MEP tells UKIP to 'grow up'
David Campbell Bannerman and former UKIP leader Nigel Farrage are at loggerheads
The UK Independence Party deputy leader and Eastern region MEP David Campbell Bannerman has been known to be unhappy with the way his party's been going for some time.
Today at the opening of UKIP's annual conference in Torquay he spoke his mind. As he launched his bid to become the party's next leader he told delegates to "grow up and professionalise".
"The public and media need to respect us," he said. "We need to act like a serious party, to become a party of action not talk and not be a party of navel-gazers."
It's a speech which will be seen by many as an attack on the former leader Nigel Farage. Mr Campbell Bannerman feels that the party has been involved in too many publicity stunts and too much name calling rather than promoting its policies.
"We should be winning the argument here instead of showboating in Brussels," he said.
"If our own party had a more professional approach to how it was run, UKIP could have one or two MPs in the Commons by now," he concluded.
Moments later, though, Nigel Farage addressed delegates and announced, to a standing ovation, that he would again stand for the leadership - despite having resigned a year ago.
"If you choose me I will lead from the front as a campaigning politician," he declared.
Mr Campbell Bannerman drew up the party's manifesto for the general election. He's a thinker who believes UKIP should be at the centre of politics and not on the edge. But some delegates have doubts over whether he's charismatic enough and could bring the party as much publicity as Mr Farage.
This now puts the two senior figures in the party at loggerheads.
Delegates are gathering in in sombre mood. When they were last all together at their Spring Conference in Milton Keynes, they believed they were on the verge of something big. They expected to benefit from public disillusionment with the main parties but it didn't materialise.
They increased their share of the vote by 50% in the General Election, didn't win a single seat - and their membership is falling.
The party is now well established as a credible European party, but it wants to be recognised as a major UK party and it points to successes in local elections as proof that it is possible.
Whoever becomes leader will have a lot of work to do.
Welcome to the political blog for the East. I'm Deborah McGurran, the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s Political Editor for the region. From Lowestoft to Luton, this is the place for politics with an eastern twist.
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