UKIP Leadership Special: The Talking Clock interviews Winston McKenzie - EXCLUSIVE!

Following our first three exclusive UKIP leadership contest interviews, The Talking Clock is proud to once again continue assisting UKIP members in their decision making - and to inform the wider public about the characters involved in the race to lead Britain's fourth biggest party.

We invited all of the leadership hopefuls to spell out, through The Talking Clock, their vision for the party and where they stand on a number of issues of interest to our readership.

Today, we present for you, our EXCLUSIVE interview with Winston McKenzie.

Transcript:

Note - in order to present a level playing field, this is a verbatim transcript. It has not been tidied to erase speech hesitations and is as accurate a record of every word as is possible.

Just before we start with the interview, we need to mention that this contains one instance of adult language. How did that happen?

Being a man-of-the-people type character, Winston McKenzie bravely chose to being interviewed out on the street... and during this interview, he came up against a Green Party supporter. We've left 95% of that exchange in this interview so you can decide for yourself how McKenzie handled it. We were impressed...

The obvious first question is why do you want to be leader of UKIP?

I want to bring an inspiration to the nation and lead a UKIP foundation, create a foundation of members that will – you know – honour and back my plan for us to go into Westminster. We need candidates right now, like there’s no tomorrow. We need candidates who have the ambition and want to represent UKIP in the Houses of Parliament. We need MPs, but first – above all… everyone’s talking about, all this big talk about… ummm… getting the City involved and getting money behind us. Of course we need money behind us, but that money will come from society, people within the communities, our membership. Our membership is the most important and relative thing to this party today – increasing the membership.

So what would you say are the main things that you offer to the party, if you were to win the leadership race?

I offer a little colour! And when I say ‘a little colour’, I’m talking about opening up, communicating – the members are just ordinary people. They’re not aliens, they’re just ordinary people. They’re like me; they’re like you and its communication. If we can open up the communication with people and…. errr…. talk, get them involved, make them feel included. It’s the inclusion - within society, within the party that – where people become disillusioned.

How prepared are you for the media scrutiny that such a role as the leadership…

(interrupting) I just can’t wait to meet Mr. Paxman! How prepared? I’ve been in the underworld – what do they call it? – the underworld; the radio stations, the pirate stations, I’ve been on the BBC, I’ve been on ITV, I’ve been in the boxing spotlight.

And Mr. Jeremy Paxman, I just want to take him on board and show him a few tricks, you know? I want him to sit there and wet himself when I’m talking to him! And dare he look down on me! All these guys they sit there – “ooohh, ooohh, ooohh”… and Jeremy’s running them into the ground… Jeremy, come downstairs, let’s get out of here and get the gloves on, man! Have some respect!

Is the UKIP leadership election solely for members or is it an issue that the wider electorate will be interested in?

This is what I’m talking about, you’ve got the magic word! It’s the wider community that we need to associate with. Take members from Labour. Take members from the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. We’re the third largest party in the country. [Winston constantly counts the Coalition as one party - Ed]. What are we waiting for? We need to reach out, across the nation and make legislation.

Have you been happy with the direction UKIP has been heading in and what do you think UKIP has done well so far?

They’ve accepted Winston McKenzie. They’ve accepted me, and we are portrayed as this so called ‘racist’ party, we’re ‘closet racists’, I’ve had a lot of… errr… bad sentiment but just imagine – if people can accept me, the way I am – as they have done – imagine what difference it would make within our society today if UKIP were to turn around and choose a black leader. What would that do to the media? They’d need to go underground! They’d have to hide, because what would happen is that they would then need to address our policies on leaving the EU. They’d have to address our essential direction of getting into Westminster. At the present moment, they’ve drip-fed the nation into believing that we’re a load of racists and people have begun to believe them. So when we have a black leader, what are you gonna say?

So that leads me quite nicely on to the next question which is what do you think of the way UKIP is portrayed in the media and do you think we could improve the depth and image in the corporate media specifically and, if so, how could that be achieved?

The corporate media – the image and depth at which the corporate media have portrayed us is… it’ss… it’s not even … it’s a debatable subject and what, the message they put over to the community is embarrassing and to a great extent, it hurts blacks, whites, and Indians, Asians – it hurts everybody because as a people we get on. But the fact is, they have to stay in business so they’re portraying this negativity about us. But if we can reach out to the wider section of society by choosing me as a leader – which is what we need to do – then we can, we can alienate them, because at the present moment, it’s us – the people – against the media. It’s the media. When I say ‘the media’, I’m referring to people like the BBC…

(Interruption from Green Party supporter): And Fox News!

And all these people…

(Green Party supporter): CNN…

Exactly… (aside)… and all these people that keep us out of the equation…

(Green Party supporter) That’s right, that’s right…

There is no racism amongst people. I see you now, I walk into a pub, and people respect me. Of course racism exists, but we’re all of the understanding – ordinary people of the understanding, I can tell you now, ordinary people are of the understanding that if you do a good turn for one man, he’ll do a good turn for you!

(Green Party supporter) That’s right! That’s right! It’s nice to be nice! Listen man, I want to give you a campaign for climate change badge.

Thank you very much, man.

(Green Party supporter) There’s not many of those left, they’re old school ones.

Okay. Thank you so much, my friend. Thank you.

(Green Party supporter) You’re welcome. You keep talking sense. Don’t let those fucking Republican bastard Tory scum get you down.

Thank you mate!

(Green Party supporter) Murdoch and all that; lizards…

You got it!

(Green Party supporter) Those bastard reptiles…

Has a finite level for UKIP electoral support been reached and, if not, how would you now energise and excite the public to vote positively for the party?

I’ve had this… I’ve had this great ability and the opportunity to go into Universities and schools and lecture. I have never been paid. I have never been given expenses. But I’ve been able to reach the wider community and it’s that skill and expertise…

(Green Party supporter) It’s for fucking UKIP!

…that I want to use now.

(Green Party supporter) Bloody UKIP rubbish…

…that I want to use now. I want to use that skill…

(Green Party supporter) I’m Green Party… [inaudible] Europe. You’ve wasted that paper…

Guys like this [stretches out arms to interrupting Green Party supporter], you know, this guy talking here now – he’s a typical man on the street.

(Green Party supporter) That’s right…

Now what I want to do - all this ‘racism’ business that certain political parties put out – I want to change society. I want society to see that there are people like me, like this man here, who really believe in people…

[Due to two separate sources of street interruption, one of which was the ‘Green Party supporter’ leaving and the other from someone within UKIP, the next question had to be re-asked twice]

So, what would you like to see UKIP branches doing differently and what are they doing well?

I love the camaraderie within UKIP, between the branches and I love the camaraderie between the members and what we now need to do is increase that – and when I say ‘increase it’, I actually mean that, errrmm we, to increase it, we need to extend the membership, we need to get our voices heard and the way to get our voices heard is to have a man on the ground. I was surprised in the General Election and also in the [London] Mayoral Election… ummm… how many people I was able to cover – how much I was able to get out there through my media contacts, you know? I got the message out there through my media contacts and I wonder, if I became leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party, how much more could I do? How much more publicity would that be? You know, if I became leader tomorrow, it would be news – not just here in England – but worldwide, worldwide you know? This is our – if you like – this is our Obama moment. This is UKIP’s Obama moment.

What role does UKIP’s youth wing, Young Independence, play in your vision for the party?

Now you’re really talking. Now you’re talking. I believe that – ummm – Young Independence are the people of tomorrow. The disenfranchisement within our society today, when I refer to skills and training, is amazing. Disen... being disenfranchised, being dishevelled; the youth of today deserve so much more. It’s okay, it’s all well and good for people to say ‘we must do this, we must do that’ – we need and we must see some action and the way to do that is to begin to engage the youth of today, to give them our experience, skills and teach them how to stand up for themselves in a diplomatic, honourable way. And if they – they’re the ones, the youth, they’re the ones who can bring the message to people like us, to the influential people within Parliament, the people who run this country, the Prime Minister of this country, that we demand change. We are such a lackadaisical nation; we’re a nation of tortoises. We are respectable, we are diplomatic – but we’ve gone to sleep. We’re sleeping. We need to get up and let our voices be heard and we are the master of our own destiny. We need to believe that. You’re the master of your own destiny, of your own fate.

Polls show that the majority of British people are, to some extent, unhappy with our relationship with the European Union. If Parliament is supposed to represent the will of the people, how did we get here?

Well! We’ve got here because Parliament and the EU have been blinded; and they’ve been blinded, they’ve been offered sweets, they sold us down the river. We have a massive Commonwealth; untold hundreds of billions of trade and industry that has already been tapped into. We’ve done away with our Empire. We’ve done away with our Commonwealth. We’ve done away with the things that really matter to us. What do we have in common with the EU? What does Britain have in common with the EU?

We have more in common with the Commonwealth than we do with the EU. This is why during my speech today [at the London leadership hustings] I said that I’d made so many contacts with dignitaries and Commissioners within the Commonwealth who are prepared to back the party; prepared to come together as groups in whatever venue I decide, probably the House of Lords and – and – do business together, make things happen, put their money on the table and make business amongst one another and bring the fight to the Government today because we need to, again, invest! We need to invest! We must – British Government must invest in the Commonwealth. We have more in common with the Commonwealth than the EU.

So, as far as you’re concerned, the Commonwealth is the alternative to the EU?

It’s the alternative to the City and everything else. It has billions of pounds lying there in the Commonwealth! I’ve lost count of the amount of letters I’ve had from people since I began to preach about the Commonwealth. Untold phone calls and letters…

Some detractors of UKIP label the party as a ‘one trick pony’ despite us having put together a very comprehensive manifesto for the last General Election. So, away from the EU, what would be the first non-EU thing to go into a manifesto under your leadership?

Under my leadership… under my leadership the first non-EU thing under my leadership is membership. Membership, because you see, membership open up – opens up the channels of survival. A party without membership will soon dwindle away into non-existence. And in order to get membership, you have to have – I’m gonna reiterate, I’m gonna underline, I’m gonna shout it out loud – that you need a man on the ground; a leader who can motivate, inspire; you need a leader who has the will, the desire and the power to lift a nation and that is what I possess. I will attend to the membership. Through the membership we can gain finance and power. The membership is the will of the nation, the will of the people. With that, we can’t be touched.

So imagine that we reclaim full independence and sovereignty tomorrow, what other key issues and policy areas do we need to prioritise to make the UK a better place for man and woman on the street?

The essential direction will give us… the essential direction which is Westminster will give us the MPs. It’s the MPs that we need to create, to initiate policy. The members – the membership of UKIP will vote on policy. The members – it’s the members who are living, they are living, they are working, they are living the dream. The dream is Westminster. From Westminster, we can dictate policy. We can dictate law. But I stress to you again, unless we increase the membership, then we have no hope.

Does the ‘West Lothian Question’ require an answer?

Well see, West Lothian Question, at the end of the day this country must remain independent. I’m not for all this…join up business and…. you know, errrmm… much as I love Scotland, Wales and all those other countries, those other countries, we need to concentrate on what’s going on here and build – build as much as we possibly can. We already give untold subsidies to Scotland and some other… Wales and places like that but you know, we need to concentrate on what we’re doing here, you know? And that brings me into the question of this errrmm… new EU errrmm… what was that last policy thing they put forward, with the EU? [Pan European…] The pan-European thing. You know, I think we need to hear a lot more of that you know, before… because the idea is to disassociate ourselves with the EU.

We are a power in the world. We are mighty, we are strong and it’s time we began to believe that. But at the moment, it seems as though we’re comatised. I don’t know what it’s going to take to get the message over to the British people. How about ‘how strong we are’ and who we are. Every other nation on this planet seeks to undermine us because they know and are aware of our power.

Is the UK a police state?

Ummm… it’s becoming very much a police state. It’s becoming very much a Big Brother state. But ummm… it’s become that because of the disorganised situation with regards to the amount of, the influx of people coming into the country being uncontrolled. We must control the influx of people coming in and that’s not to say to ban them but we must control the amount of people coming into the country. It’s very important for the simple fact that, when it comes to skills and training, we must have some ingrown talent and if we haven’t got enough ingrown skills and talent, then that means we’re always beholding to other countries to provide us with the ammunition we need to build and import and export our goods. So you know, to an extent, to some extent, to some extent, we have to… ummm… know and understand the amount of… ummm… of people seeking immigration.

At this present moment in time, there is a big need for, for skilled people to come and live abroad, who have skills in engineering, who have skills in science – because our education system has collapsed and it’s gonna take five, maybe ten years before we produce enough skilled youngsters with qualifications, practical and theological to come up and take our stance again on the world market. Yes, at the moment, immigration – we… on the point of immigration, we need skilled people and yes, we have got to look abroad; when you look at the likes of James Dyson and the machine that he’s built, you know – he had to go to Malaysia to errr… to set up a factory and although he’s got a plant here in Wiltshire, he had to go to Malaysia to set up a factory; he had to go to Taiwan to get the three pin plugs that he needed – you know. All this type of trade and industry we’re losing out on because we need real leadership.

The Talking Clock is a UKIP supporting libertarian blog. A large number of our neighbouring blog authors feel passionately about civil liberties and are often invoking ‘common law’ and aspects of our written constitution in their opinion and analysis. Many of these individuals believe that their ancient rights are being breached – are they right?

Errrmm… oh, they’re so right, you know and errmm… it’s depressing to think errrrmm… just how much we’ve changed because of the EU. Ummm.. it does depress me, it hurts me very much that we are becoming more and more just like errr… just a little chip on the map. You know, when you consider this country fought two World Wars, the blood that was spilt, the lives that were given, to make us where we are, to bring us where we are today and we should now contemplate and have now sold our souls to the EU.

Of course our civil liberties have been taken away; of course our old style of life has been changed; of course we no longer recognise this as a Great Britain; of course we have rejected the Commonwealth; of course we are in the mire, we’re in the brown stuff and somebody really needs to pull us out and these blogs that portray this sorry state of affairs in our society today are true to the point. They’re just but a few who have recognised what has happened to this country.

What has happened to this country is our involvement with the EU – and now we have a situation whereby France is offering to team up with us on a nuclear project – no way. We must, as a country, remain independent and we need, we need and command respect and the only way for that to happen is for us to have leadership. Leadership we have at the present moment, it’s inadequate. We need a politician with balls, with the guts, the courage, the enthusiasm and the drive to bring it through. Bring it on!

Final question then – the results of the leadership ballot will be announced on November 5th. Would you like to comment on the significance of that date?

Yeah… that’s… that’s (laughs) I love that, you know… that’s the night for Guy Fawkes, that’s the time we’re gonna see a whole new UKIP. Let’s get ready to rumble! Because a whole new leadership is coming to this party, a whole new way of leadership; a whole new way of commitment, a whole new way of drive and ambition is coming to the UKIP, to the United Kingdom Independence Party and that leadership is under Winston McKenzie. You heard it here first, so get on board! Get on board the freedom train! Let’s travel! Freedom of expression! Freedom of… of business. Freedom to talk, freedom to walk – get on board the freedom train ‘cos it’s here with you. You’re hearing it now – live! Live! Winston McKenzie talking to you live – the man who has come to lead you, this United Kingdom Independence Party, out of the mire.

We would like to - once more - thank our very special UKIP contact for helping to make this interview series possible. We won't embarrass them by naming them - they know who they are. Thank you!