Guest Blog - Wow! What an election! by Richard King

Some major ups and downs, but overall a massive success. Nationally UKIP ARE NOW THE THIRD PARTY IN BRITAIN by popular vote. 
In Finchley & Golders Green UKIP CAME THIRD, with DOUBLE votes of 2010.
I would like to thank you for all your help and support during the Finchley and Golders Green UKIP campaign.  It was pleasure to work with you, and with so many other committed "Ukipers".
LOCALLY – Although we came third, I am deeply disappointed not to have got more votes in Finchley and Golders Green (FGG), particularly after all our hard work ... and after so much time, effort and resources were spent by the whole team ... We certainly gave it our best shot :)   Perhaps my enthusiasm "occasionally" got in the way of reality on the ground ... but I firmly believe that the best way to achieve our goals is with solid planning, organisation, resourcing and fundraising, but also with maximum enthusiasm and motivation to inspire the hope of victory amongst the team.  When we ourselves believe we can win then we have a chance to persuade the voters, and if the voters believe in us then we will get their votes and so continue to move on to become an even more powerful force in British politics.  After the general election results we are on the right path :)   In the cold light of day (and after a few moments of reflection) we should all be very proud of our role. 
The final result in Finchley and Golders Green was:

Con       25,835    50.9 %   Mike Freer Re-elected
Lab        20,173    39.7 %
UKIP      1,732      3.4 %   UKIP COME THIRD, with DOUBLE the votes of 2010
LibDem  1,662      3.3 %
Green    1,357      2.7 %       
Total    50,757  Turnout 70.7%

Watch the video of FGG election results announcement & candidate speeches
Our vote share was lower than we had hoped but as many kind supporters have pointed out, this was UKIP’s best ever showing in Finchley and Golders Green and UKIP CAME THIRD beating the Lib-Dems and The Green Party.  We also DOUBLED our votes from the 2010 general election.
The turnout in Finchley and Golders Green was 70.7% which was very high. It was just a shame that most of these extra votes went to the Tories instead of UKIP :( I guess the Miliband / Mansion Tax / SNP fear factor worked ... and the Conservatives did the best job of getting all their supporters out. “If only” all those voters who we met out canvassing who told us “we like all your UKIP policies but...we don’t want to let the other lot in” ... “If only” they had voted for us then who knows? Maybe next time they will?
For the full national election results click here
The NATIONAL GE RESULTS - We must recognise that our local campaign efforts are part of the wider national UKIP campaign.  There is huge disappointment that our “first past the post” system (FPTP) means that we won just 1 MP, however, with 3.9 million votes (12.6% of UK total) UKIP ARE NOW THE THIRD PARTY IN BRITAIN.  We also won over 120 second places and over 360 third places so have clear target areas to work on for the future.
Con   11.3 million votes (36.9%) => 331 MPs   Conservative Majority
Lab    9.3 million votes (30.4%) => 232 MPs
UKIP   3.9 million votes (12.6%) =>   1 MP
LibDem 2.4 million votes (7.9%)  =>   8 MPs
SNP    1.5 million votes (4.6%)  =>  56 MPs
Does anyone else see a problem here ?
UKIP’s 3.9 million votes (for just 1 MP) was more than the sum of the votes for the SNP (56 MPs) and the LibDems (8 MPs) added together. Maybe you would like to sign the petitions demanding a more representative system of government?  There are quite a few of these so please try and sign them all.

1. http://action.makeseatsmatchvotes.org/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1754&ea.campaign.id=38262

2. https://secure.avaaz.org/en/uk_electoral_reform_locb/

3. https://www.change.org/p/david-cameron-mp-the-reform-of-the-current-fptp-political-system?recruiter=292345909

The national result is clearly a total rejection of Labour’s policies (and of the Lib-Dems) which was reflected in the resignations of their leaders.  There will be lots of soul searching for those parties in the coming months ... and I’m sure UKIP will do our fair share too.  We should take heart from the rise of the SNP in Scotland which shows just how a smaller party can quickly rise to become the major force and send those who take the electorate for granted into oblivion (e.g. bye bye Labour in Scotland, bye bye Lib-Dems).
UKIP's total vote share of 12.9% in a FPTP general election is a tremendous achievement particularly after all the tactical voting pressure from the Conservatives, Labour and the media onslaught against us.  We should all be proud of our overall success.  At least we are not suffering like the Lib-Dems with their total wipe-out, or Labour with their abject failure to beat an unpopular Tory government.  UKIP will continue to go from strength to strength because we believe in Britain :) 
NEXT STEPS

1. A NEW LEADER?  It was such a disappointment to see Nigel Farage fail to win his seat, and he kept his word and has resigned, but watch this space ... The clamour for him to stand for re-election has already begun.  We hope he enjoys a well deserved break, but I hope that Nigel stays at the helm and I know you will all support this call to him to carry on the fight.  Please email lccapplications@ukip.org with your messages of support today.
2. ANALYSIS of what UKIP/we did well, and what we can do better for next time?  This is essential.  We achieved some great successes but there are many things which we can improve on, and we need to become much more professional in many areas and make greater use of social media, marketing, IT and other technology to support our strategy, campaigning, canvassing and membership.  Our efforts for the next election must start as soon as possible.
3. BIAS & CORRUPTION – We must fight for electoral reform, and expose the bias in the press, and the influence of the polls which all totally failed to predict the result, and address the various issues of electoral register fraud and postal voting, and boundary changes ... to prevent further abuses and restore confidence in our democratic system that it is fair, representative and just.
4. EXPAND THE LOCAL BRANCH & INCREASE OUR MEMBERSHIP – During the campaign we had many enquiries and identified many new supporters.  Over the coming weeks we must all follow up on this to turn our friends and supporters into members, and members into activists.  The local branch also needs your continued support and generous and invaluable donations to build up a war chest for the next campaign. This election campaign was the one where UKIP supporters can move out of the shadows and finally shout their allegiance in public.  With a few exceptions it is now acceptable to say “I SUPPORT UKIP!”.  We have been seen in the local community and the 13 hustings I did during the campaign has also helped reduce hostility and increase the trust between all sides.  The ignorant, naked and open hostility often expressed towards UKIP has now mainly given way to an acceptance that we are another mainstream political party with massive support and perfectly reasonable, sensible and common sense views as per our fantastic UKIP manifesto. This sea change will only get better as we continue to show our faces in public and tell everyone proudly  “YES, I voted for UKIP”.
5. THE NEXT ELECTION is the London Assembly elections NEXT YEAR ... and these are proportional representation so UKIP will do much better here in terms of getting people elected.  There will be no “wasted votes” or tactical voting here so let’s get out there and get every one of those votes.

UKIP are here to stay.  UKIP are the new force in British politics and there are exciting times ahead.  The Conservatives may have won an unexpected majority (despite all the predictions) but now they have to deliver on all their promises including the EU Referendum.  The LibDems have died and faded away, and Labour now have to find a new purpose, leader, policies and direction in the face of the failure of their old left wing ideology to appeal to voters. UKIP are now the only opposition who can hold our heads up high and say “we too won” this general election battle, but there will be many more battles to come before we win the war to get our country back.
I hope you will all continue to support the branch and UKIP.
Over the last two years UKIP have grown from strength to strength gaining evermore support in every election.  We will continue to do so with your help and support.
Many thanks once again for all your help, support and kind words.  It has been an amazing experience and honour standing as a parliamentary candidate for UKIP.  I have met some great people and made some wonderful friends during this campaign and expect to see you all in the battles ahead.  As I said “we ‘ain’t going nowhere” ...
So ONWARD AND UPWARD!
I would welcome all your comments, thoughts, ideas, and observations on our campaign and your views on the way forward. 
Many thanks and best wishes,
Richard King,
UKIP Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Finchley and Golders Green.
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Editors Note:
The Barnet Eye has invited representatives of all the main parties to submit guest blogs detailing their experiences and views of the General Election. Please note this is purely for the interest of the readership and fairness. Publication of such blogs does not imply endorsement of the views contained.

Many thanks to Richard Kings for the submission. Guest blogs relevant to the London Borough of Barnet are always welcome.