Back to the past: returning to my old role as General Secretary.
Some observations on the actual work involved
Posted on December 22, 2016 by Jonathan Arnott MEP in
It’s good to be back! Having just been appointed as General Secretary as
part of the UKIP re-shuffle, my first thought was to write a piece explaining to
members what they can expect from me in my new (or old) role. I did the job
previously for 6 years from 2008 when the then Party Chairman Paul Nuttall asked
me to take on the role. Now, in 2016, Paul Nuttall asked me to take on the same
role again and this appointment was confirmed by the NEC at their last meeting.
Paul is nothing if not consistent. As for my immediate predecessor, Adam
Richardson has a keen legal mind, is slow to anger and easy to work with, and I
look forward to working alongside him in his own new
role.
General Secretary is a
slightly unusual role to be combining with elected office, which gives me some
misgivings about time commitments, but ultimately I’m happy to serve in whatever
way the Party requests of me and I can only promise to do my
best.
I find it somewhat sad, and very disappointing, that I even have to write this next sentence. In the interests of transparency, I would like to disclose that I will be paid at £0 per calendar month for the General Secretary job. Whether that £0 is gross or net I leave up to your imagination. Words rarely fail me, but in this case they do. The notion of paying someone already in receipt of an MEP salary? In the Christmas spirit, I think it’s fair for me to describe it as crackers!
My first act as General Secretary will be to reinstate the regular monthly reports for members about NEC meetings. I’ve already written the report on the December NEC, and it merely awaits approval before being circulated to members. I introduced those reports in the first place as a way of increasing communication within the Party, and it seems high time now to reintroduce them. The plan is to have a section on the Party website where these will be uploaded.
Recent months have been peak season, it would appear, for disciplinary complaints. There is therefore a backlog of complaints and I’m making it a priority to ensure that these begin to progress as soon as possible. There will be various letters going out over the next couple of days to complainants and respondents. I’m sure that none of the august readers of this column will be the subject of a disciplinary complaint, but if I’m wrong let me first explain the process:
See Url below for the details:
http://www.ukipdaily.com/back-past-returning-old-role-general-secretary/
I find it somewhat sad, and very disappointing, that I even have to write this next sentence. In the interests of transparency, I would like to disclose that I will be paid at £0 per calendar month for the General Secretary job. Whether that £0 is gross or net I leave up to your imagination. Words rarely fail me, but in this case they do. The notion of paying someone already in receipt of an MEP salary? In the Christmas spirit, I think it’s fair for me to describe it as crackers!
My first act as General Secretary will be to reinstate the regular monthly reports for members about NEC meetings. I’ve already written the report on the December NEC, and it merely awaits approval before being circulated to members. I introduced those reports in the first place as a way of increasing communication within the Party, and it seems high time now to reintroduce them. The plan is to have a section on the Party website where these will be uploaded.
Recent months have been peak season, it would appear, for disciplinary complaints. There is therefore a backlog of complaints and I’m making it a priority to ensure that these begin to progress as soon as possible. There will be various letters going out over the next couple of days to complainants and respondents. I’m sure that none of the august readers of this column will be the subject of a disciplinary complaint, but if I’m wrong let me first explain the process:
See Url below for the details:
http://www.ukipdaily.com/back-past-returning-old-role-general-secretary/
