Today I travelled down to Peterborough to attend the UKIP leadership hustings, which were a lot better organised that the hustings I attended back in 2009, as well as a lot better attended. The hustings took place in a very nice hotel, that I think judging by its architecture was at some stage, a stately home.
In my head, I already knew who I wanted to vote for, but I still went into the room with an open mind. Clearly if the other candidates were as good as their supporters say they are, then there must be a chance that I would be persuaded to vote for them?
Winston McKenzie gave the first opening speech out of the candidates, with one of his trademark talks, full of passion and motivation, something that we have all come to expect from him.
Next it was Nigel’s turn, who delivered a great introduction and charmed everyone with his energy and enthusiasm. In his opening speech, he put the other candidates on the back foot by simply saying to the audience ‘Out of all the candidates on this platform, who would Ed Milliband, David Cameron and Nick Clegg fear the most in a leadership debate?’ Nigel succinctly pointed out that the leaders’ debate that took place for the General Election, would likely take place for the next European elections, which UKIP will take part in, given our 2nd place in ’09 and that it will be vital the UKIP leader do well in these debates, if the party is to do well.
Next up was Tim Congdon, who I had never heard speak before. You could tell instantly that he was not a natural speaker, with some of his key points for his leadership bid lost in his nervous style of speaking. All of the people present picked up on this. The stark contrast between Nigel and Tim was obvious, and based on his speech delivery and some of his messages, I doubt Tim will walk away with the UKIP leadership, despite his good intentions.
David Campbell-Bannerman took to the floor after Tim, with a solid performance and clear aims for what he wants to achieve. I was actually quite impressed with DCB’s speech and it is obvious that he has gained lots more speaking experience since his first speeches when he was elected to the European Parliament. David will gain lots of support with pushing the message that ‘policies will make UKIP a credible party’, something that I do think the party should continue to promote.
Throughout the questions the debate was well managed and the candidates mostly well behaved. There were some negative comments from Tim about party membership figures, and on one occasion made an attack on Nigel. Apart from this, all the other candidates answered the questions without bringing negativity into it, which was nice to see.
Although no candidate was a ‘clear winner’, Nigel had received the most applause in most questions, but there was plenty of support for the other two serious candidates, Tim and David.
To sum up, despite people say that Tim is in the running for the leadership, I doubt he has what it takes to be taken as a serious leadership contender. It’s a two horse race as they say, between David Campbell-Bannerman and Nigel Farage. David still has a lot to do if he wants to topple Nigel, who has mobilised his supporters in great numbers.
