Meanwhile, in Nottingham…

At the UKIP/English Democrats conference some UKIP members (at least) are wondering why they never received their eballots for the election of NEC members.

After the attrition of the last several months, seat after seat has fallen vacant and by our calculations only 2 out of 12 may actually be currently occupied. The most likely explanation is that fewer than ten prospective members have put themselves forward so that those that have will assume their posts without the inconvenience of an election.

This would explain not just the absence of ballots, but also the absence of NEC meeting minutes for the last six months. It may well be that Chairman and Rogue Builder Ben Walker (pictured) can’t actually summon a quorum.

And it would explain how he and unelected leader Nick Tenconi have been able to reposition UKIP as a party of the extreme Christian right without as much as a whisper of formal opposition. That may change today.

But the conclusion has to be that UKIP is not just running out of members, it is also running out of mugs.