By Sean Curran BBC political correspondent, UKIP conference

Delegates were determined to put on a show of unity

At the back of the circular auditorium at the Emmanuel Centre in Westminster there is a quote from the Book of Psalms: "He hath put a new song in my mouth."

Nothing could have been less appropriate for the annual conference of the UK Independence Party.

The last thing any of the activists who gathered here for the day-long meeting want is for the party to change its tune.

The last 18 months have been difficult for UKIP members.

They have found themselves reluctant passengers on a political rollercoaster.

They discovered Kilroy was in fact the tiger who came to tea - and they were the tea UKIP targets Tory contenders

In June 2004 the party got millions of votes in the European elections.

Its 16% share of the vote translated - courtesy of proportional representation - into 12 seats in the European Parliament.

Within months the party was at loggerheads with its most famous candidate, the former Labour MP-turned-television presenter, Robert Kilroy Silk.

When Mr Kilroy Silk first appeared on the scene the UKIP leadership was delighted to have attracted a "big beast".

By the time of their annual conference last year they had discovered that he was in fact the tiger who came to tea. And they were the tea.

Lone piper

Things did not really improve at the general election. The majority of the party's candidates lost their deposits and UKIP is still without a seat at Westminster - the only parliament it truly recognises.

Then last week, as the party faithful prepared for this weekend's conference, UKIP's chairman Petrina Holdsworth resigned after a row with one of the party's senior figures.

On Saturday morning, when a lone piper led the UKIP leader, Roger Knapman, into the conference hall, he (Mr Knapman, not the piper) received a standing ovation.

The hundreds of delegates who had travelled to London were determined to enjoy themselves and to put on a show of unity.

UKIP hopes pro-European Ken Clarke will become Tory leader

Senior figures spoke openly about their recent difficulties and reminded the activists (and the rest of us) that UKIP had been written off many times before but had always survived to fight another day.

There was a lot of talk about local campaigning. In spite of its success at European elections the party still needs to break through onto the domestic political stage.

Spectacular by-election upsets are few and far between in British politics and so UKIP is concentrating its energy on local council elections while it waits for the "big one".

Some people here hope Kenneth Clarke will turn out to be the "big one".

They would love the pro-European former chancellor to win the Conservative leadership contest.

Heckler

Just in case he does not, Mr Knapman used his big speech to question the Eurosceptic credentials of all the potential Tory leaders.

At best they had adopted William Hague's "in Europe but not run by Europe" policy and at worst they were Ken Clarke.

And as for David Davis, well he had been a Tory whip forcing the Maastricht Treaty through Parliament when Mr Knapman (then a Tory MP) had been a Maastricht rebel.

It might have been a bit smaller than the other party conferences. At just one day it was certainly a lot shorter.

But all the vital conference elements were there - standing ovations, political merchandise (a "Save the pound" bathrobe anyone? They're reduced) and even a heckler.

One of UKIP's star performers, the Euro-MP, Nigel Farage, was half way through his speech when a middle-aged man in the audience took exception to one of his comments and began to heckle.

Mr Farage and most of the audience were delighted. Needless to say the man was not ejected and after a short exchange the speech continued as planned.

It was one of the highlights of the day. This, after all, is a party which prides itself on being full of cantankerous and opinionated individuals. They are all hecklers at heart.