WHY UKIP?

UKIP was formed on September 3, 1994 at the London School of Economics by several members of the AntiFederalist League and the party's first electoral outing at the 1994 European elections saw 24 UKIP candidates secure 157,000 votes.

The party held its first annual conference at the London School of Economics in October 1995.

The first General Election contested by UKIP was in 1997 but it was not until 1999 that the party achieved its first major breakthrough. With the new system of proportional representation taking effect at European elections in 1999, voters were prepared to consider alternatives to the Conservatives, Labour and Lib Dems. UKIP won its reward taking three MEP seats.

By 2001, the party was able to contest most seats at the General Election and its long-term survival seemed assured.

The next major opportunity for UKIP came in the June 2004 European Elections, having broken the 'electability barrier' in 1999, the public already believed UKIP was capable of taking seats. A £2million campaign – the biggest yet – saw 2.6 million people (16%) vote UKIP. With the Liberal Democrats unceremoniously dumped into fourth place nationally, UKIP secured 12 MEPs.

UKIP followed this up in September 2004, finishing third in the Hartlepool by-election and relegating the Conservatives to fourth place. Some internal difficulties saw UKIP slip back slightly at the 2005 General Election. Nevertheless, 610,000 votes across 497 Paliamentary constitutencies still showed progress since 2001.

The arrival of Lord Pearson and Lord Willoughby de Broke in January 2007 gave UKIP its first Parliamentary representation. By 2008, UKIP had started to make inroads at Council elections and it was clear that the electoral tide as about to turn.

June 2009's European elections saw UKIP make history with the governing Labour Party embarrassed into third place by a resurgent UKIP. Never before has the government suffered the ignominy of national defeat to a party the size of UKIP. UKIP's 13 MEPs showed a big advance on 2004, not least with the UK's European Parliament representation dropping from 78 to 72 seats.

UKIP maintained its momentum on July 23, taking its best-ever Parliamentary by-election result at Norwich North, meanwhile Pete Reeve astonished Lib Dems and Conservatives in Ramsey by gaining County and District Council seats in local by-elections.

From just half a dozen people in 1994, UKIP established itself last year as the second most popular party nationwide, has developed unique policies for Britain's independence and regeneration and shifted the whole political debate towards the re-establishment of our independence.

Given the extraordinary success in the European Elections in June 2009, there is no reason to believe that the Party will be any less tenacious at the forthcoming General Election.