UKIP in disarray at start of annual conference

9.42.25am BST (GMT +0100) Sat 8th Oct 2005

UKIP starts its 2005 conference in chaos. Their Chair has resigned and their biggest financial backer has withdrawn his support. This follows a dismal performance in the recent Scottish by-elections where their share of the vote was a fraction of one percent.

UKIP failed to make a breakthrough in the 2005 general election, despite its biggest Parliamentary campaign.

UKIP, left without its most high-profile campaigner Robert Kilroy-Silk, lost its deposits in at least 451 seats at the last general election.

That compared to the 16.1% of the vote it won in 2004's European elections, when it took 12 seats