Tag Archives: lord pearson

UKIP leader Lord Pearson stands down

By Mark Pack | Published 17th August 2010 - 8:34 am

The BBC has the story about Lord Pearson standing down as UKIP’s leader following his less than successful general election performance (with that TV interview):

In his resignation statement, Lord Pearson said he was “not much good” at party politics and UKIP “deserved a better politician… to lead it”.

The outgoing leader had a difficult general election campaign, telling one interviewer he could not remember his own manifesto in detail.

An interim leader will be chosen at UKIP’s annual conference next month.

I must admit I’m a little impressed with his departure – it’s a rare person who admits they aren’t up to …

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Posted in Opposition watch | Also tagged | 7 Comments

Bits of election fun you may have missed

By Mark Pack | Published 21st April 2010 - 11:20 am

The best leaflet correction so far; you’ve got to love the biro work.

Phil Willis shows his moves (but just skip over 1 min 48 sec, ok?).

Ben Goldacre edges close to saying “Vote Lib Dem” here and here.

Esther Rantzen takes to removing Liberal Democrat posters in Luton South.

Not heard the David Cameron song? Hear it here. (Hat tip: Jonathan Calder)

And the prize for the worst campaign interview goes to UKIP leader, Lord Pearson (clip via Left Foot Forward):

…

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Posted in General Election | Also tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

UKIP caught by Sunday Times investigation into hiding donations

By Mark Pack | Published 4th April 2010 - 3:22 pm

The Sunday Times reports:

Stuart Agnew, a UKIP MEP, and Lord Pearson of Rannoch, the party’s leader, have told undercover reporters how a real donor’s name could be kept secret by passing tens of thousands of pounds through intermediaries. If carried out, one or more of the suggested methods could have been illegal.

Our disclosures will embarrass UKIP and Pearson, who also told the undercover reporter that some UKIP members were “neanderthals” and described Agnew, 60, as “one of our only really sane MEPs”.

The report goes on to detail how UKIP explored a range of ways for a donor to hide their …

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Posted in Election law | Also tagged , | 1 Comment

Lord Pearson as a Tory party whip and Griffin v. Maloney

By Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP | Published 9th December 2009 - 4:13 pm

UKIP have got themselves into a right pickle recently, poor things! It emerged last week that their new leader Lord Pearson a number of months ago made a somewhat controversial offer to the Conservative party. Pearson allegedly (The Times, 30 November, UKIP’s planned deal with Tories causes outrage in anti-Europe party) approached Lord Strathclyde, the leader of the Tories in the House of Lords, with an offer to disband the party and withdraw all UKIP candidates if the Tories agreed to hold a referendum on EU membership. Lord Strathclyde himself has confirmed that the meeting with Pearson, who is in fact a former Tory, took place.

Although Nigel Farage has since changed the story slightly saying that the offer only included withdrawing all candidates, this is still a pretty hefty political gamble.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments