UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage has declared at the party’s spring conference that UKIP will finish in first place in the upcoming Euro elections in May and that it will be the “biggest political shock” in years. They came second in 2009 with 16.5% but since then the winning Tories have lost considerable support while Labour have been resurgent.
UKIP has challenged the make-up of the political landscape and its establishment and has subsequently been subject to baseless press attacks and an attempt to label members as fruitcakes. Farage responded at the conference, being held in Torquay in the southwest, with his typical wit.
Offered a piece of fruit cake walking in he said "'I've no objection to a bit of fruitcake," and tucked in before continuing "I haven't got a problem them thinking I'm a fruitcake. They can abuse us as much as they like and the more they do, the more people vote for us."
Attacks on UKIP by the establishment in politics and the media have mirrored those in the US made against the Tea-Party movement. There, establishment circles of all stripes have sought to discredit members, and the nation’s tax agency has been illegally employed to harass and stymie grass roots organizations.
Love Britain Vote UKIP
The latest attack on UKIP credibility came from the use of a slogan. UKIP’s conference slogan is ‘Love Britain Vote UKIP’. Opponents have pointed out that the race-based almost defunct BNP (British National Party) once used the slogan ‘Love Britain, vote BNP!’
Farage brushed aside criticism of the slogan’s history saying: "It’s ours now and I'm going to use it every day in the run up to the European elections". But this didn’t stop prominent blogger and Times columnist Tim Montgomerie from ridiculing it.
The ongoing Facebook thread that followed revealed how hopelessly disconnected the Tory political class is and why they are hemorrhaging donors to UKIP. This prompted me to post "know your enemy- Sun Tzu, Art of War. The biggest reason the Tories are about to get creamed in the Euro elections is they know nothing about UKIP as this thread demonstrates.”
Of course the political classes are not amused, like liberals they have trouble with humour. Grant French aptly summed up the whole thing though with: “The political class in general doesn’t understand the people. That's why they've become a choice between syphillis and Herpes.”
UKIP meanwhile are making an impression with the electorate. A recent favourability poll taken by ComRes for the Sunday Mirror and The Independent showed UKIP with 27%, Labour with 26%, Conservatives 25% and Liberal Democrats 14%.
This poll shows that UKIP are right up there with a shout and that as recent by-elections have demonstrated, the Liberal Democrats are falling apart. With that in mind it was no surprise to see Lib-Dem. picketers outside the UKIP conference handing out mock P45 leaflets (form issued by employers when you lose your job) warning Britain would lose jobs outside the EU.
Farage though pushed on in his speech with themes that have and will continue to resonate with voters. He pointed out the effects of too much immigration, and the fact that EU membership ties the country’s hands in being able to do something about it. He Said:
"In scores of our cities and market towns, this country, in a short space of time, has, frankly, become unrecognisable. Whether it is the impact on local schools and hospitals, whether it is the fact that in many parts of England you don't hear English spoken any more, this is not the kind of community we want to leave to our children and grandchildren. You cannot have your own immigration policy and remain a member of the European Union."
According to the BBC Farage then spoke at a subsequent Q&A session, and said he did not blame young Romanians and Bulgarians coming to the UK to look for work, given the disparity in wages between the respective countries. But, recounting a train journey he had taken recently between London and Kent, he said he felt "slightly awkward" at the fact so little English was spoken and suggested learning the language was vital to the process of newcomers integrating.
UKIP, as Farage said, is "the biggest threat to the political establishment that has been seen in modern times". Members of the media have long ago pitched their tents in the right fields so as to be a part of a skewered process. The literal transformation that seems about to occur will leave everybody in uncharted territory where the motivated will carve out a new existence and the roaches will scatter from the light of day they never thought would find them.
