Saturday, July 02, 2016
Are UKIP following Labour and the Tories into an existential crisis?
UKIP have had so many leadership crises and scandals that they make Labour and the Conservatives look like beginners. Why then, should the latest in-fighting be any different?
As the party which has the most to gain from last week's vote one would think that UKIP would be making plans to exploit it for all its worth. I anticipate that they will get a boost in the polls and if there were an early General Election may even add to their single MP.
But that is not how UKIP operate. Instead, as the Independent reports they are preparing to expel the sole UKIP MP from the party. The party leader is quite clear that he has had enough from the errant member:
Speaking about Douglass Carswell on LBC radio, Mr Farage said: “What would he know?”
”We find somebody inside our party who doesn't agree with anything the party stands for, it's a very odd state of affairs.“
The comments came in response to an attack on the party leader launched by Mr Carswell over Ukip’s controversial “Breaking Point” posters, which depicted large queues of refugees attempting to get into Europe.
Mr Carswell, a member of the official Vote Leave campaign, said he believed it was a “fundamentally wrong thing to do” on Mr Farage’s behalf.
"Angry nativism does not win elections in this country", he added.
There could not be a clearer indication that UKIP is a one-man band. However, if they expel Carswell where does that leave UKIP? Already we have effectively two UKIP groups in the Assembly, to then throw out their only MP could split them further.
For all their troubles, for now Labour and the Tories remain as viable political parties. If UKIP back Farage and throw out Carswell then they will not even have that luxury.
Instead they will reinforce their status as a single issue protest group, a dysfunctional collection of eccentrics held together by a common hatred of Europe and immigrants and a charismatic leader.
As the party which has the most to gain from last week's vote one would think that UKIP would be making plans to exploit it for all its worth. I anticipate that they will get a boost in the polls and if there were an early General Election may even add to their single MP.
But that is not how UKIP operate. Instead, as the Independent reports they are preparing to expel the sole UKIP MP from the party. The party leader is quite clear that he has had enough from the errant member:
Speaking about Douglass Carswell on LBC radio, Mr Farage said: “What would he know?”
”We find somebody inside our party who doesn't agree with anything the party stands for, it's a very odd state of affairs.“
The comments came in response to an attack on the party leader launched by Mr Carswell over Ukip’s controversial “Breaking Point” posters, which depicted large queues of refugees attempting to get into Europe.
Mr Carswell, a member of the official Vote Leave campaign, said he believed it was a “fundamentally wrong thing to do” on Mr Farage’s behalf.
"Angry nativism does not win elections in this country", he added.
There could not be a clearer indication that UKIP is a one-man band. However, if they expel Carswell where does that leave UKIP? Already we have effectively two UKIP groups in the Assembly, to then throw out their only MP could split them further.
For all their troubles, for now Labour and the Tories remain as viable political parties. If UKIP back Farage and throw out Carswell then they will not even have that luxury.
Instead they will reinforce their status as a single issue protest group, a dysfunctional collection of eccentrics held together by a common hatred of Europe and immigrants and a charismatic leader.
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I do appreciate a positive outlook in life, but for a fellow Lib Dem to suggest that two other parties face an existential crisis!
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