It may concern some and perplex others as to why UKIP is
experiencing a rise in the polls of late but what is clear is that UKIP scare
the hell out the Conservatives. The Conservatives have been tearing into UKIP with
current Minister without portfolio Ken Clarke publicly branding UKIP a “collection
of clowns”[1]
.Prime minster David Cameron went even further and branded UKIP as group of "fruitcakes
and closet racists”[2].
You may rightly ask why such hastily for what is effectively
a two issue party and the answer is dead simple, UKIP represent a serious
threat to the Tories in 2015. UKIP have growing in the polls thanks to their
effective two track strategy of
exploiting the British public’s
almost inbred euroscepticism and long term anxiety about immigration to the
hilt and should they maintain or continue their growth in the polls, they may
split the conservative vote in 2015.
David Cameron has a personal stake in quashing the UKIP
surge as there has been a number of hints that should UKIP perform well in Thursdays
upcoming local elections, Cameron’s party leadership could face a challenge. So with this in mind, he couldn’t have been too pleased
scanning for the latest polls last Friday evening and finding out that UKIP
party leader Nigel Farage, according to a YouGov poll, was found the “best
leaders out of the four parties”[3].
His mood hardly would have improved upon the news of an article where London mayor Boris Johnson, the favourite to succeed Cameron should 2015 bring electoral disaster, described Farage as a “rather engaging geezer”[4].While other prominent party members have sought to cut the Ukip to pieces in the press, Johnson broke the party’s line of attack established by Clarke and Cameron and chose to stress the similarities between the parties pointing out that Farage “is essentially no different from the conservatives”[5].
However if there is one major threat to continued growth of
Ukip it is clearly the party itself. Ukip has long been accused as being a
party full of fascists, racists and right wingers who wouldn’t look out of
place at a mental hospital by its enemies and the party has gone some way to
deal with this perception but with the supercritical eye of the media glaring
at them, the cracks at the seams of the party are laid bare.
With the fall of the BNP, former members of
the troubled extreme right party have
turned to Ukip to continue their political careers such as Susan Bowen, who was chucked out of Ukip was found out forcing
Farage to admit that some BNP members “may have already slipped through the net” and reveal a weakness in his party’s
organisation by revealing that “we don’t have the party apparatus in a very
short space of time to fully vet 1,700 people [6].
UKip’s perceived reputation as being a party full of racists
were not helped by one of it council candidates suggesting on her social media
page that “Second World War had been "engineered by the Zionist
jews", adding: "Only the Zionists could sacrifice their own in the
gas chambers"[7].
Reprehensible and incredibly stupid comments like these is hat could ruin or at
least put a dent in Ukip’s rise in the polls
and could put paid to their larger ambitions ensuring that they share
the same fate as the Nick Griffin led BNP.
In sum, only time will tell what is to become of UKip in the
very near future but what is for sure is that the Conservatives and the media
will be watching carefully every step of the way.
[1]
A.Osborn, 2013, Conservatives turn on UKIP before vote,
[2]
Ibid
[3]
W.Dahlgreen, 2013, Farage Tops Leader Poll,
[4] Huffing
Post Uk, 2013, Boris Johnson Claims Ukip Leader Nigel Farage ‘Essentially A
Conservative’, http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/04/29/ukip-nigel-farage-boris-johnson-tory-_n_3176408.html
[5]
Ibid
[6] M.
Brown, 2013, BNP members ‘slipped into Ukip’,
[7] T.
Moseley, 2013, Anna-Marie Crampton, Ukip Candidate, Suspended From Party But Denies
Anti-Semitism, http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/04/25/anna-marie-crampton-ukip-candidate-suspended_n_3154709.html?utm_hp_ref=uk
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