Strategies by the three major parties in Britain (soon to be former major three) to cast the UK Independence Party (UKIP) as racists has backfired significantly as the anti-EU libertarian conservatives have opened up a commanding lead in the latest opinion polls.
According to Sky News, the latest poll shows UKIP continuing its lead ahead of the European elections on 35%. Labour is second on 24% with the Tories on 20%. The Green Party is on 7% overtaking the Lib-Dems on 6%.
For the Lib-Dems this is truly shocking and something nobody would have foreseen three years ago when they were able to cement a place in the Tory-led coalition government. For over a century the Lib-Dems and their previous incarnations have been Britain’s third choice but that is about to come to a sullied end!
The media establishment has tried hard to brand UKIP as racists but it hasn’t worked. Unlike American Republicans the UKIP leadership doesn’t slink away from these charges apologetically asking for understanding; rather they meet and refute them head on – a lesson Karl Rove and co. should take note of.
UKIP leader Nigel Farage came under heavy criticism
UKIP leader Nigel Farage came under heavy criticism from LBC Radio presenter James O’Keefe, who all but accused him of racism for being critical of hearing a group of Romanians speaking only Romanian on the train. Farage, whose wife is German, has faced intense questioning from the media because of his criticism of foreign language usage despite his wife’s heritage.
In this example the British media typically ignores (or in O' Keefe's case interrupts) Farage's explanations that Romanians, as a country that moved from communism to corruption, cannot be treated the same way as more established westernized countries.
Further the UKIP leader has responded that his wife speaks perfect English! O’Keefe meanwhile crossed a rare line in British politics dragging Farage’s UK born daughters (age 14 & 9) into the issue challenging whether they were any different to the Romanian immigrants he has heard on the train.
Farage in his interview with O’Keefe pointed out the problems of children not learning English and that Britain needed a balanced immigration policy. In the course of saying “what I’m saying is…” O’Keefe interrupts him and says “what you’re saying is schools in the east end (of London) are full of children who can’t speak English, I just want you to recognize that’s not true, the children who are typified as speaking English as a second language includes your own daughters”.
O’Keefe here is an absolute liar! Farage’s daughters speak English first having grown up in England and have learned German from their mother (who originally worked in Britain as a translator). Meanwhile many immigrants come to Britain not speaking English while their UK born families now learn a foreign language at home before starting school. But progressive thinkers like O’Keefe tense up at the very possibility of anyone who can think for themselves and are unable to distinguish sensible immigration policy from racism.
Farage has also been attacked for employing his wife as his P.A. at taxpayer expense. A member of the European Parliament is allowed to hire such a person for £27K/year (about $40K); a modest amount for the kind of position.
But the establishment is determined to bring Farage down and as the elections draw near this week, it is clear they are down to desperation tactics. The cozy little arrangement that is British politics is on the verge of being turned on its head and some will stop at nothing to prevent that.
However polling reveals the people have had enough. As UKIP surges ahead in the polls taking significant votes from all three previously major parties there is no doubt that the British people, for the most part, see through the hypocrisy and recognize they have a chance to vote for real change.
With just a few days to go the signs are a minority of the establishment is beginning to recognize the reality of a new political order coming to Britain. Labour leader Ed Miliband is trying to re-position himself as he sees as much as a third of his party deserting him for UKIP saying "I think his (Farage’s) remarks were deeply offensive … I think they were a racial slur but I don’t think of Nigel Farage as a racist himself."
But what won’t be enough for Miliband is a tepid U-turn. His party faithful may still look back to him when they want their union rights upheld, but they want communities back as well and are realizing that Labour is unwilling to deliver in this area.
Both Miliband and Prime Minister David Cameron are trying to sound tough at the last minute. But Cameron’s statement on immigration - “The point of having that target is it's what I want and what the British people want. We are working towards it." – is the sort of political gobbledy-# that the voters are rejecting as meaningless.
Lib-Dem leader Clegg meanwhile demonstrates why he may soon be applying for Mrs. Farage’s job. He said that Mr. Farage's views should have "no place in modern Britain", telling the Andrew Marr Show: "I think the mask is starting to slip and I think what's being revealed that sort of behind the beer-swilling bonhomie is a rather nasty view of the world."
What’s being revealed, Nick is that you don’t have a clue what the British people think or want. And for once the voters are determined to be heard. Britain goes to the polls on Thursday to elect its members to the European Parliament as well as to elect some of its local councils.
