At the beginning of the month, the country’s politics and news were shocked by the results of the England and Wales’ council elections. Neither the loss of Conservative seats nor the resurgence of Labour were the surprise but instead the genuine progress made by UKIP and their Cheshire leader, Nigel Farage.
It would seem he is truly irrepressible and perhaps 2013 is the year that we should start taking what fires out of his unusually large mouth, a bit more seriously.
When the results came in on May 3rd 2013, UKIP cemented their place in British politics as more than a joke, protest party. They won over 140 seats and averaged 25% of the votes in the councils where one of their candidates stood. As illustrated by the image below (based on figures from 1,500 wards), they were boosted to third in the overall standings, pushing the Liberal Democrats entirely out the race.
It is clear that we cannot try and palm them off as ‘racist’, unthreatening, or out of touch because they are successfully stealing votes. British politics is therefore becoming a four-party political system and the race for 2015 has begun. UKIP are not just looking for wins within the smaller councils but for bigger victories, with Farage announcing that he will personally stand as a 2015 candidate. I imagine with hopes to recover from his defeat to Speaker John Bercow in 2010.
Their main policy is to leave the European Union, to become what the official party website calls, self-governed and democratic. All of their policies involve separation from the EU which they argue would reduce debt, stem immigration and increase legal independence. When their reasoning is simplified as oppsed to th constant Farage-styled media storm we are hearing, then we can understand why they are crawling up the political ladder of influence.
The comic faces of Farage
A weakness for the party is that their own policies are far from helping their image as a serious contender for the future in British politics. Reading their online manifesto to find that they plan on reversing the anti-smoking ban inside public spaces and repealing the Human Rights Act, is hardly encouraging. However, one thing that you cannot help but admire them for is that no matter how many Nazi salute photos are dug up, their media campaign remains strong. It would seem that Farage spends most of his time leaving the running of the party to others and instead hitting all of the big news programmes. It’s not ideal as party leader to visibly crack under the pressure of being questioned on policy. But, in terms of both self and party-promotion, we could all learn from him; shamelessly proud of his party, never failing to defend it, and unlike nearly every other MP we have the displeasure of hearing, he doesn’t shy away (too often) from dodging the question.
Nigel Farage may physically resemble Toad of Toad Hall, but he and his beloved UKIP are no-joke when it comes to being part of British politics. They are the ‘official anti-establishment’ party of the country and look to remain that way with slow and steady success. Whatever you think of the policy proposals, they should not be ignored, because as we have seen already, they are consistently getting reactions from other parties and most importantly, votes.
Picture credits: telegraph.co.uk, mirror.co.uk, guardian.co.uk