A statement from the Party
Chairman, Paul Oakden.
At midday today our Returning Officer announced the list of candidates who will run to become the new leader of UKIP.
Can I offer my best wishes to Jonathan Arnott, Phillip Broughton, Lisa Duffy, Bill Etheridge, Diane James and Elizabeth Jones. On their shoulders will now rest the responsibility of bringing our party together and demonstrating the best of what UKIP has to offer to the British electorate.
I understand that some members feel frustration at the NEC for not voting to accept the late nomination of Steven Woolfe, which the party received at 12:17pm on Sunday. As a democrat, who is Chairman of a truly democratic party I join with all those who wanted as broad a field of candidates as possible for this election; I know many members of our NEC felt the same way.
That said, the rules governing nominations for our leadership election were explicit – complete application, including nominations must be received by the returning officer by 31st July, 12pm.
UKIP is full of members who have successfully stood for election. They all know that a deadline for nominations is not flexible and a late submission will always be rejected. Ultimately, a large majority of our NEC voted to uphold the rules.
It has been suggested that the inability of Steven Woolfe to submit his nomination was due to a fault in our online application system. The party are confident that our online system, which was capable of accepting multiple applications at the same time, was working properly and without interruption on the morning of July 31st. This has been confirmed by the company who manage our servers, and was demonstrated by a different candidate, who successfully submitted their own nomination paperwork at 11:46am on that same morning.
I regret that some members of the NEC have taken the decision to resign from the committee as a result of the vote. I would like to thank each of them for their continued service to the party.
Now we must all look forward to the exciting contest we have ahead of us. With an equal number of men and women standing to be our leader, covering a broad age range we will doubtless have some fascinating hustings throughout August.
I look forward to being at them and joining with you in listening to the thoughts and ideas of our candidates, on how to continue UKIP’s journey and secure our position as a driving force for change in British politics.
Kind Regards
Paul Oakden
At midday today our Returning Officer announced the list of candidates who will run to become the new leader of UKIP.
Can I offer my best wishes to Jonathan Arnott, Phillip Broughton, Lisa Duffy, Bill Etheridge, Diane James and Elizabeth Jones. On their shoulders will now rest the responsibility of bringing our party together and demonstrating the best of what UKIP has to offer to the British electorate.
I understand that some members feel frustration at the NEC for not voting to accept the late nomination of Steven Woolfe, which the party received at 12:17pm on Sunday. As a democrat, who is Chairman of a truly democratic party I join with all those who wanted as broad a field of candidates as possible for this election; I know many members of our NEC felt the same way.
That said, the rules governing nominations for our leadership election were explicit – complete application, including nominations must be received by the returning officer by 31st July, 12pm.
UKIP is full of members who have successfully stood for election. They all know that a deadline for nominations is not flexible and a late submission will always be rejected. Ultimately, a large majority of our NEC voted to uphold the rules.
It has been suggested that the inability of Steven Woolfe to submit his nomination was due to a fault in our online application system. The party are confident that our online system, which was capable of accepting multiple applications at the same time, was working properly and without interruption on the morning of July 31st. This has been confirmed by the company who manage our servers, and was demonstrated by a different candidate, who successfully submitted their own nomination paperwork at 11:46am on that same morning.
I regret that some members of the NEC have taken the decision to resign from the committee as a result of the vote. I would like to thank each of them for their continued service to the party.
Now we must all look forward to the exciting contest we have ahead of us. With an equal number of men and women standing to be our leader, covering a broad age range we will doubtless have some fascinating hustings throughout August.
I look forward to being at them and joining with you in listening to the thoughts and ideas of our candidates, on how to continue UKIP’s journey and secure our position as a driving force for change in British politics.
Kind Regards
Paul Oakden
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