It’s hard to see UKIP, a party and a movement we love and have worked so hard for, in crisis so soon after our greatest victory. I know from speaking to so many of you that you feel the same.
And be in no doubt, Brexit was your victory. And it was a victory for Britain. We got the referendum because of UKIP and Nigel Farage, and we won it because of UKIP and Nigel Farage.
That movement took 25 years to build. Nigel was standing up against the European Union when I was still in nappies… almost. He knew that whilst you had the John Redwoods and the Bill Cashs in the Tory Party and the Tony Benns in Labour also battling Brussels, only a new party could force the government to do the right thing.
There were times when he thought it was hopeless, where people laughed and ignored him. Well, to quote that epic slap down speech he gave in Brussels after the referendum… they’re not laughing now!
Nigel has done more for this country than any politician of his generation, but he can’t go on forever. As I told him on the telephone yesterday, he did his bit, and now it’s our turn. I also took the liberty of thanking him for all of you, too. I hope you don’t mind.
We can’t let his, and many of our life’s work, end here. Think you can trust the Tories with no one looking over their shoulder but Jeremy Corbyn? Britain has made that mistake too many times before. Theresa May might talk a good game, but she was Home Secretary for six years – the same six years in which we saw record immigration into the UK, legal and illegal, and of course an issue very close to my heart: a rise in Islamic extremism.
Britain needs UKIP more than any other Party.
Only UKIP stands up for ordinary people against the metropolitan elite. However often they rebrand themselves they will never change. They are in the pockets of some truly dark forces which bribe and coerce governments the world over. But Brexit shows there is hope. Only we can make real change, because we are something different. We embody the fighting spirit of Britons that have fought for centuries for freedom and liberty. For traditionalism and patriotism. For the free rights of Englishmen and for all it means to love your country.
Now, UKIP needs leadership that knows how to fight and knows how to win against any odds.
The UKIP leadership election is probably in around six weeks, and you need to have been a member for 28 days to vote.
That’s why I’m asking you to renew your membership, or join for the first time, to be part of a party that makes real change happen and doesn’t just talk about it.
I’m standing in that leadership election to get the Party back to its best, putting pressure on the establishment rather than wasting time on internal battles.
There’s no party or movement in the UK that offers its members more – more say, more control, more community. But the National Executive Committee has become remote and unaccountable and is poisoning our party – I’ll change that.
We have to be decisive, and we have to move forward. UKIP isn’t a protest movement; it’s become an integral part of our democracy. It’s not just our job to keep it strong; it is our duty.
So join up here and vote for leadership that can build on what we have achieved, not ensure its destruction. Please don’t delay. Let’s make UKIP great again.
You can sign up and read more at www.makeUKIPgreatagain.com