Dear Editor,
I would like to try and pour some calming oil on what looks like very troubled water.
I have watched, in dismay, the horrific notices in the press and elsewhere with regard to the problems of Steven Woolfe’s application for the position of Leader.
I have known Steven for a long time and would like to say this to him and to all members who wish to stand for office whether it be as a parish, town, district or county councillor, prospective parliamentary candidate, MEP etc: the rules are very simple, and they are these – we are taught them from the moment we have declared an interest in standing – :
Get your nomination papers in at least 48 hours before the deadline, so that if there is a problem either with your paperwork or indeed a problem with those receiving your paperwork, you will have two days to sort it out.
Now, my brain would tell me that the closing date for the leadership nominations was at 12 noon on Sunday 31st July. Common sense should kick in and say “Sunday“- it’s not likely that there will be many people working in the office – must get this done earlier, i.e. the Wednesday or Thursday of the preceding week.
Try turning up at the airport when the plane is waiting to taxi out for take off and see how far you get! A deadline is a deadline and if you genuinely wished to lead the UK Independence Party, I would suggest that every duck should be in the row at the very earliest opportunity, and not with minutes to go before the deadline.
I see there are all sorts of theories as to who has tried to bring Steven down. It’s a pity that I or a number of other people were not working for him. We would have made certain that his papers were all in place well before the deadline.
Steven, I don’t know whether it was you or your staff which was responsible for this debacle, but it should be a salutary lesson for the future – for you and indeed any prospective candidate.
The NEC have been pilloried mercilessly over this. What a situation to put them in to start with. All these people represent our interests and do an extremely difficult job. Remember they are Directors of the Party with all the duties and responsibilities and indeed liabilities that encompasses, and on many an occasion they have had to work with both hands tied behind their backs.
Those days are thankfully over and it is up to the people we all elected to do the job we want them to do on our behalf. Part of that job, I believe, is to deal properly with each and every member in every situation, fairly and by the rules. This appears to have been done here and every avenue examined before refusing to allow Steven to stand.
Steven, I am so sorry that for whatever reason this has happened but you seriously should not have put yourself in this position to start with.
Yours sincerely,
Liz Phillips
[Ed: Further to this letter, please check out paragraphs 2.2.2 and 2.2.3 of the Constitution which define the role of the elected members of the NEC. See in addition, and specifically, all of Part VI of the Constitution. Also refer to the ‘Internal Party election rules’ in the Party’s “Rule Book”, i.e.‘Rules of Procedure’ . The relevant sections are sections N and O.]
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27 Comments on “An Open Letter to Steven Woolfe and all Members”
UKIP Champions direct democracy…Yet have the NEC making decisions behind closed doors?….We need an end to this system of backroom deals….UKIP should be Open and Transparent, implement the direct democracy they champion, consult the parties Members let hem have a say on issues via online voting. .every decission should be available to members to view online
While caught up in bureaucratic sclerosis the NEC has done a disservice to us all. I have to say Steven Woolfe MEP is the most hard-working and inspiring person I have met during the hectic the year leading up to the E.U. Referendum. I met him three times on the campaign trail. If BREXIT was the great legacy left us by Nigel, then a resounding G.E. Victory would have been the legacy given to UKIP by Steven Woolfe. The NEC do not get this and hence UKIP is undermined.
Contrary to most of the commenters, I find that Liz Phillips’ letter perfectly reasonable. Anyone applying for a major role like this would be wise to leave themselves some margin for error on whoever’s part. Not to do so is a pretty basic misjudgement, and wouldn’t bode well for the future.
We have a superb opportunity at the moment, and no doubt in true UKIP fashion we will do everything we can to blow it, but personally I hope that a leader emerges who is relatively faction-free, who can put together a collegiate leadership team, and whose initials are DJ.
Are you suggesting that the committing of a serious criminal offence regarding electoral law is acceptable. The real question the party should be asking is who else knew and who lease sanction Woolfe standing in 2012 and why is he not here to answer these questions
Liz, you obviously support this pro-Tory subterfuge, please remember that unlike some other political parties,us kippers are not the gullible idiots which the NEC treat us as! This open letter is at best patronising us and at worse it is an insult to our intelligence, we will not be cowed by the obviously pro-Tory NEC, the members are who matter and our voices can be heard, we have stopped whispering, we are now roaring, remember this time!!
The call for the removal of the NEC by various parties shows a distinct lack of understanding of their role. UKIP Ltd is just that a limited company the NEC are actually a board of directors and LEGALLY charged in acting in that role by company law. The decision to uphold the rule over Woolfe would be the same now and the NEC cannot be abolished in the way that people are suggesting as the Company will still require a board of directors, you can call them what you like but its a legal requirement.
The Labour Party is kicking hell out of itself, UKIP have a golden opportunity, then somebody in NEC makes a decision that is totally against the interest of the Party, and indeed the country. I suggest it was not in the interest of anything of more importance than our future
I received a like-minded email from one of your ‘colleagues’, my reply was, “not wholly convinced”. Likewise your comment.
Appears to me there is a group of people who prefer bureaucracy to common sense; which I understand is a founding, and popular, principle of UKIP policy.
It further appears to me the people who prefer the former are in the wrong party.
Liz Phillip’s letter was exactly the sort of formulaic response that would have come from lib/lab/con , exactly the sort of bureaucratic guff that we need to get rid of . What about “justice tempered with mercy ” or dare I even say ,” common sense “.
Quite
Totally agree with your comments. Rules are made to be broken especially when they are not in the best interests of Unity. Common sense has been overlooked by the NEC and the Party Chairman. Any Board of Directors can find a way to bend the rules. The Party is being compared to the split in the Labour Party and if we do not have the widest choice of Candidates to vote for our Party risks a split as well. Come on Party Chairman sort this out.
Looks like the EU Referendum result must be in doubt, because of the illegal extension that Cameron put on the registration date for the Electoral Register? Stop trying to hide the NEC machinations. They can quite easily be flexible about this instead of causing a crisis.
Good point! Imagine if we’d missed out on Nigel Farage because he was a few minutes late. There would be no UKIP at all and we’d be in the European Union forever.
Isn’t this about the UK and its people, not about bureaucratic dogma?
A missed plane is rectified by catching the next plane or making alternate travel arrangements. When rules outweigh a greater rationality then there is something seriously wrong. The leadership contest without possibly the strongest candidate is just not credible. Who’s afraid of Mr Woolfe?