UKIP's National Executive Committee (NEC) met yesterday, Sunday 18th November, to discuss a motion proposed by party leader Gerard Batten.
The motion put before the NEC was:
“There should be a ballot of the UKIP members asking if they approve, Yes, or No, of Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (AKA Tommy Robinson) being allowed to join UKIP. This ballot should take place at the earliest opportunity, e.g. in the next edition of Independence Magazine."After the meeting, UKIP Chairman Kirstan Herriot, issued the following statement:
"Today, the UKIP NEC were presented with a motion proposed by our Leader, Gerard Batten to consider a ballot to members to allow the membership of Tommy Robinson. The NEC voted to defer the motion in light of the recent Brexit negotiations.
"The NEC passed the following motion:
'As the focus of the Party must be on Brexit and as Brexit has this week reached a crucial juncture, any question of Tommy Robinson’s membership, should he apply, should be deferred to the first NEC meeting after 29th March 2019.'
"This motion was accepted by a majority vote and will be added to the agenda as described in the motion."
Reference: UKIP
Gerard Batten wanted this issue resolved as soon as possible, not kicked into the long grass for another four months. Tommy Robinson supports Brexit; he could have brought thousands of Brexit supporting new members into the party before the Brexit deal is done.
UKIP's NEC are the Party's Worst Nightmare
When Nigel Farage was leader of UKIP he had a lot of issues with UKIP's National Executive Committee (NEC), describing them as a group of amateurs.
Farage was in favour of changing UKIP's constitution to curb the role of the NEC as the party's ultimate decision maker.
In an interview with Sky News, he said, “In my last two years of leading that party I was unable to do any of the things I wanted. I was outvoted by a group of volunteers, who frankly had no political experience at all."
Farage said. “Simply, it’s reform or die. If it goes on being run by a group of amateurs, within 18 months it will be worthless.”
Farage is far from alone in seeking to reform a body many in UKIP believe is a roadblock to change.
One senior UKIP figure, with many years of experience in the party – which topped the vote in the 2014 European elections and won the third-biggest total in 2015’s general election – said the NEC had a long history of delaying or watering down necessary changes, meaning little was actually done.
“The NEC is very good at stopping the leader doing what they want, but it’s not very good at being proactive,” he said. “So it doesn’t really achieve very much. It’s good at throwing spanners in the works, but not very good at managing things.”
Battling with the NEC was one of the reasons Farage stepped down as Ukip leader in mid-2016.
The NEC's 14 current members include Gerard Batten and the party chairman, Kirstan Herriot, but also a number of little-known activists with no experience beyond local politics.
Reference: Guardian
