days of the coalition. No Cabinet Minister has made such as massive impact on his area of policy as Pickles. A close second is Theresa May at the Home Office, always a difficult department to grip. May hasn't been slow in imposing her will and someone who many observers felt might struggle, has instead impressed hugely. Some people fit government like a glove, and she seems to be one.

There are two further reasons for the Coalition's success. Firstly, they have managed to persuade the public of the seriousness of the deficit and managed to take the public with them in their quest to improve the public finances. This will be increasingly important after the CSR takes place on 20 October.

Secondly, the strong interpersonal relationships between the coalition partners has been a vital part in its smooth running. The initial press conference by Clegg and Cameron in the Downing Street Rose Garden set the agenda for their ministerial colleagues to follow. Chris Huhne told me that he felt it was working well because they were all positive, got on with each other on a personal level, but perhaps more importantly were all learning the ministerial ropes at the same time.

There have obviously been glitches. Any new government will make small mistakes. The most important thing is to avoid big mistakes, and thinking back, it's difficult to think of any.

I'd give the Coalition 7 or 8 out of ten for their first hundred days. Even huge critics of the Conservatives and LibDems must surely agree that it has hit the ground running, imposed its agenda and looks set to last far longer than most commentators predicted at the start.

* From 9pm tonight I will be holding an hour long panel discussion into the Coalition's first 100 days. All I have to do is mull over who to invite to be the guests. Any ideas?

Farage Will Run "If I'm Fit & Well Enough"

My colleague at Total Politics, Jessica Freeman, has been digging around and wondering who might stand for UKIP leader. She's got confirmation from David Campbell-Bannerman that he will throw his hat into the ring, and also from Nigel Farage that he's considering running.

Speaking to Nigel Farage, it seems likely that he too will be contesting the leadership. "I'm sure lots of people will run but if I am fit enough and well enough then I'll think about it," he tells us.

Even to Farage, arguably the party's most well-known member, Pearson's announcement has come as a large shock. He tells us that he was unaware that Lord Pearson would be stepping down today. Understandably then, Farage may need a little time to consider his public response.

Read Jessica's story HERE.

Goodbye Pearson, Hello Farage?

Lord Pearson has this morning announced his resignation as leader of UKIP. He said...

"I took over as leader of UKIP last year to see the party through the General
Election, and said I would then consider my position. We increased our vote by
50%, and have many exciting plans for the future. But I have learnt that I am
not much good at party politics, which I do not enjoy. I am also 68, and need to
give more time to my wider interests. These include the treatment of people with
intellectual impairment, teacher training, the threat from Islamism and the
relationship between good and evil - not to mention my dogs and my family.

"So it is right that I should stand down on September 2nd, early in the
Parliament, to give a younger leader time to be established before the next
election, which may come sooner than we think. There is no shortage of talent in
UKIP, and the new leader will have my full support. I will continue to do what I
can to raise funds for the party."

Pearson is a lovely man but as he says, he certainly isn't cut out for party politics. But he did a reasonable job holding UKIP together after the departure of Nigel Farage.

The question is will Farage fancy a second stint as leader. I doubt it very much, especially after his plane crash.

But if not Nigel, then who?