WITH the Rugby World Cup in Japan offering up eye-wateringly early kick-off times, it seems that many opted to stay at home rather than venture to the ICC Wales this morning for the second day of the UKIP party conference.

Empty seats were difficult to disguise and try as they might, the hosts could do little to dispel the slight sense of disappointment in the room. Many in the party had defected to the Brexit Party, who also have an event in the city today.

Party leader Richard Brain had opted not to attend the event. Other attendees speculated that it may have been due to “poor ticket sales” but an official reason was not given.

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Despite the leader’s absence, those in the audience gave his replacement – the controversial figure of Katie Hopkins – a warm reception, particularly when she officially signed herself up as a member of the party on stage.

First up was an awards presentation ceremony dominated by no-shows. One recipient who had attended the conference was a local UKIP group leader from Bournemouth who had, “in the face of leftist activism”, secured premises for his group to hold a series of events.

He had some trouble negotiating his way onto the stage, but was well received nonetheless.

Kirstan Herriot, UKIP Chair and compere for the event, paid tribute to the efforts made in bringing the event to fruition.

She said: “Thanks go to the team at the ICC and to the Welsh Government for giving us this space.

“We’re down to a skeleton team at HQ now but we must pay thanks to all the volunteers.

“It could’ve been really easy for members to say “well, if the leader’s not coming then I’m not coming”.”

A brief interlude, accompanied by Massive Attack’s Teardrop, allowed the next speaker to prepare.

First though, were two promotional videos which had been made by some of the party’s younger members. The audience was invited to choose which they preferred but after some deliberation it was decided that both should be broadcast via UKIP’s official social media.

London Assembly Member David Kurtan then spoke of UKIP’s vision for education in the UK.

He decried the loss of the country’s technical colleges and spoke of how, under previous governments, young people had been moved away from studying technically in favour of academia at universities.

“You can now study women’s studies to find out how bad men are,” he said.

“You can study gender studies to find which one of a thousand gender identities you can choose that morning. You can study ethnic studies to find out how bad white people are, and you can study post-colonialism to find out how bad Britain is.”

He went on to speak about how he believes that parents are the best teachers for their children and that the “metropolitan elite bubble” were forcing LGBTQ+ relation lessons into primary schools.

Applause from those in the room was fairly consistent, but the passion which the party famously exuded before the Brexit referendum was evidently lacking.