Andover South County Councillor Tony Hooke has been elected as Chairman by 33 votes to 9 at an Extraordinary General Meeting of UKIP’s North West Hampshire branch.
The meeting – held in Whitchurch on Wednesday 13th November – also elected a new committee tasked with the job of fighting the forthcoming elections in May 2014 and May 2015.
Tony Hooke paid tribute to the outgoing committee saying “Dr John Bentham and his Committee valiantly held the Branch together through the thin years of low support for the Party, but the election of two Andover County Councillors in May 2013 changed everything.”
“We now look forward to giving our opponents a good run for their money in next May and a year later.”
The new committee then set out its key aims including the start of a membership drive and the selection of their Prospective Parliamentary Candidate.
In Andover, there will be an open branch meeting in the upper room of The Globe at 7:00pm on Thursday 28th November and on Thursday 5th December Diane James, UKIP’s Eastleigh candidate and BBC Question Time panellist, will be giving a talk in the Upper Guildhall.