UKIP News & Social Media

Cameron Bishop Former Police Crown Servant, Solicitor & UKIP Activist

Ben Walker National Party Chairman - UK Independence Party

Jeffrey Titford 24.10.1933 – 09.09.2024 Jeffrey Titford, the former Leader of the UK Independence Party and two term MEP for the East of England, has passed away, after suffering from cancer. His family announced his death on 10 th September, aged 90. Jeffrey was one of the fathers of Brexit, coming to the fore in national and international politics at a time when leaving the EU was considered unthinkable and long before it became official Conservative Party policy. A visionary and a democrat, who did not believe that EU membership provided a viable future for Britain as an independent, self-governing nation, Jeffrey Titford was elected to the European Parliament at the 1999 European Parliamentary Elections, aged 63. He was one of three UK Independence Party MEPs elected, which sent shock waves through the political world. He became Leader of the Party in 2000 and served for three years bringing stability and respectability to its campaigns. During this period, he made seventy speeches a year, travelling all over the country. He also served as interim Leader from September to November 2010, following the resignation of Lord Pearson of Rannoch, while the election of a new Leader was held. During his time in the European Parliament, he made dozens of speeches in Plenary session severely criticising the EU and particularly the level of fraud in its finances. He also extensively lobbied the European Commission and the Government in Westminster on behalf of the British fishing and farming industries. He led several delegations of fishermen to see UK Agriculture Ministers in Westminster and also took a delegation to meet the European Commissioner for Fishing in Brussels. He wrote monthly columns for the East Anglian Daily Times, the Hertfordshire Mercury and Farmers Guide and made many appearances on regional television. He also made a guest appearance on Breakfast with Frost. Jeffrey Titford’s political career began in 1970, when he became a Councillor on the Clacton Urban District Council. He ended his association with the Conservative Party in 1992, in protest over Prime Minister John Major’s signing of the Maastricht Treaty. He joined Sir James Goldsmith’s Referendum Party and, in a sign of things to come, stood in the General Election of 1997 in Harwich when he was the Party’s most successful candidate, securing almost 10 per cent of the vote and, in the process, unseating the sitting Member of Parliament. Following the death of Sir James Goldsmith, Jeffrey was invited to join the UK Independence Party (UKIP), where he established a branch in Clacton and a regional committee, which led to his successful campaign in the European Elections in 1999. He paved the way for Nigel Farage’s subsequent success in Clacton at the 2024 General Election. He was re-elected to the European Parliament in 2004, with a greatly increased share of the vote and UKIP also returned a second MEP. He retired from European Politics in 2009 and was made an Honorary Patron of the Party in 2006 and became President for Life in 2011. Life before politics Following National Service in the RAF, Jeffrey joined the family’s funeral directing business in 1956, where he had a 35 year career, during which he served for 12 years on the National Association of Funeral Director’s (NAFD) National Executive and rose to National President in 1975-76. He was instrumental in developing an official code of practice for the funeral profession, at the request of the Office of Fair Trading. He also successfully campaigned for funeral directors to have the right to sell a package funeral and carried out the first review of the practice manual for funeral directing, which led to the creation of a formal qualification for funeral directors, recognised by the NAFD. He sold the company in February 1989 and retired from the profession. An enthusiastic Rotarian, Jeffrey served as President of the Clacton and later Frinton Rotary Clubs. He also belonged to the Clacton Operatic and Clacton Dramatic Societies, taking lead roles in both companies. However, his most successful hobby was rally driving. He was a leading light in the Clacton Motor Club in the early seventies for whom he was the regional rally champion for six consecutive years. Jeffrey Titford was a devoted family man and is survived by his wife Margaret, one son, three daughters, eight grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

Ben Walker National Party Chairman - UK Independence Party

When we, as a nation, experience a crisis, it’s crucial that we pull together. But more essential is that we each do everything we can to help those around us. Whether this is calling a friend, going to the shops for someone in a high-risk category, or even volunteering to help your community. The government may be doing its part on a national scale, but it is up to the individual to offer what they can on a local level. Over the last few weeks, UKIP has been receiving pictures and news from members who are doing their part. Marietta King making hospital scrubs, or Pete Muswell helping out a foodbank, or Interim Leader Pat Mountain organising neighbourhood sing-alongs (as featured in The Argus ), whatever you’re doing, let’s share the positive instead of the negative.  Let’s spread some inspiration. Post a comment or a picture of what you’ve been doing to help out.

Exeter used to be a small city with a university, now it’s a university with a small city, UKIP election candidate Duncan Odgers has been telling voters. Speaking to electors while campaigning in the city he said it was clear there was growing resentment at the way the university now dominated the city and seemed to get a ‘free pass’ on planning, with skyscrapers and student housing taking over the city centre. He said: “It’s increasingly becoming a tale of two cities, which is perhaps best illustrated by two adjacent building sites: the new multi storey student accommodation at the bottom of Paris Street and the still unfinished bus station.” The massive student block by the Western Way roundabout replaced one of the city’s oldest pubs, the Honiton Inn, which was demolished to make way for the latest in a series of student accommodation developments. Local residents in Exeter have been waiting for decades for a replacement for their chilly out-of-date bus station. Planning permission was granted nearly four years ago and it’s still just a boarded up building site. “The Honiton Inn survived Hitler’s bombs but it couldn’t withstand the influx of foreign and other students,” Duncan said. “Exeter used to be a small city with a university, now it’s a university with a small city. The university has just been allowed to take over and no one is speaking out. “It seems to get a free pass on developments that previously would never have been countenanced in our historic city. And where’s the housing for locals?” Earlier this year, it was revealed that Exeter University Vice Chancellor, Sir Steve Smith, knighted for his services to higher education, could bag himself a whopping £830,000 payout next year in annual pay and bonus package. There are 23,613 students at the university (2018/19) up from 19,586 just four years ago. Of these nearly a fifth are from outside the EU (the students from the EU are included in the remaining 80%). It also emerged a few weeks ago that UK intelligence chiefs are concerned about the growing reliance of universities on Chinese students for income, with growing fears about the theft of research and intellectual property. The warnings from MI5 and GCHQ come as universities have seen an unprecedented rise in Chinese students attending their courses. Numbers have doubled in the last decade. In that time, it’s estimated that 500 Chinese military scientists have attended lectures and study programmes at UK universities. Last week, Duncan Odgers was not invited to an election hustings event held at Exeter University. “Perhaps they were afraid of what I would say,” Duncan said. UKIP’s manifesto includes a pledge to drop ‘the artificial target of 50% of people going to higher education’ introduced by Tony Blair’s Labour administration. Duncan added: “Ben Bradshaw likes to boast that during his time the university has expanded and he brought the Met Office here. It’s no coincidence that his majority has also increased. “Our historic city is being changed out of all recognition and ordinary Exeter folk have been left behind. It’s time for a new direction.”

UKIP supporters have been proving that distance is no object when it comes to supporting the election cause. Two activists from Wales travelled all the way up to the North East to join candidate Richard Elvin on the campaign trail with the purple battle bus. Richard Elvin, who is standing in the Houghton and Sunderland South constitency, said: "I was absolutely delighted that they made the journey. We've had a great response from people to our battle bus. "This is a strongly Leave-voting area of the country and people are really not happy with the position the Labour Party has taken on the issue of Brexit. "They realise that the only true Brexit is the one UKIP is calling for, not the Bogus Brexit being offered by Boris Johnson and the Conservatives." The deal being touted by Boris Johnson would be a Brexit in Name Only, keeping the UK shackled to Brussels and still paying out billions for the privilege.

UKIP candidate for Carlisle Fiona Mills joined local Councillor John Denholm at one of his regular community surgery sessions. As a genuine grassroots movement, UKIP has had councillors at local level for years, taking on the big issues that matter to people at a local level. The party has a comprehensive programme for local government, including ending the ‘cabinet’ system of governance which puts too much power in the hands of too few people. UKIP believes in keeping Council Tax low and holding a binding referendum on key local issues like major housing developments and out-of-town supermarkets. Fiona, who is the party’s Health spokesman, said: “UKIP is gaining votes from disillusioned Labour voters here. They voted leave, can't vote Corbyn and won't vote for Boris's Bogus Brexit, or Tory ever, really.”