UKIP Uncovered

UKIP Uncovered
What motivates the leaders of the United Kingdom Independence Party?

Tuesday, August 12, 2003

Chairman David Lott

Collective Responsibility and Leadership

While members of any management committee, cabinet or national executive are required to act with their first consideration being to those who elected them and with collective responsibility to the cause they represent together with loyalty to their colleagues, individual bounds of conscience have a crucial role to play as we discussed here yesterday. An extra and special burden falls upon the shoulders of the Chairman, Prime Minister or other leader of any such collective executive, for it is he or she who will both set the tone and establish the bounds of acceptable action.

In considering what has been happening within UKIP, and the manner in which its NEC has handled events over the past few months, first and foremost, careful consideration should be given to the actions of the Party Chairman David Lott.

We quote below from our newly provided NEC side panel the words in which the chairman himself chooses to describe his party contribution.

"David Charles LOTT
Proposer: Nigel Farage Seconder: Kathryn Lott Assentors: Graham Perks, Bernard Buckle, Jill Reilly, Rose Lynden-Bell, Paul Birch, Ashley Mote, John Harvey, R. Knapman.
It is crucially important for NEC members to keep in touch with the general public. Over the years, I toured the country in my lorry, took part and directed countless by-elections, became involved in local elections, organised major public meetings and campaigns or simply spoke to people in the course of canvassing, whilst personally delivering tens of thousands of leaflets. It all helped me keep my feet firmly on the ground.
Like many of us I have had failures but I learned from these and occasionally had outstanding successes. I am proud to have been Nigel Farage’s campaign manager for the European Election in 1999. The South East ran a determined, comprehensive campaign, the biggest ever undertaken to date by the UKIP. I now find myself in the privileged position of Party Chairman but I am just as proud of being the Chairman of the Isle of Wight Constituency Association. Nationally and locally I am determined to drive the party forward to success at every level. I relish the fight and will drive myself, the NEC and you to the limit in order for us to become Britain’s salvation.
I am a former fighter pilot, airline captain and senior manager. I am extremely fortunate to have a wife whose commitment to the cause enables me to devote all my energy to our colossal task. Together in 2004, we can and must, deliver a major jolt to the UK’s political system in order to stem the tide."

What is there to be said about the UKIP chairman? Speaking personally on my first meeting I was astounded to hear parts of my maiden speech, provided in advance to him in confidence, plagiarised moments before I was to deliver it. The following day at the opening of the UKIP Hartlepool Office (subsequently itself the subject of much controversy) he quite unashamedly misrepresented the party's rules regarding electoral procedures when posed with a direct question, by myself, that could not possibly have been open to misinterpretation. My own limited personal experiences with this individual are nothing, however, when set alongside the long history of the party's decline since his most recent appearance at the centre of its affairs early in the year 2000.

Starting with UKIP in Hexham in the North East, Lott is always proud to boast of pavements trod, doors knocked and later lorry miles of roadway travelled in advance of the UKIP cause. His contribution to early UKIP electoral success must most certainly be acknowledged. He was then thrust into the centre of the controversy between Alan Sked and Michael Holmes before illness forced a temporary lower profile.

Lott resurfaced as Chairman of the Isle of Wight Branch to play a major part in the next great controversy to hit the party. Returning to the forefront at the notorious 22nd January 2000 EGM, when Michael Holmes was ruthlessly deposed, he was reported as appearing to be on a personal mission to not only prevent but gather up any leaflets distributed either within or outside the conference hall. Lott had seemed very much at the centre of the arrangements for that strange meeting while UKIP's Conference Arrangements Organiser recalls being only latterly offered some participation.

As boasted in the electoral spiel, David Lott has gone from strength to strength in the party that then emerged from that six month debacle; success principally gained by appearing as Farage's Fixer. His heavy handedness has become a byword amongst those who still strive to maintain a sound reputation for the party in the country at large. Examples of his threatening and blustering style of party management are not difficult to find amongst those party members with any independence of mind.

David Lott's recent public pronouncements on the method of payment of disgraced ex-Clinton side-kick Dick Morris, and his even more blatant attempt, just this weekend, to openly skirt Electoral Commission procedures regarding donations to political parties, are just the latest signs of the urgent need for the party to rid itself of this figurehead who increasingly appears as something of a buffoon.

If the National Executive Committee has the interests of the party at heart, then their first step towards putting matters to rights will be in demanding the immediate resignation of Party Chairman David Lott.

posted by Martin |6:39 AM