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So................the new Chairman of the Dover branch of UKIP is...me. It will be almost impossible to fill Vic's boots in the same way, and I've agreed to take on the role in an altogether different manner. This year will be spent trying to get younger members in greater numbers to come on board. Our membership is ageing, and that may be a reflection of UKIP policies themselves.
I look forward to many battles with friends on here, and elsewhere. I anticipate my tenure of office as being short term; I have my own business to run, and have promised to my wife that this coming winter's energies would be aimed at expansion of the business. If, when it comes to handing the reins on to another, the local UKIP branch has a significantly increased membership with our support staff strengthened, then I shall have done what I set out to achieve.
Here's the press release sent this afternoon to the KM and DE:
UKIP Dover Press Release
"As from 18th June, the Dover Branch of UKIP are pleased to announce that local businessman Andy Cooper has been elected Chairman in succession to Vic Matcham, who has announced his decision to retire from active politics.
Mr Cooper says in a brief statement : "I am delighted to take on the role of Chairman of the local UKIP branch here in the Dover Constituency. It is a role that has been magnificently performed by Vic, rightly labelled a 'local legend' by our MP Charlie Elphicke, and will be a hard act to follow."
"I do not intend to stand in the local elections nor as Parliamentary Candidate at the next General Election; rather, I see my role as trying to increase our membership by getting across the message that the continued British membership of the EU is against our national interests as things stand at the moment, to as many people as possible. I hope to bring this message to all residents in this constituency, including Deal and the outlying villages."
"As would, I suspect, many UKIP voters at the last election describe themselves, I am a Conservative supporter of many years standing who has simply lost patience in waiting for electoral promises to be honoured. My support dates from the Falklands war, when Margaret Thatcher stood up for this country in the international arena and made us feel proud of our country. Successive parties have been promising a referendum on British membership of the EU for decades now, and have simply not honoured those promises after coming to power. The Conservative Party have fudged the issue in recent years with deliberately vague language in their manifesto and no longer deserve the support of Britons who want to see our country governed from London, not Brussels."
"People criticise UKIP as a one-issue party. I see that as a strength, not a weakness: with our country having been left in such a terrible economic position through years of economic mismanagement by the Labour Party, I see the UK's contribution to the EU as a massive millstone around our neck that we simply cannot afford. Now, perhaps more than ever, we have to address the subject of British membership of the EU and ask ourselves if it's worth it. In my eyes, that has to be a resounding 'No'."
UKIP hope to put up candidates in all areas for elections to Town, District and County Councils and hope to be able to announce a high-profile candidate at the next General Election."