The UK Independence Party was formed on 3 September 1993 at the London School of Economics by several members of the Anti-Federalist League (AFL).

Nigel Farage MEP

The latter had been founded by Dr Sked in November 1991 with the aim of running candidates opposed to the Maastricht Treaty in the 1992 general election.

UKIP has grown to have constituency branches around the country, new national headquarters in Newton Abbot, and a national party newsletter, the UK Independence News. It contested the 1994 Euro-elections running candidates in 24 out of the 87 seats and secured a highly respectable 157,000 votes. On 28 October 1995 the party held its first annual conference at the LSE which over 500 delegates from all over the UK attended. The second conference was held on 12 October 1996 at Central Hall, Westminster, nearly 1000 delegates attended and excerpts from the speeches were broadcast on all TV channels.

Each year five members are elected to the NEC, which is the party's highest management committee. There are 15 members in all. Elections are on a one member, one vote basis. Party policy now also has to be approved by conference. The party leader, under the party constitution, is elected on the basis of one member one vote. The current Leader is Nigel Farage MEP. The three previous leaders were Roger Knapman MEP, Jeffrey Titford MEP and Michael Holmes.

In order to protect the party from infiltration by extremists, all party members must sign a membership form supporting the party's principles, which must also be respected by conference. All prospective candidates and constituency office bearers must sign declarations confirming that they have no criminal record and no previous association with extremist political groups of right and left.

To date the party has made excellent progress. From half a dozen people it has established itself nationally as the UK's fourth party, developed a unique set of policies (on Defence, Crime, Agriculture, Housing, Education, Welfare and Economics) for Britain's independence and regeneration, and has shifted the whole political debate towards the re-establishment of our independence. It fights all by-elections and in the 1999 Euro-elections achieved strategic political breakthroughs by returning 3 European MEPs. By the arrival of the new millennium UKIP has been responsible for the reshaping UK politics altogether.

In the June 2004 European Elections the Party started taking giant strides on the British political scene. 2.6 million people voted UKIP (16% of the vote). This was more than the Liberal Democrats received and more than half the numbers that voted Labour or Tory. This tremendous success resulted in UKIP securing 12 MEPs.

(Two of the successful UKIP MEPs, Robert Kilroy-Silk and Ashley Mote, now sit as Independent MEPs).

UKIP followed this up in September 2004 by coming third in the Hartlepool by-election, relegating the Tories to fourth place. The Party conclusively demonstrated that it has the potential to establish itself as a significant force in British politics.

UKIP contested 497 in the 2005 General Election. Although the Party did not manage to secure any MPs, we made steady gains in a hostile electoral environment. Seats fought over the last three elections have increased from 194 and 434 to 497, while the national share of vote has increased from 0.34% and 1.47% to 2.38%, with deposits saved increasing from one in 1997 to six in 2001 and 45 in the 2005 General Election.

Total votes stood at 106,001 in 1997, at 390,910 in 2001 and at roughly 610,000 in 2005.

Fielding 497 candidates was a considerable achievement and there is no reason to expect that the Party will be any less tenacious in the next General Election.