I reckon this was the best UKIP conference I've ever attended and please do listen to Nigel Farage's speech because you will find words that strike a chord with you no matter whether you are left, right or centre in your politics.
UKIP as a mainstream party has grown up and does offer the people of this country of whatever ethnic or class background a new kind of politics that comes from the bottom up rather than the top down.
The media and the other three parties are kidding themselves if they think that UKIP is just about trying to get disaffected Tories over. It is not. It has become the party of the people and the only one proud to speak up for English people, the only one to speak up for the working classes, the only one to speak up for those who are fed up to back teeth of the political correctness that is turning us into a nation of people who are too scared to speak or to think.
The Express has noticed that UKIP is a party not to be dismissed but I wish these people would get it and stop banging on that the new support for UKIP has come from former Conservatives who are desperate to leave the EU.
It is true of course but not solely the reason for the upsurge in UKIP membership and support which also comes from disaffected Labour supporters. And to keep dismissing smokers, man made global warming sceptics, and others fed up at the Nannying/Bullying of our lifestyles on smoking, eating, driving and drinking is an insult.
As Nigel said : "Working class people have been betrayed by Labour on immigration and the view that they not worth employing. Fancy saying that about your own population. These are decent people who want to work and want to obey the law. UKIP stands for those people."
I met plenty of people there from our own movement, many former Labour supporters, who have all crossed over during the last year or two because they know that no amount of lobbying is ever going to make a difference to those in the LibLabCon who want to control every aspect of our lives using the excuse of good health.
Of course the Eu and getting out of it is vital because from the EU comes this lifestyle control and ever increasing dictatorship which removes choice, free speech and all of the planks that have held up British democracy for two thousand years.
I, and a few others, were a bit disappointed when Inez Ward spoke about the battle to save the Great British pub because all of the things she mentioned were important factors in its current downfall but why she didn't even mention the smoking ban in passing is beyond me. The smoking ban started the rapid closure rate and had the biggest single impact although none of us can deny those other factors at play that Inez outlined so well.
Still, I agree with her assessment - Use it or Lose it. A really hard thing to do for smokers who are not welcome and faced with the prospect of paying far too much on each pint that must be drunk outside in cold weather.
UKIP speakers outlined many policies. It was more professional in its approach and it drew in a record number of delegates. Each year support grows and it is only a question of time before UKIP has a presence in Westminster.
As Patrick Flynn of the Express noted : "...one in every 20 people you pass in the street is now a UKIP supporter. That also helps to explain why the Conservatives these days find it so difficult to score the magic 40 per cent or more in polls or national elections.
The days when David Cameron felt able to smear the party as the refuge of “fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists” are long gone – too many of his own party membership share UKIP’s main goal of extracting Britain from the EU for him to risk language like that again.
... it can put Labour and the Tories under tremendous pressure to pledge a referendum in the run-up to the 2015 general election.
If the party can keep its nerve and a lid on the faction-fighting to which it is prone, there is every prospect of it changing British politics for good.".
We can only hope that this pressure also applies to get the LibLabCon to lay off our lifestyles, leave us alone, and allow for an amendment to the smoking ban so people are once again free to associate with people who share their lifestyle and don't want to be forced to change.
Bill Etheridge from the Campaign Against Political Correctness gave a rousing speech. He explained why he crossed over to UKIP from the Conservatives and said he was delighted and honoured to be a member of such a great party that carries with it the hope for a better country and a better life where freedom of speech is respected and tempered by fierce debate.
The Freedom Association was also there and held a fringe event. I wanted to sit in the debate about drugs but somehow I missed it. I did listen to an excellent debate about whether UKIP should privatise the BBC which is biased in its ideology, "awash with a Jacuzzi full of cash" largely wasted and fed to fat cat top staff and entertainers, in an age where balance and impartiality can be found in a world wide web of stories and opinions from across the internet.
Alex Deane from Big Brother Watch spoke about how jobsworths can bully the poor into paying that which they cannot afford, and how the licence fee is a personal tax levy on each household.
He mentioned, for example, how quality programmes such as Sons of Anarchy and the Sopranos are put out by HBO - a television provider who takes no money from the public - while we are too often force fed tat from the BBC.
Nigel said in his closing speech that TFA only holds fringe events at main stream party conferences. Another example that UKIP has come of age and is a force to be reckoned with.
To my smoking ban warrior friends I say come over. You will find it is like coming home.