SKEGNESS ON the bracing Lincolnshire coast in early March, before the onset of the tourist season, is not a place replete with opportunities for diversion.
On Saturday, the seaside town had two: a dead whale on the beach, before the rapidly-decomposing corpse was covered in sand; or the UK Independence Party’s spring conference in the Embassy Theatre.
Ukip relishes its political incorrectness: speakers delighted in referring to hangovers from a boisterous Friday night party or condemnations of gay marriage.
“Another conference, another hangover, eh?” began MEP Godfrey Bloom in his speech to conference. He was in waspish form: “I’m feeling cruel today.”
Few were spared. British prime minister David Cameron was “a pigeon-chested young man who should not be allowed anywhere near the defence of the realm”.
Liberal Democrat deputy prime minister Nick Clegg was ridiculed. “If he had been born in Thailand, I am absolutely convinced that he would have been a lady,” said Bloom.
Unusually, for a political party, Ukip’s leading figures are members of the European Parliament – an assembly it despises.
But the party can win seats there, thanks to the list system voting rules used to elect MEPs in the UK. So far, a similar breakthrough at the House of Commons has proved elusive.
However, Ukip believes the tide is turning in its favour, particularly given growing disenchantment among Tory grassroots at Cameron’s handling of EU issues.
On Saturday, it unveiled Conservative party defector Roger Helmer as the latest elected addition to its ranks, along with a 22-year-old former Conservative Future office-holder, Alexandra Swann.
In time, Swann may do more than the pin-striped Helmer to change public perception of the party – even by those who agree with it – that it is a bunch of Brussels-obsessed cranks.
In forthcoming May local elections Ukip believes it can make significant gains, while it confidently expects to be the UK’s largest party in the European Parliament after the 2014 elections.
“I have realised that you are not a bunch of swivel-eyed nutters,” said former radio presenter Jon Gaunt, who now runs the Vote UK Out Of EU lobby group.
“But one of the problems is that you have not communicated to the British public that you are more than just an anti-EU party,” he told several hundred delegates.
Debates within its ranks are unusually contentious in an era when party conferences are generally stage-managed.
During the lunchtime break delegates argued among themselves about Ukip’s attitude to Scottish independence and calls for more representation for the English.
Some, including deputy leader Paul Nuttall, want an English parliament with the House of Lords becoming a Senate for the entire UK.
Nuttall argues that the existing devolved assemblies in Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh can never be dissolved, even if he would instinctively prefer one London parliament.
“We have got to think politically. Politics is about getting people to support our views,” he said. The deputy leader had been praised earlier for his performance in a BBC Question Time programme.
But his proposal provoked bitter disagreement. Shouts of “Oh, shut up!” or “Nonsense!” could be heard amid accusations that he is “abandoning principle for pragmatism”.
Cliff Dixon, however, urged caution. He believes Scottish National Party leader and first minister Alex Salmond is laying a clever trap: “He wants to get the English wound up.”
The more often the English demand their own parliament, Dixon believes, the more Salmond will be able to allege anti-Scottish sentiment. Moreover, he will be able to persuade Scots to go for independence.
During the afternoon, Ukip’s novel manner of doing business continued when delegates debated the party’s constitution – one a minority in the ranks consider as too centralising.
Ukip founding member Nigel Farage argued passionately in favour of it. He said party rules had been too lax and that some of its former elected representatives had had “an absolutely dreadful reputation”.
Expenses scandals had been damaging. “We’ve had more than our fair share of wrong ‘uns,” he told delegates. Most among the faithful nodded in agreement.
Dealing with party finances, treasurer (and multimillionaire) Stewart Wheeler, a generous donor to Ukip, urged his colleagues to leave a bequest to the party.
Delegates were reminded that money is urgently needed as the parliament will soon be two years old. MPs will “start to die off” and byelections lie ahead, he said.
“The average age of members . . . is in our mid-60s. A good proportion of us are going to die every year,” he said.