Lord Pearson plays the Islam card to win leadership of Ukip

[Uthman]

Millionaire campaigner against immigration sees off four rivals to head party

A millionaire peer was elected leader of the UK Independence Party yesterday after putting "the growing threat of Islamism" and curbing immigration at the heart of his campaign.

Lord Pearson of Rannoch, who defected from the Conservatives two years ago, comfortably beat four rivals to assume command of the anti-European Union party.

Lord Pearson, one of two Ukip peers, has protested that the "political class" is complacent about Islamism and claimed that some of "our people" were "strangers in our own land". The 67-year-old former insurance broker invited the right-wing Dutch politician Geert Wilders in February to screen a controversial film about radical Islam. He has called for a zero net increase in immigration, arguing that the issue was the main concern for many voters.

Lord Pearson has backed the idea of electoral pacts with Eurosceptic Conservatives at the next election and is calling for a Swiss-style system of local referendums which he says would hand "power to the people".

You can read the rest of the article here.

[Uthman]

He might be talking about swiss-style referendums like this one.

[czgibson]

Greetings,

He might be talking about swiss-style referendums like this one.

I used to teach some Swiss army officers (before you ask, yes, they were all issued with knives!) and they were always moaning about their 'total democracy'. According to them, nothing can happen without a full referendum, and because the referenda take ages to organise and interpret, nothing ends up getting done in the way the people want it, or at the time they want it.

Do UKIP really think that bringing in an unelected peer as leader is going to make them more appealing to voters?

Peace