Posted on 05/02/2013 8:50:46 PM PDT by Maelstorm
UKIP chief Nigel Farage’s “clowns” were today ready to enjoy the last laugh after the biggest protest vote in British history.
A wave of support in yesterday’s council elections put the anti-EU party on course to take up to a THIRD of all votes in some battlegrounds.
An early indication of their strength came last night in the South Shields Parliamentary by-election. Labour held the seat — but UKIP came second with 5,988 votes.
Their slice of the vote in the local elections, meanwhile, looked set to top 20 per cent.
That would smash the previous best for a party outside Westminster’s big three — UKIP’s 16.5 per cent in the 2009 Euro elections.
Early council results suggested UKIP were on course to win over 100 seats.
It follows a week in which the party were branded “clowns”, “fruitcakes”, and “loonies” by a raft of senior Tories. The onslaught looks only to have boosted the party’s popularity among disenchanted voters.
A potential 18 million went to the polls to elect 2,300 councillors across 35 local authorities in England and Wales.
PM David Cameron’s Tories expect a heavy drubbing, losing as many as 600 of their 1,485 seats — many in their traditional heartlands.
A senior source admitted: “We’re fighting from an all-time high in 2009 so it was always going to be hard.”
The Lib Dems fear coming a humiliating fourth, losing 130 of their 493 seats.
(Excerpt) Read more at thesun.co.uk ...
This is good news.
The UK needs a new party when the CP an LDP are hard to tell apart
The public despises the ruling class and their politicians. So, when these politicians go out there and denigrate people, voters just go out and vote twice as hard. The voters see the politicians as attacking them, their concerns and their opinions. The voters see failure at every level from the politicians and these despicable politicans are attacking us? We're not the problem. You politicians are the problem. GO UKIP!! GO Alternative for Deutschland!! Go Tea Party!!
I think that the fundamental principle that is affecting both political systems is the same, although there are obviously big differences in detail. Essentially, for a number of reasons, politicians are becoming more and more detached from the people they are supposed to represent. They dont seek out our opinions any more: they listen to lobbyists, think tanks, focus groups, and pollsters. There is a big political dividend to be had for the people who can somehow bypass that and appeal to the public directly. In the UK UKIP is reaping the benefits of doing just that. My take it that it would be harder to do in the US, partly because your political system makes it even more difficult for a third party to emerge, but mostly because there is now a stronger tribal loyalty to the democrat or republican “brand” than there is in Britain to their equivalents.
Not surprised the Tory’s are attacking the UKIP, instead of looking in the mirror and trying to do some self-analysis on why the party’s base is so disaffected. The same thing happened in 1993 in Canada, after the Reform Party split off from the governing Progressive Conservative Party, which resulted in 52 Reform Party seats and 2 PC seats. Instead of admitting they were wrong and looking for reconciliation, the PC Establishment attacked the Reform Party in the same vicious manner. This created a split that took 10 years to heal. When you call a party kooks, clowns and racists, you are calling their supporters kooks, clowns and racists. Conservatives can’t be bullied. If you attack them they’ll push back. The more you insult them the less chance you will have of ever getting them back in the fold. The GOP needs to tread very carefully or risk pushing away conservative voters permanently.
UKIP believes in universal health care. That’s not a position that most Americans associate with the Tea Party.
UKIP is actually made of Labour voters who have noticed that their old party has become a party of, by, and for elite bureaucrats. Non-elite American Democrats have the same problem, but do not have an alternative to voting Republican.
Both countries face the divide between the interests of the bureaucrats and welfare recipients on the one hand, and everyone else on the other hand. Labour and Democrats avoid being wiped out by distracting voters with a false dichotomy between the rich and poor. UKIP will only ever become a Tea Party if and when they abandon the Labour worldview.
First they ignore you
Then they laugh at you
Then they fight you
Then you win.
Now the UKIP has entered the third stage.
That is the "third rail" of British politics, like our Social Security.
You are correct on the NHS, but so do most people in the UK......things are different here, and we like our NHS although as UKIP believe it has been mis managed and fortunes wasted.
As for it being made of Labour Party voters you are 100% WRONG. To say they have a labour world view is utter nonsense.
UKIP was founded by former TORIES, Thatcherites (and yes even Thatcher was pro NHS, it’s just the way it is here).
Most of their vote as polls have shown is coming from conservative voters and a mixture of others, the policies, are universally conservative (in terms of British politics). Anti EU, anti immigration, pro Christian values, pro hunting, pro fiscal conservatism and anti political correctness.
It is all well and good slamming UKIP for supporting the NHS, but you have a so called conservative party supporting open door immigration and allowing your President to crap all over your constitution.......
In fact even the greatest modern President Reagan had faults that would lead some if he were about today to smear him as a RINO....
UKIP has seen a huge influx of Tories. Its one step at a time. A party that comes out against Universal Health Care in the UK would have just as much success as a party that came out for ending social security here so I can’t fault them for that. They however are closer to the Tea Party and US conservatives than any other element in British politics and I like that they seem to be truly grassroots everyman driven and they seem to be appealing to the youth without moving left. We can’t let purity be the enemy of good. UKIP may not be perfect but they are a big improvement over the alternatives at least from where I stand.
UKIP is made up just of disillusioned people from all the main political parties, as well as a great many people who are entering politics for the very first time (like me). Far from being a refuge for ex-Labour voters, there has been some concerns that UKIP has been so more successful in attracting disillusioned tories that it risks the charge of being a tory party clone (it isnt, incidentally).
UKIP is a libertarian/classical liberal party, but its policies and thinking is still evolving. Socialism has wormed its way very deep into western culture and it will take some time for it to be completely removed (if indeed it ever can fully be removed).
The simple answer to your question is "yes, there is a risk of that happening". OTOH, there are places in the country where UKIP split the anti-Tory vote (like Cumbria for example). Not all UKIPers are ex-tories. There are ex labourites, and there are an awful lot of people from apolitical backgrounds, making their first moves into politics. And that is very good to see.
There are other responses to the splitting question however. If you follow the arguments of the "a vote for UKIP is essentially a vote for Labour, as it will split the conservative vote" crowd to their logical conclusion, then there will never be any change in the political landscape, ever (unless a fourth party splits the socialist vote at the same time). The problem with this attitude is that you end up voting for candidates and policies that you tolerate rather than agree with. You end up voting AGAINST what you really disagree with, rather than for what you do believe. And that's really rather negative. If the Conservative party, or republican party in the US, has drifted so far from its traditional base, then they are effectively relying for support on simple tribalism, not political or philosophical agreement. That is a very bad state of affairs. In the end, it results in lower membership, less funds, less foot soldiers on the ground, and poorer policies.
So I guess in the end you have to weigh up the possible short term disadvantage of losing a few elections with the long term advantage of being part of an organisation that really does listen to and make sense to its supporters. In the final analysis, people will respond better to such an organisation and will be more likely to support it with their time, gifts and money. The alternative is a lifetime of choosing between the "totally wrong" and the "partly wrong".
Just for the record ,i did go-for-it last night.
Good man! For the record, so did I, and it was an easy decision as only Labour and UKIP contested my constituency. Unfortunately, we lost, but we did very well, considering we came from a standing start. Certainly its going to be brown trouser time at both Labour and Tory HQ's this weekend :)
Go, UKIP!
BTTT.
I stand corrected on the Tory connections. Still, their inroads into Labour strongholds means I’m not entirely off. :)
As to the Republicans, yes, they are as useless as today’s Conservatives. Those who love the U.S. can only pray.
As to the Labour worldview, perhaps my perspective is out of date? Please elucidate, as I hate to be caught spouting nonsense.
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