Lord Pearson resigns - Britain requires 'leadership' - bloody politics - Farage: airplanes are effective and persuasive 'tools'

Source: NewStatesman

Lord Pearson resigns from UKIP leadership

Posted by Samira Shackle - 17 August 2010 08:47

The peer says he is “not much good” at party politics, as Nigel Farage refuses to rule out running again.

Lord Pearson of Rannoch, who defected from the Conservatives in 2007, is to step down from leadership of the UK Independence Party after less than a year in the job.

In his resignation statement, Pearson said that he was "not much good" at party politics and that Ukip "deserved a better politician . . . to lead it".

Few would argue with that, after a generally poor election campaign. Pearson's credibility was damaged particularly badly in a disastrous interview with Jon Sopel, in which he appeared to be unfamiliar with his own manifesto:



The 68-year-old was elected to the position after the previous leader Nigel Farage stepped down to focus on contesting the Speaker John Bercow's Buckingham seat at the general election.

Farage, who suffered severe injuries in a plane crash on polling day, did not rule out throwing his hat back into the ring. Speaking on the Today programme, he said:

I'm not going to say I'm absolutely not going to do the job again, but I've got to decide in the wake of that accident whether I'm strong enough to take the job on.

The other problem is I'm still leading a group in the European Parliament in Brussels, can I do that and lead a party in the UK?