This is the first in what will be a regular series of newsletters from UKIP Leader Lord Pearson of Rannoch.

February 5, 2010

In the wake of UKIP’s spectacular success in the European elections and subsequent achievements in local ones, we have to organise ourselves for what is going to be the biggest campaign in the party’s history. We are putting the necessary structures in place. A new Campaign Headquarters to house the press office, campaign director and research department is now in place in Greycoat Place, London SW1, close to Westminster and Victoria. And, speaking of the campaign team, Steve Allison, UKIP Councillor in Hartlepool, has joined it. He will be in charge of Candidates’ Addresses.

From the same office we shall be working on a thorough revamp of the website (at present somewhat unsatisfactory, as many people will agree) and the creation of an efficient e-campaign. Modern political campaigning needs to be on the internet as much as on the streets though we are not forgetting that aspect either. Designs for leaflets, posters, billboards and other campaigning literature that will be tied to the party’s central campaigning themes and messages, are being created and will soon be available to PPCs through the Regional Organisers.

And yes, those central messages. Well, we all know the most central one of all: we cannot achieve much in this country unless we come out of the European Union and continue in free trade with it instead. Other policies are being honed by the Policy Unit under David Campbell Bannerman, MEP for East of England.

Painful though it may be, I, too, plan to enter the internet age, with a separate blogsite which will go on line this week-end. We shall be encouraging all PPCs to have their blogsites (some already do) and we shall not want to control these in any way. Nevertheless, I hope PPCs will remember that there are certain policies and core messages which the party is anxious to disseminate. Please, try to keep your postings within that framework.

Much more remains to be done. We need to recruit more potential candidates and many more volunteer workers. Candidates, agents and volunteers need to be trained (especially the candidates); we must ensure that we do not fall foul of the various articles in the electoral legislation and, on another level, that our campaign is fully professional.

In the meantime, my colleague in the Lords, David Willoughby de Broke, and I continue the battle there. Earlier this week I asked an important Oral Question about the regulation of herbal medicine and its practitioners. As things stand, the EU has decreed that herbal medicine must be subject to statutory regulation by April 2011, but the Government has dragged its feet for years. If it doesn’t meet the deadline herbal medicine will die in this country or be driven under ground. The Government admitted, for the first time, that there is now a serious problem and promised to try to negotiate a derogation if necessary. So we may have done something to save herbal medicine. (You can read the debate here.)

Today in the Lords we have the Second Reading of David Willoughby’s Constitutional Reform Bill, which proposes a number of important changes to the political structure of this country, starting with the complete withdrawal from the European Union. On Monday the debate will be available in Hansard. The Bill itself is available on the Parliament website here.

I am planning to publish a weekly letter on the UKIP website about political and organisational developments, and I hope this is welcome.

Yours sincerely,

Malcolm Pearson
Lord Pearson of Rannoch