Tässä puheeni tänään lauantaina 21.9.2024. Kuulijoita oli runsaat 3000. Paikka Birmingham. Party congress of Reform UK.

Good afternoon, Conference!

I am very happy and honoured to be here today. I had a chance to visit the country in July, too. I travelled to Clacton to give my support to my good friend Nigel who, finally, got a seat in Westminster. It was a tremendous night, and I am certain I will never forget it. Once more, congratulations to Nigel, Richard, Lee, Rupert, and James and everyone working for this victory. It was great to have a chance to witness it.

Today, I want to give you some ideas how to proceed and go to the next level. You, of course, know your situation best, but, as you will find out soon, I’ve been in a very similar situation before and thus think that you could find this contribution useful.

In 1995, the Finnish Rural Party, the party that I had voted for and worked for, the party that had offered me a political home ever since I was 17, went bankrupt. As incumbent party secretary, I sacked first all my colleagues and finally myself and dropped the keys into the post box. As you can imagine, the feeling was devastating.

After a while, there were four of us, four Finnish men sitting in the sauna, drinking, talking and thinking what to do. We were beaten, yes, but not defeated. We decided to establish a new party.The Finns Party.

First years were difficult. Hardly anyone was interested in us or our message. I remember one campaign day: I woke up way before dawn, scraped off the ice from the windows of my old Mitsubishi and drove a long way to a town to give a speech at the local market place. There were only two pigeons there. And when I started, one of them flew away. But the other one stayed. I guess it wasn’t completely hopeless.

In 2003, I ran for the parliament for the sixth time. Finally, I got in. There were two others, too.

Next time we got five mandates. At that moment, as a member of that small parliamentary group of five, I realised that if we do things right, we will have a chance to do something big. Soon after I served as an MEP for two years in Brussels, cooperating with Nigel and the other wonderful UKIP members. For me, those were good years. I got lots of new contacts, lots of new friends, and I also had time to think. I was away from domestic politics, away from the normal hullabaloo. I had time to plan our next moves. I think Nigel had a similar moment now before he decided to run for the parliament this year. To take a distance, to think: What needs to be done to make things better?

In 2011, there was a General Election in Finland. The Finns Party, grew from five to 39. It was a real landslide, a massive change in Finnish politics. We crushed the hegemony of the three old parties that had been sharing the power for decades in Finland. We became the leading opposition party.

For years, the media, scholars, and our political opponents had been laughing at us. Not anymore. Our opponents became angry. And scared. They started attacking us. The leftist groups organised demonstrations against us. “This is not my Finland”, their banners screamed. Left-wing fear mongers told every single foreign journalist they met that we are all far-right, racist, xenophobic, misogynist looneys. YLE, the Finnish BBC, also played their part. I’m sure you know what it’s like.

However, our opponents did not succeed. Four years later, we won again, we entered the coalition government and got five ministers into the cabinet.

So, how is it possible to grow from four men in the sauna to a party with five ministers?

The most important lesson: listen to the people. Learn from them. And respect them. Never forget those who have been left behind.

And why?

For two reasons.

People deserve to be heard and noticed. They elect you. That’s where you get your mandate.

Usually, if you hear voices, medical experts might say you should probably pay a visit to your GP. But in politics, hearing voices makes you the wisest person in the room.

The other reason is that by listening to the people, you differ yourself from the other parties.Because they do not listen. They are not willing to meet the public because there’s always a risk of bumping into some bigoted women from Rochdale.

Have you noticed that all across Europe, after every General Election, old parties and the media are always offering the same – no matter what the result is. More EU, green transition, failed immigration policy, actions that impoverish outer areas, and isolation of populist parties.

No matter how people vote, no matter what their opinions are, status quo will remain and nothing will change. Old parties do not listen to the people. They do not care.

Just lately, Mario Draghi, a EU banker, spent some time in his vault, thinking what the EU needsafter so many failures. Finally he came out with an answer: More EU.

Who would have thought!?

A couple of weeks ago we learned that EU diplomats have been running cigar and alcohol smuggling in their office in South-East Asia.

More EU?

Wanna rejoin?

This time you would be forced to adopt Euro, too. Rejoin, anyone?

Let’s move on.

Lesson number two: Focus on local level

One of the key factors for our success in Finland was strong emphasis on the local level. That’s where your future MPs grow. It is highly important that you get local councillors all around the country. Someone in every nook and cranny to carry the flag and to remind local people that Reform UK is there.

To your MPs and other key figures I want to say that you are needed in this process. People want to see you, too. It often happens that leaders are busy. They are, of course, but you have to make sure you have time to travel around the country.

When the Finns Party were in that phase, one of my friends from Western part of the country organised a tour in his constituency. We were trying to find people to run for the local councils. He said that when advertising his tour, he had added a text: “Come meet Timo Soini and sign up to him personally.” I thought that it was ridiculous. Luckily he hadn’t asked for my permission because I would probably have said no. But it worked. Many people came to meet me and we got lots of goodcandidates. Many of them became counsellors.

These kinds of things make a difference. And more importantly: they make you look different from the other parties.

Lesson number three. Do not give weapons to your opponents.

The media has a story set ready for you: a bunch of xenophobic loonies. Bigoted racists. Amateurs. Small-minded simpletons who are offering simple answers to complicated problems. They are hunting for stories to support this view. Do not feed them.

In the Finns Party, we were in the similar situation after our landslide victory in 2011. I remember one time I was visiting London for business as a leader of the opposition. BBC Hard Talk wanted to interview me. I saw it as a good opportunity to speak about the failures of the EU. Unfortunately, the journalist wanted to hear what I thought about some racy comments made by my party colleagues. Silly remarks, making us all sound weirdos when taking out of context.

In 2015, just after we had started in the coalition government, the migration crisis reached the Finnish border. One of our MPs wrote a questionable story on his Facebook account, using war-rhetoric against immigrants. The opposition flared up and our coalition partners got cold feed. Instead of changing immigration policies, they were busy attending demonstrations to proclaim Finland is not a racist country.

In all these occasions, the MPs thought they were just making their best to promote their agenda and help the party. Nevertheless, with their good intentions they were just paving their way to… well, not a good place.

The pressure from the media and political opponents is huge and for some it becomes unbearable. Organise events and create tools which help your actors and supporters handle that pressure. Train them. Like Queen Elizabeth, God bless her soul, once said: “It’s all to do with the training: you can do a lot if you’re properly trained.” Do not forget her wise words.

And if there are rotten apples that do not listen, do not understand the damage they are making and cannot learn by mistakes, sack them.

Finally, lesson number four.

Find the right staff around you. In politics, there are lots of people who see themselves as big stars. Sometimes it is true. There are stars in the game. But a successful politician needs qualified people around them. Loyal, hardworking people who are always there when needed. If you are a soldier in a very difficult position, fighting in a trench, who would you like to be there beside you? The answer is not: anyone will do. No way. You want someone who knows what they’re doing.

When I was Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, I had an excellent team. Even back in Brussels I had a really good team. I sometimes compared it to a symphony orchestra. You lead and everybody around you is playing in perfect harmony. That makes an impact. That creates results.

So, in a nutshell: listen to the people, value them, respect them. Focus on local level. Do not give weapons to your opponents. And build a professional team around you. Train your folk. And keep the pound!

Dear conference,

I want you to succeed. I think this country needs you to succeed. People who voted for you deserve it that you succeed. This is a great country, with wonderful history. And you should be proud of that. Reform is needed that the future will be great, too. By working hard you can lead this party to victory. “Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival.”

Thank you.