It's now February. A month earlier the notorious
Ollyshambles occurred and the Young Independence Council nominated, then Events
Officer, Rob Comley to the position of YI Chairmen. Comley later asked me for an interview - it was believed to be the right thing to do leading to the YI Elections in March. So here it
is; Bloggers4UKIP interviews YI Caretaker Chair Rob Comley:
Q1. How do you feel taking on such an overwhelming role in
Ukip, especially after such chaos?
It is an
absolute honor to look after Young Independence, even if it is for the short
time until the annual elections in March. As I have said many times over the
past few weeks, it is incredibly important that we all work together until this
time, for the best of YI, regardless of whether you see yourself as more
libertarian or conservative. This is something I have tried to stress since day
one of being asked to take over and it is the message I will be trying to
convey until the elections in March.
Q2. What are your
views on Ollyshambles?
I have
spoken to Olly personally over the past few weeks about his plans for the YI
council and the direction we were going in during his brief spell as chairman.
Myself and him get on rather well and agree on many internal YI council issues
and these are the policies I have tried to follow up and complete. It is
important that we try to move on from the situation and move forward for the
best of the party. I would, however, like to take this just to say on record
that I disagree with Olly’s controversial views.
Q3. Do you support the voluntary resignations which have
taken place within YI? Have they managed to discuss their concerns with you?
It was sad
to see Gareth Shanks and Allrick Birch resign as Elections Officer and
Treasurer, respectively. Myself and Gareth are good friends and I can
understand why he was upset. We spoke about his concerns on a number of
occasions after I took over and although I tried my best to persuade him to
continue, he thought it was best to step down. He has since decided to focus on
running for YI Yorkshire chair and I wish him the best of luck. I met with
Allrick personally to discuss his resignation, and again, I asked him to
continue until March but did stress that he should do what he feels best.
Q4. Why have you appointed Harry Aldridge - the 2011-2012
Chair of the Youth Wing - to the position of Vice-Chair?
After I
was asked to take over as YI Caretaker Chair Harry rang me to offer a helping
hand. I deemed it important to have stability within YI and Harry, having the
experience as YI Chair himself, seemed like the perfect person to offer this. I
asked if he would be willing to come back onto the council until March as my vice
and he was very happy to do so. He has been a great help!
Q5. What does the future look like for Young Independence?
We have
just finished putting together a ‘reformation of YI’ document and presented
this to Steve Crowther and Will Gilpin during a four hour long meeting – there
wasn’t a topic that we didn’t cover regarding YI internally and externally!
Externally, you will see a lot of changes slowly happening
to YI over the next 12 months, especially between now and March. In the next elections
we are planning on removing the social media officer position, instead
combining it with the communication’s officer’s duties, as well as adding a
universities officer.
Regional YI branches have been approved and we now have 8
Interim regional chairs – Robin Hunter-Clarke (East Midlands), Daniel
Thistlewaite (Easter Counties), Jack Duffin (London), Matt Mackinnon (North
West), Oluf Marshall (Scotland), Chris Wood (South East), Reece Warren (South
West) and Thomas Hoof (West Midlands), as well as Sam Launder taking care of
the Yorkshire region. This means that new members can talk to someone and get
involved at a local level, as well as nationally.
We have also listened to what was wanted from our members
and we have decided that it is time for a new YI website – this is something we
believe to be vital in keeping up with other political youth wings. Getting our
message across to university students and young workers equally is also vital
and we will be planning an event to get some of these people involved between
now and March.
Internally, we will
be putting new rules into place to ensure YI runs smoothly and efficiently as
the youth wing of UKIP. We will also be planning the March election to ensure
that this goes ahead without any glitches.
Q6. What is your perspective of YIs interjection into
universities?
I believe
that working with Universities is an important part of YI. Students currently
feel let-down by the current government, especially the Lib-dems. We are now
the only major political party with a ‘no-tuition fee’ policy and it is vital
that we get this message out there to attract more student voters. We now have
four official student societies set up around the country and over twenty more
trying to set up. It is important that we continue to work with these groups
and I shall be trying to push this up until March, hopefully arranging a
University activist’s day with guest speakers. Since I was elected onto the
council I have been in the process of writing a ‘how to set up a society’
booklet and I shall be completing this very shortly.
Q7. How about sixth forms, and even the bigger youth
picture; e.g. Youth clubs and public events?
Away from
YI I have been setting up a schools and colleges project in my local area, with
the intention of making it national. The aim of the ‘MyLife-MyChoice’ project
is to get young people between the ages of 15-18 interested in politics and out
voting by the time they are 18. I also get the students to make a choice on
whether they approve of the European Union. This has been approved by the
Bexley chairman, David Coburn NEC and will hopefully start in the next couple
of weeks.
Q8. You were elected to the position of Events Officer back
in the good old days of November. Do you wish to continue administering events
for YI post-March?
My main
focus at this current time is steering YI into the right direction and I have
been too busy trying to do this that I have yet to consider my future on the
council from March. I don’t actually think I’ve gone to bed earlier than 2
o’clock in the morning since I have taken over! I’ve been told on many
occasions by my partner that I need to know when to stop but I am so determined
to make YI successful that it has outweighed most things in life recently!
In the meantime, my
first event is on Saturday 9th February where ourselves and UKIP’s LGBTQ* will
be having a joint get together at the Charring Cross Players Bar, London from
7.30PM. Everyone is invited and we are lucky enough to have David Coburn
addressing members!
Q9. What are your hobbies and why did you join Ukip, in
brief?
I have
always had a great interest in politics and history and although I have
qualifications in animal welfare, as this was the original political direction
I was going towards in life, I decided that party politics was the place I
wanted to be. Away from politics I have
an obsession with vintage and ‘Indie’ clothing and you will often find me
walking the streets of Brick Lane, as well as a strong passion for music and
going to the theatre – so much so that I think I have seen The Woman in Black
at the West-end close to ten times now!
I have always voted UKIP at every opportunity and decided it
was time to become an official member in the spring of 2012. I remember looking
at the 2010 manifesto and agreeing with everything that I read – I
automatically fell in love with the policies and haven’t seen anything to
change my mind since. I lived in Chelmsford, Essex for a brief spell last year
and tried to get involved there as much as I could as a supporter, but on
moving back to my family home in Bexley I have been an enthusiast, becoming the
Secretary of my branch as well as trying to set up a society at the University
of Greenwich where I am now studying a BA in Politics.
Thanks for your time Rob.
Unknown is an author at Bloggers4UKIP.
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