UKIP in Croydon has suffered a double resignation with both the branch Chairman, Dan Heaton and the Campaigns Manager, Mike Swadling resigning from the Party.
Mike, their Croydon North candidate in the 2017 General Election previously ran the borough wide Vote Leave campaign for the 2016 EU Membership Referendum, with Dan Heaton being the lead for the Croydon Central constituency. They have both also stood in local elections for UKIP.
In a joint statement Dan and Mike said:
“UKIP has achieved great things in the last 25 years, culminating with the vote to regain our nation’s sovereignty by leaving the EU. At a time that the delivery of this is under threat and UKIP should be the natural home for all Brexiteers, the party has stepped away from serious electoral politics.
UKIP by its constitution is a “democratic, libertarian Party” https://www.ukip.org/ukip-page.php?id=07. It had a proud stance of not accepting membership of former National Front, EDL and BNP members. The only major party to take this stance. The close association of Gerard Batten with Tommy Robinson has brought this to an end. That Tommy Robinson is in a position only in a personal capacity to Gerard Batten, and not a party position, is a distinction without merit.
Gerard’s actions have now driven Bill Etheridge MEP to the Libertarian Party and Patrick O’Flynn to the SDP. These MEPs represent both wings of a respectable UKIP and like us neither feel they have a place in the current party.”
In early 2018 Dan and Mike set-up the Croydon Constitutionalists https://croydonconstitutionalists.uk/, a non-partisan events and campaigning group. The group’s purpose is to promote a Classically Liberal set of ideas and encourage others to campaign and promote individual freedom. We will continue to promote a Classically Liberal philosophy locally and organise Brexit events to ensure the result ofthe 2016 vote is honoured, we remain a democratic nation and finally leave the EU.