Philip Vander Elst Debates This Friday In Oxford

The Oxfordshire Branch of the Pro EU European Movement is organising an "Any Questions" evening for South East European Parliament candidates in Oxford this Friday. Sparks are expected to fly as candidates from five political parties compete for support in this Open Public meeting, answering questions from the audience which they have no notice of.

Keeping order will be the branch president, Lord Hurd of Westwell. Douglas Hurd was Conservative MP for Witney and British Foreign Secretary for many years, and is a well-known supporter of the European Union.

The members of the panel will be: Richard Ashworth MEP (Conservative) , Catherine Bearder (Lib Dem) , Philip Vander Elst (UKIP) , Dr Derek Wall (Green Party) ,Labour have promised that they will be providing a "heavyweight" to participate in the event, but have yet to provide a name.The meeting starts at 7.30 p.m. in the Maison Francaise, Norham Road in North Oxford.

Notes:

Richard Ashworth was elected to the European Parliament in June 2004 to represent the South East of England (he was also a candidate in 1999). He was a dairy farmer in East Sussex for over thirty years and during this time operated his own dairy business. He is currently a member of the European Parliament's committee on budgets and is Conservative Spokesman in this area, his secondary committee is employment.

Catherine Bearder is an Oxford resident, has served as an Oxfordshire County councillor and a Cherwell District Councillor, and has stood as a parliamentary candidate in both Banbury and Henley constituencies. Having travelled the world studying conservation issues with her husband Simon, a professor at Oxford Brookes University, Catherine puts prime emphasis on tackling climate change.She is number two on the Liberal Democrats' list for the South East in the June elections.

Philip Vander Elst is a freelance writer and lecturer who has spent nearly 30 years in politics and journalism, and is now a colleague of Richard Cunningham’s at Areopagus Ministries. After obtaining his Philosophy and Politics degree at Oxford University, where he was also an officer of the Oxford Union Debating Society, he worked at the Centre for Policy Studies, the Institute of Economic Affairs, and edited the political journal Freedom Today. He has written widely on political, philosophical, economic and religious subjects for papers on both sides of the Atlantic and has been a visiting lecturer at many American universities and colleges. He is the author of a recent Bruges Group paper on The Principles of British Foreign Policy. He is the No.4 UKIP MEP candidate for the South East Region.

Dr Derek Wall is an experienced Green political campaigner, published author and journalist. He was Male Principal Speaker of the Green Party of England and Wales. He describes himself as an eco-socialist and stresses the importance of combining electoral politics and non-violent direct action (NVDA) to effect change.Green Party.

Prospective UKIP candidate wows Witney audience

The following event was organized by the UKIP Witney branch.

Philip Vander Elst, a UKIP prospective candidate for the South East in the 2009 European parliamentary elections, wowed the audience for his speech on “Why Britain should leave the European Union” last month in the Corn Exchange Witney. To a packed meeting, Vander Elst spoke with eloquence and passion about the damage Britain’s membership of the EU has done to our economy and democracy and he warned of further damage to come if the Lisbon Treaty is implemented. He explained that his objection to the EU was not taken from a “little England” perspective. His father had been a Belgian scientist and he himself, though educated in England, had spent much of his childhood in Belgium. But he thought European integration, through forming new ‘supranationalist’ institutions, which are increasingly concentrating power in a small elite of Euro-bureaucrats and politicians and making government increasingly remote from ordinary people, is bad for all of Europe, and not just Britain.

He explained that he had fought against European federalism ever since his early twenties, when he had written the official manifesto for Conservatives Against the Treaty of Rome and has been a passionate defender of Britain’s right to govern herself ever since.

His detailed and informative 45-minute speech struck a huge chord of sympathy with the audience (by no means all UKIP members) and sparked-off a barrage of questions which continued over refreshments and until long past the meeting was due to end.

Philip Vander Elst, is a freelance writer, lecturer, and broadcaster, with 30 years' experience in politics and journalism. He is currently Number 4 on the UKIP list of MEP prospective candidates for the South East in next June's European elections.