West Dorset UKIP resigns

10.11.55am GMT Tue 9th Jan 2007

After posting about UKIP in Plymouth I have been emailed to tell me that in November the entire nine-person committee of the West Dorset Constituency Association resigned from the party for the same reasons as Plymouth's.

The quote I have been sent is as follows, but I have no idea who said it or if it was actually said - if its a real quote is pretty damning "In the 2004 EU Elections, UKIP came second in West Dorset, elected two MEPs, and beat the Lib/Dems into third place. We felt we were on a roll. Our moment had come when the United Kingdom was waking up. We then had to put up with the ignominy of watching our leaders scrapping with Robert Kilroy Silk in public, resulting in many good party workers leaving UKIP and following RKS into Veritas. That, we feel, was the beginning of the end.

Our leaders squandered the goodwill that members of the party had worked hard to build up during the Euro Election. They did nothing to take the party forward, and we were left rudderless at the one time in the party's existence when it could have become a serious contender for Westminster.

The MEPs have secured for themselves lucrative jobs, but what has happened to the cash they were going to inject into the Party? Instead, UKIP is relying on money from the very Commission we are supposed to despise and want to destroy. We would remind these MEPs that the public voted for the Party, not for them personally.

The leadership campaign was a disgrace. Lies and scurrilous accusations were made. These were not counteracted by the leadership, and now it is over, there have been no apologies and no offers of the hand of friendship. The questions about the Ashford Call centre have not been answered, and the new Treasurer has stated that he won't be looking at the accounts prior to his takeover..."