Published Mar 14, 2017
UKIP Leader Paul Nuttall said today: Following a meeting of the Party's
NEC on Friday, it was decided a response to a letter written to me by Arron
Banks in February was appropriate.
Subsequently, the letter below was sent to Mr Banks early this morning
and is copied here in full:
Dear Arron
I write in reply to your letter to me of 26th February, which has been
made public.
As you will know, at the end of November I secured the largest mandate
ever given to a Leader of UKIP. This mandate was based on my call for unity
within the party, as well as my proposals for reform.
I entirely agree that our party needs to look closely at our brand and
how we operate, how we interface with our membership and how we communicate with
voters. These are all things I promised to pursue if elected as Leader and I
remain committed to those aims.
During the last week I have consulted with several significant supporters
and donors who, in addition to our grassroots members, have helped to sustain
UKIP’s financial position in recent years. I am pleased to say that they have
pledged to continue to support the party going forward as we work to make the
changes that are needed.
On Friday, I met with the NEC to discuss the contents of your letter. The
NEC resolved to keep open their invitation to you to meet them on 27th March
in London to discuss the ideas outlined in your letter. Any and all
contributions to our work are welcome. However, I should make clear that, whilst
I am open to working with you on improving and enhancing our party, the Party
Chairmanship is not on offer.
In addition, whilst the NEC are keen to discuss and examine your ideas,
they are concerned about continuing negative and damaging publicity flowing from
this matter. Mindful of their primary responsibility to safeguard the reputation
of UKIP, they have asked me to tell you that should you choose to further
criticise UKIP, its leadership or the elected representatives in either the
media or on social media, they will withdraw their invitation.
Finally, I’m also aware that you recently applied to re-join UKIP. The
NEC have asked me to make clear that this application will not be processed
until you have met with the committee on the 27th.
You have been a great supporter of the Party over the past two and a half
years, and a major force in helping to achieve the Leave vote. For this we
continue to be grateful and remain hopeful that you will look to work
constructively with us as we move towards building UKIP into a real force for
change in British politics.
Yours sincerely,
Paul
Nuttall MEP
UKIP Leader
UKIP Leader
