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United Kingdom Independence Party
Leader	Nigel Farage MEP
Founded	1993
Headquarters	PO Box 408 Newton Abbot TQ12 9BG
Political Ideology	Euroscepticism, Conservatism
Political Position	Right wing
International Affiliation	none
European Affiliation	none
European Parliament Group	Independence and Democracy
Colours	Purple and yellow
Website	http://www.ukip.org
See also	Politics of the UK Political parties Elections

The United Kingdom Independence Party (commonly known as UKIP, pronounced /ˈjuːkɪp/) is a British political party. The principal aim of the Party is the withdrawal of the UK from the European Union. UKIP currently has 10 seats in the European Parliament and two in the House of Lords. It also has around 30 local councillors on principal authorities, town and parish councils. The party has around 17,500 members.^[1]

The intention of the party's policy is that the United Kingdom "shall again be governed by laws made to suit its own needs by its own Parliament, which must be directly and solely accountable to the electorate of the UK".^[2] Other aspects of policy include promises to reduce taxation, the preservation of the pound sterling, promises to be tough on crime and tighter controls on immigration.

The current party leader is Nigel Farage, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England, also the leader of the party in the European Parliament. His stated intention is to broaden public perception of UKIP beyond merely being a party seeking to get the UK out of the EU, to one of being a free market party broadly standing for traditional conservative values.

In the 2004 European elections, UKIP received 2.7 million votes (16.8% of the national vote), gaining twelve seats in the European Parliament. However, in the 2005 General Election, the party received only 618,000 votes (2.38% of the vote).

Contents 1 History 1.1 Early years 1.2 2001 General Election 1.3 Kilroy-Silk 1.4 2006 leadership election 1.5 Defection of Conservative Peers to UKIP 1.6 Proposed change of name 1.7 Electoral Commission investigation 1.8 Ashley Mote 2 Policies 2.1 On Europe 2.2 Some domestic policies 2.2.1 Climate change 3 Electoral performance 2004-2007 3.1 Overview 3.2 2004 3.3 2005 3.4 2006 3.5 2007 4 Relationship with other parties 4.1 The Conservatives 4.2 Far-right parties 5 Minority members of UKIP 6 Current representatives 7 Leaders of the UK Independence Party since 1993 8 Eurosceptics in the European Parliament 9 See also 10 External links 11 References

UKIP was founded in 1993, by Alan Sked and other members of the all-party Anti-Federalist League. The central aim of the party was to seek the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. The new party attracted many from the anti-European wing of the Conservative Party, which was split on the European question after the pound was forced out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992 and the struggle over ratification of the Maastricht Treaty. UKIP candidates stood in the 1997 general election, but were overshadowed by James Goldsmith's Referendum Party. After the election, Alan Sked resigned the leadership and left the party which was, he said, 'doomed to remain on the political fringes'. However, Goldsmith's death soon after the election precipitated the dissolution of the Referendum Party, with a resulting influx of new UKIP supporters. The leadership election was won by millionaire businessman Michael Holmes, and in the 1999 elections to the European Parliament UKIP amazed commentators by picking up three seats and 7% of the vote. In that election, Nigel Farage (South East England), Jeffrey Titford (East of England), and Michael Holmes (South West England) were elected.

However, over the next few months there was a power struggle between the leader, Michael Holmes, and the party's National Executive Committee (NEC). This was partly due to Holmes making a speech which was perceived to call for greater powers for the European Parliament against the European Commission. In a stormy meeting, ordinary party members forced the resignation of both Holmes and the entire NEC. Holmes resigned from the party itself in March 2000. There was a legal battle when he tried to continue as an independent MEP until resigning from the European Parliament in December 2002, when he was replaced by Graham Booth, the second candidate on the UKIP list in South West England.

Jeffrey Titford was narrowly elected to the vacant leadership, and succeeded in healing many of the wounds left by the previous infighting.

UKIP put up candidates in more than 420 seats in the 2001 general election, coming fifth in terms of votes cast (but with just 1.5% of the vote) and failing to win any representation at Westminster. It also failed to break through in the elections to the Scottish Parliament or the National Assembly of Wales despite those elections being held under proportional representation. In 2002 Titford stood down as party leader, but continued to sit as a UKIP MEP. He was replaced as leader by Roger Knapman.

In late 2004, reports in the mainstream UK press speculated on if or when former Labour Party MP and chat show host Robert Kilroy-Silk would take control of the party. These reports were heightened by Kilroy-Silk's speech at the UKIP party conference in Bristol on 2 October 2004, in which he called for the Conservative Party to be "killed-off" (following UKIP forcing the Conservatives into fourth place in Hartlepool).

Interviewed by Channel 4, Kilroy-Silk did not deny having ambitions to lead the party, but underlined that Roger Knapman would lead it into the next general election. However, the next day, on Breakfast with Frost, he criticised Knapman's leadership. After further disagreement with the leadership, on 27 October 2004 Kilroy-Silk resigned the UKIP whip in the European Parliament. Initially, he still remained a member, while seeking a bid for the party leadership. However, this was not successful, and Kilroy-Silk resigned completely from UKIP on 20 January 2005, calling it a "joke". Two weeks later, he founded his own party, Veritas, taking several UKIP members, including both London Assembly members, with him. Kilroy-Silk has subsequently resigned from Veritas.

In October 2005, Petrina Holdsworth resigned as Chairman of UKIP and from the party's National Executive Committee. She was replaced as Chairman "on an interim basis" by the party's former leader, Jeffrey Titford MEP. In December 2005, David Campbell-Bannerman, a former Conservative, became the new party chairman, appointed by the party leader, Roger Knapman MEP. Knapmans 4 year term as leader ended in June 2006, triggering a leadership contest that saw four challengers (Richard Suchorzewski, David Campbell-Bannerman, David Noakes and Nigel Farage) of whom Farage emerged as victor on 12 September 2006.

On 9 January 2007, two former Conservative Lords defected from the Conservative Party to the UKIP. Lords Pearson and Willoughby de Broke joined the UKIP as they felt the Conservative Party were not producing policy to support their beliefs. They had previously had the Conservative whip withdrawn when they had encouraged voters to support UKIP. Other high profile Conservatives have defected to UKIP, but this is the first example of sitting Parliamentarians doing so. On Saturday 20 January 2007, the Earl of Dartmouth, also a former Tory peer, defected.^[3]

It was announced on 5 February 2007 that UKIP intends to change its name to Independence Party in a bid to attract Conservative voters. This change will be subject to a postal ballot of members, and would have to be accepted by the Electoral Commission as per the Registration of Political Parties Act.^[4]

On 23 February 2007, it was announced that the Electoral Commission have requested that UKIP forfeit £367,697 in donations from donor Alan Bown because at the time he made the donations he was not on the electoral roll. However, UKIP claim this was merely a clerical error, as a result of Alan Bown being removed without his knowledge after he moved addresses. UKIP have claimed that such a forfeiture, which would go to the Government rather than being returned to the donor, would leave the party "penniless".^[5]

The party is also facing a £1,500 fine for filing its accounts six months after an already extended deadline, and is also facing a full financial review by the Electoral Commission.^[6]

An MEP, Ashley Mote, who was elected as the for South East England constituency, had the UKIP whip removed on 15 July 2004, because he had not informed them previously of an imminent court case involving housing benefit fraud. He was subsequently made to leave the party and is currently serving a 9 month Jail sentence for several counts of fraud.^[7]

Although the UKIP's original raison d'être was, without a doubt, the EU, it has now expanded from being a single-issue party to developing a full domestic agenda starting with a wide ranging review and establishment of a policy development group. UKIP have now produced detailed policy documents on taxation ^[8] and education ^[9]. UKIP also oppose the extension to state funding of political parties.

Its economic stance is based what it claims to be the need for much lower taxation in order to compete internationally; a position which has been reinforced since the election of Nigel Farage as leader in September 2006.

UKIP contends that the EU is corrupt, that it is undemocratic (they particularly resent the fact that European Commissioners, who are appointed by national governments rather than directly elected, have authority to initiate legislation in most policy areas), that Britain's membership is very expensive and that Britain's sovereignty is diluted by being part of a large bloc. In particular it perceives the latter issue as being so fundamental a problem that only complete withdrawal from the Union can address it. For this reason, the aim of British withdrawal from the EU is written into UKIP's constitution. In line with this, one of UKIP's political goals is to break what it sees as the pro-EU consensus among the three established parties, and prevent the introduction of the euro and the adoption of a European constitution.

UKIP is against the planned introduction of identity cards, believing them to be ineffective as a way of combating fraud and terrorism, and an infringement of individual liberty. In December 2004 UKIP affiliated to the anti-ID card campaign, No2ID. Concern for civil liberties also led UKIP to oppose the Civil Contingencies Act 2004^[10], which gives additional powers to the UK Home Secretary in broadly defined "emergency situations". UKIP's Jeffrey Titford MEP condemned the bill as "totalitarian". ^[11]

UKIP opposes the adoption of a Devolved English parliament, preferring to argue that the Scottish Parliament and Welsh and Northern Irish Assemblies can be abolished to return the United Kingdom to one Country with one Parliament - as such removing power from the people of those countries and effectively giving it to whomsoever comes to power in England.

UKIP believed that the Climate Change Bill, published by the Labour Government in March 2007, reflected a failure to devise a viable plan for alternative sources of energy to replace fossil fuels: they considered that the Bill was 'deeply misguided'.

UKIP argues in favour of the expansion of nuclear power for reasons of energy security as well as to cut carbon emissions. In line with American policy, they do not think large-scale cuts of carbon emissions are necessary. They also argue that plans to invest in wind power are uneconomic.^[12]

UKIP's first electoral success was the election of three MEPs in 1999, and it made further advances in 2004, although increasing its share of the vote in both the 2001 General Election and 2005 General Election, it did not achieve the same levels of vote as in those elections to the European Parliament.

UKIP's expectations were high before the 2004 European Parliament election, with a number of opinion polls – starting with one from YouGov - showed them on course to beat the Liberal Democrats and pick up a dozen MEPs. The prediction proved accurate, with UKIP winning 16.8% of the vote and taking third place nationally with 12 seats. UKIP won seats in eight regions, taking votes from all three major political Parties. It came second, ahead of both Labour and the Liberal Democrats, in four regions: South West, South East, Eastern and East Midlands. In the East Midlands region UKIP came within a percentage point of being top of the poll.

UKIP received assistance in coordinating its 2004 election campaign from Dick Morris, formerly Bill Clinton's campaign advisor who has since emerged as an advocate of US unilateralism and an opponent of the EU.

UKIP had hoped to sustain its momentum in the 2005 General Election, but despite fielding 495 candidates, the party failed to win any seats at Westminster. At the General Election, UKIP gained 618,000 votes, or 2.4% of the total votes cast in the election (an increase of 220,000 votes/0.9% from their result in the 2001 general election). Although respectable for a small party, and sufficient to place them fourth in terms of total votes cast behind the Liberal Democrats, the Liberal Democrats polled in excess of 20% of the total vote cast.

UKIP's best result on election night itself was in Boston & Skegness, where their candidate Richard Horsnell came third with 9.6% of the vote.

In the first Parliamentary election test of 2006, UKIP came eighth out of nine candidates in the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election on 9 February 2006, and their candidate lost his deposit, polling only 208 votes (0.6%).

In the 2006 English local elections, UKIP won its first borough council seat in Hartlepool but a councillor in Wirral who had recently defected to UKIP from the Conservatives failed to be re-elected for her new party, so that UKIP's overall net gain was zero. UKIP also beat Labour into fourth place in the Bromley and Chislehurst by-election in June 2006. The UKIP candidate, Nigel Farage, came third with 8.1% of the vote, ahead of Labour on 6.6%.

In February 2007, Henry Reilly, a Ulster Unionist Party councillor in Newry and Mourne defected to UKIP. He subsequently stood as a UKIP candidate in the Assembly election for the South Down constituency, their first ever candidate in Northern Ireland. He polled 1229 votes, 2.7% of the poll.

In the May local elections UKIP fielded its highest number of candidates, just under a thousand. Six UKIP councillors were up for re-election in the 2007 Local Elections. Four lost their seats, two were re-elected and three new seats were won, leaving the party with a net loss of one councillor. ^[13]

In the regional list vote for the Welsh Assembly Election the party polled 38,490 votes, 3.9% of the total, an increase of 9063 votes from the 2003 election when they polled 3.5% of the total. In the Scottish Parliament elections the party polled 8197 votes, 0.4% of the total, a fall of 3772 votes from the 2003 election when they polled 0.6% 0f the total.

On 22 May 2007 UKIP announced that a Conservative Councillor in the London Borough of Sutton had defected to the party over the issue of the Conservatives lack of support for grammar schools.^[14]

On 19 July 2007, Dr KT Rajan polled 285 votes (0.8%) in the Ealing Southall by election coming 6th out of 12 candidates. Toby Horton polled 536 votes (1.9%)in the Sedgefield by-election held on the same day, coming 6th out of 11 candidates.

UKIP is often seen as a "Tory pressure group", whose main aim is to persuade the Conservative Party to support withdrawal from the European Union. Many prominent members of UKIP are former members of the Conservative Party, such as former UKIP leader Roger Knapman; in addition, some of the staff at Conservative Central Office are former UKIP candidates.^{[citation needed]}

A recent ConservativeHome survey revealed that 43% of surveyed members of the Conservative Party felt that UKIP was the closest party to their views (apart from the Conservative Party itself)^[15], with 66% either supporting or sympathising with the Better Off Out campaign. 6 Conservative MPs even signed the Better Off Out petition.

In April 2006, Conservative Party leader David Cameron called UKIP members "fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists" while talking on LBC radio in London after a question about UKIP using the Freedom of Information Act to force the disclosure of donors. UKIP has demanded an apology for the "closet racists" remark and threatened legal action for slander although this was later dropped, on the grounds that to sue the party would have to prove loss, and the comment had actually had a positive effect for UKIP. Conservative MP Bob Spink has criticised the remarks as has the Conservative supporting newspaper, The Daily Telegraph.^[16]

In April 2007, an undercover Conservative journalist was found to be spying on the UK Independence Party. Tom Harper, a journalist on the Sunday Telegraph, used his middle name to try to con the party into thinking he was a supporter, but according to UKIP still kept his real name on his voice mail and forgot to use his fake e-mail address. They claim that they initially thought he was a Tory plant and played him along by feeding him "laughable made up stories", but once they found out that he was a journalist, threw him out. UKIP described the journalist as the "Worst plant since giant hog weed".^[17]

UKIP's constitution contains a clause guaranteeing that the party will not discriminate on the grounds of race and will be non-sectarian, and party rules require all candidates to declare that they have no past or present links with far-right organisations.

Despite its stated policies, some critics of the UKIP claim links between it and racist groups. Aidan Rankin, co-author of the party's 2001 manifesto, was once involved with the Third Way, which was founded by former members of the National Front (though he has since repudiated these views and has denied ever being a racist; it must also be stated that Third Way has never been as extreme as the NF). Alistair McConnachie, a five-times UKIP candidate and National Executive member, was expelled from UKIP for his views on the Holocaust.^[18] Some other candidates were formerly members of the New Britain Party.

It has been a stated policy of the British National Party (BNP) to "eliminate" UKIP, as they perceive that UKIP's existence prevents them from capitalising on the issue of EU membership. The BNP has infiltrated UKIP in the past, notably in the cases of Mark Deavin, a UKIP head office researcher (hired by the party founder Alan Sked) who was exposed as a BNP agent in 1997, and John Brayshaw in 2004. ^[19] The aim appears simply to have been to damage UKIP.

In 2007 Ashley Mote, who was elected as a Member of the European Parliament for UKIP in 2004 but had the party whip withdrawn within days, joined the far-right Identity, Tradition and Sovereignty grouping in the European Parliament, alongside parties like the French National Front. However, the far-right grouping dissolved a few months later, while Mote was in prison for benefit fraud.

The first ethnic minority candidate to represent UKIP in a parliamentary by-election was Ashwinkumar Tanna, a pharmacist who had previously been an independent candidate for Mayor of London. He represented UKIP in the Tottenham by-election, 2000; his campaign, which called for British withdrawal from the EU and fairer treatment for immigrants, was ignored by the media apart from a brief paragraph in Chemist and Druggist magazine.

Perhaps the best-known black member of UKIP is former TV chef Rustie Lee, who stood as a candidate in the 2005 general election and also appeared in the party's election broadcast that year. The most senior black member of the UKIP leadership is Delroy Young, another general election candidate, who was elected to the party's NEC in 2006 (coming 2nd out of 46 candidates). UKIP's only Muslim local councillor to date was Mohammed Yaqub, originally elected as a Conservative to Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council. He and a colleague defected to UKIP in 2004 but were defeated in their re-election bids a few months later.

UKIP has two working peers in the House of Lords, who joined the party in January 2007 after defecting from the Conservative Party. Lord Pearson of Rannoch and Lord Willoughby de Broke will form a new grouping within the House of Lords to actively seek to encourage more Lords to defect to the new UKIP group.^[20] UKIP has about nine district councillors and seventeen town/parish councillors. Although the party doesn't provide a list of councillors, an unofficial list is maintained on the British Democracy Forum.^[21]

On 28 February 2007 UKIP suspended Tom Wise due to him being under investigation by OLAF (the European Anti Fraud Office).

The remaining MEPs are:

East Midlands	Derek Clark
East of England	Jeffrey Titford
London	Gerard Batten
North West England	John Whittaker
South East England	Nigel Farage
South West England	Graham Booth, Roger Knapman
West Midlands	Mike Nattrass
Yorkshire and the Humber	Godfrey Bloom
East of England	Tom Wise (currently suspended)[22]

• Dr Alan Sked 1993-1997
• Craig Mackinlay 1997 (acting leader)
• Michael Holmes 1997-2000 (MEP from 1999 on)
• Jeffrey Titford, MEP 2000-2002
• Roger Knapman, MEP 2002-2006
• Nigel Farage, MEP 2006-present

In 2004, 37 MEPs from the UK, Poland, Denmark and Sweden founded a new European Parliament group called Independence and Democracy from the old Europe of Democracies and Diversities (EDD) group. The main goals of this group are to reject the Treaty establishing a constitution for Europe and to oppose further European integration^{[citation needed]}. Some delegations within the group, including UKIP, advocate the complete withdrawal of their country from the EU.

The group's leaders are Nigel Farage of UKIP and Jens-Peter Bonde of Denmark.

• Euroscepticism

• Official UKIP homepage
• UKIP's MEPs explain their aims
• Full history of UKIP : "Hard Pounding, The Story of the UK Independence Party"

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