Just as we predicted, Nick Tenconi was the only nominee for party leader in the recent UKIP election, so he has been appointed, without a members’ vote, by the NEC.

None of this is a surprise. Prospective candidates had a series of hoops to go through before they could stand and even had to find a non-refundable £3000 deposit for the privilege. Interested parties may also have looked back at the shock election of Lois Perry, against all the odds, in July, and thought twice about hazarding their cash.

Tenconi’s ratification as ‘Permanent Leader’ is a little odd though, given that the UKIP constitution imposes a maximum five-year term on the post. But as we have said many times recently, this is UKIP.

The link up between UKIP and Tommy Robinson supporters rolls on. From the platform of Robinson’s ‘Stop the Isolation’ rally last Saturday, demo organiser and Robinson’s right hand man, Richard Inman, declared that “UKIP is the only party that represents the British people and is taking a stand”. And he echoed Tenconi by name, calling for mass deportations.

At the Stop Isolation rally, l to r: Richard Inman, Ricky Doolan and Dan Morgan. Photographer: Quiller

Also on the platform were Welsh UKIP activist and convicted fraudster, Dan Morgan, and NEC member and party Culture Spokesman Ricki Doolan, who was at the head of the march with Inman.

There was also an appearance from Gerard Batten, the former UKIP leader, dumped by the membership after trying to hire Tommy Robinson as a ‘rape gangs adviser’ back in 2019. But times have changed.

Other UKIP luminaries like Tenconi himself and Chairman Ben ‘Rogue Builder’ Walker were absent because they were locked in a UKIP NEC meeting that was to ratify Tenconi’s appointment. Tenconi did nip out to record a video on Westminster Bridge claiming he was “marching with tens of thousands of patriots” but then hurried back to the NEC.

Curiously, the date of the NEC meeting and the date of Saturday’s demo were both announced on 9 December. And the rallying point for the demo was outside the Union Jack Club, in Sandell St, Waterloo, where the UKIP executive was gathered. All just coincidence, of course.

Searchlight has been reporting for months on the increasing cosiness between UKIP and what Robinson calls his ‘cultural movement’. Before he was imprisoned, Robinson endorsed UKIP and rejected Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, saying Farage had betrayed them. He said he was looking forward to discussions with Tenconi and his fellow convicted criminal, Ben Walker, about working more closely together.

Only Robinson’s prison sentence interrupted the process, but in the meantime several leading Robinson activists have been co-opted onto the UKIP NEC, including Inman, Doolan, Stan Robinson and longtime Robinson associate Dean Neil. Tenconi, for his part, has said that UKIP wants to run Robinson as a candidate in the next Parliamentary election.