UKIP - There They Were Again!

There they were again! UKIP representatives popping up in the national media yet again. This time the fluffed up, pompous buffoon Nigel Farage, UKIP leader pops up on the November 29th edition of BBC’s Question Time on which there was much debate about the visit by British National Party Leader Nick Griffin to Oxford University and it’s impact on freedom of speech issues.

On Thursday 8th November, Nigel Farage was also a guest on BBC Five Live’s “major debate on ‘Immigration’”. Apparently the same issue was debated on BBC2’s Newsnight at the same time.

Over the last month UKIP representatives seem to have been quite in demand, strange really for a party that is essentially just a hollow shell. Peter Roberts, UKIP’s PPC for Telford recently appeared on Channel 4’s Dispatches programme which examined the causes of congestion and the governments proposals for a road pricing scheme. Talk 107fm interviewed UKIP Treasurer Marta Andreasen on 18th November, following the publication of the EU accounts and 25th November saw Peter Wyatt, Chairman of UKIP’s Fishing Policy Review Group discussing the dumping of dead fish in the sea as a result of EU quota’s. Previous interviewees have included Nigel Farage, David Lamb (Pensions and Benefits Policy Review Group), Paul Henke (UKIP Scotland Chairman), Gerald Batten (UKIP MEP and candidate for London Mayor) and Richard Heslip (Defence Policy Review Group). Further UKIP guests are also in the pipeline.

Admittedly UKIP have several MEPs so the media outlets would presumably argue this to be the reason why they are given a platform, but recent history needs to be examined, as the MEPs were elected in 2004 and no significant elections have been won by them since. Recent local council by-elections have been absolute disasters. On the 15th November, for example, in Lincolnshire ’s Heighington and Washingborough Ward, UKIP achieved just 52 votes or 3.6% of the poll, down almost 8% on the 11.3% achieved in last May’s election. The full result was:-

Conservatives 877
Labour 206
Lib-Dems 137
BNP 126
UKIP 52
Independent 21

Since then UKIP has shown they can at least beat the Labour Party, the full results for the by-election in Winchester ’s Wickham Ward being:-

Lib Dems 634
Conservatives 359
UKIP 40
Labour 15

It seems that in the 30-plus elections held since last May, the EU-funded, “anti-EU” party have only reached double figures, in percentage terms, on a couple of occasions and failed to beat the BNP anywhere. No wonder, UKIP members are telling me they are so disillusioned with what is happening to their party. The internal party wrangles continue to cause much unrest, (more of this to come), and with such abysmal election results I am surprised Nigel Farage has the gall to appear in public at all, but do not despair, we can rely on the media to puff them up – though I doubt there is any substance in the rumour that the list of has-beens to be approached as participants for the next series of “I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here” includes our Nigel, although it is alleged he has been using that phrase of late….!