Confirming its anti-Tory positioning, UK Independence Party chairman David Campbell Bannerman, great nephew of former Liberal Prime Minister Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman, told yesterday's Yorkshire Post that the party's legal name would stay UKIP but for popular consumption the party would be totally rebranded. He told the Post:
"Independence as a name is catchy, reduces the emphasis on Europe a little and allows us to focus more on domestic policies... Rebranding will help show that we're not just about leaving the European Union but about being a party of opposition to the three main parties, who share the centre ground. We will push for independence for local schools, councils, hospitals and planning and champion low taxes, which the Tories no longer seem interested in doing."
Shipley Tory MP Philip Davies is also quoted in the newspaper. Mr Shipley, like Daniel Hannan MEP, is one of the very few Tories who openly support Britain leaving the EU but he dismisses UKIP's latest tactics:
"I've every sympathy with their view on Europe, I'm just not sure what it is they're trying to achieve. They'd be much better off remaining a pressure group. Shouting from the sidelines with five per cent of the vote doesn't seem like a particularly constructive way of advocating their cause."
The only donation UKIP received in the last published quarter was £1,500 was a Mr. R. Knapman, so I suppose they will have to try anything to prevent their demise.
Many people agree with some of their aims, but the fact is, UKIP as a party is amatuerish and has displayed electoral vanity and ineptitude, damaging the very cause they purport to support.
Nigel Farage is not parking his tank on vacant lawn as he claims, but adopting the agenda that has almost become the blueprint for a series of small parties including the English Democrats, New Party, Veritas, etc etc.
Philip Davies is absolutely right. It is incredibly difficult but ultimately much more effective to seek to influence a major party that actually has a chance to deliver its agenda.
With several small parties competing for this identical agenda that UKIP has belatedly adopted, UKIP is facing being vote-split itself, which seems like karma to me.
Posted by: Chad | February 22, 2006 at 10:02
I suspect that UKIP will deprive many Conservative canidates from being elected in May's COUNCIL elections. At the last GLA election, we lost the Enfield-Haringey seat to Labour by just ubder 1,500 votes - whilst UKIP polled over 11,000! Why do they contest local goverment elections other than to harm our chances... ?
Posted by: Justin Hinchcliffe | February 22, 2006 at 11:11
Hi Justin,
Since then it has all gone a bit pear-shaped for UKIP, so I wouldn't panic.
There is just as much chance of the New Party, who are working off the same platform as UKIP, but are better funded, taking votes off UKIP and splitting the small party vote.
However, it will be interesting to see how it all works out.
Posted by: Chad | February 22, 2006 at 11:16
Even if a UKIP candidate polls 30 votes -it could be the differnce between a Conservative caniddate winning and losing. Labour has the same problem with RESPECT (I gather that they will field hundreds of candidates). Not worried about the BNP because they'll take more Labour vores than Tory.
Posted by: Justin Hinchcliffe | February 22, 2006 at 12:11
This is quite smart of UKIP, they know Cameron is a eurosceptic and prepared to act on it, and they know that as he does well their share of the vote will be sqeezed.
re standing in council elections, they are only really interested in making the Tories more europhobic than anything else. In our seat the UKIP candidates goal was to win the election for the Lib Dem.
Posted by: wasp | February 22, 2006 at 14:20
UKIP cost the Conservatives 25+ seats at the last General Election.
Posted by: Goldie | February 22, 2006 at 14:34
I am a textbook UKIP target voter. I want to leave the EU, I hate big government, I would like lower taxes and far more choice in public services.
However, to me the idea of UKIP as a party rather than a Campaign Organisation is a silly one. If they all joined The Conservatives and campaigned independently for the things they believe in, there is far more chance of success.
As it is, they split the vote of people who largely agree with each other.
Posted by: EU Serf | February 22, 2006 at 15:25
Rather ironic that the one party pitching for disaffected Tories is UKIP when the best thing Cameron has done since becoming leader is promise to leave the EPP. He can be criticised for many things but his European policy is not one of them.
Posted by: johnC | February 22, 2006 at 15:52
UKIP can see that the writing is in the wall for them with their sole political power base under threat in next Euro elections. The circumstances that led to a 16% share won't be there - no great media coverage because of Kilroy-Silk, a more popular Conservative Party.
Chad is correct to point out that positioning themselves on the right moves them into an already well populated field, and open to crypto-fascist taunts as they comptete with the New Party (how can anyone today re-use Mosley's party name?), BNP, English nationalists etc. This will be highlighted by media keen to exploit possible links of some members to previous participation in the BNP.
Like any small protest party they will cause annoyance where a few votes decide seats in the Council elections but I don't think they'll be a serious threat by next GE.
Posted by: Ted | February 22, 2006 at 16:11
Positioning themselves on the right, could harm their left wing vote. They wont be a serious threat, just a bloody nuisance.
Posted by: Rob Largan | February 22, 2006 at 16:17
"Rather ironic that the one party pitching for disaffected Tories is UKIP when the best thing Cameron has done since becoming leader is promise to leave the EPP. He can be criticised for many things but his European policy is not one of them."
UKIP want Britain to leave the EU altogether. We are still in the EU and moving our MEPs out of the EPP means nothing.
Posted by: Chris Palmer | February 22, 2006 at 16:23
I think we have to accept that the age of pure two party politics is probably over. It is no use blaming UKIP for seats that we didn't win last time. Labour would probably be as justified in blaming Respect for their failure to win certain seats. Labour won the last election with a tiny percentage of the ote compared to other post war Governments.
The important thing is that we should not let these small and, frankly, largely irrelevant Parties to distract us from the main agenda and the main battle with the Labour Party in the centre ground. That was, arguably, what we allowed to happen after the last set of European elections.
Posted by: Disraeli | February 22, 2006 at 16:23
UKIP is a sect whose weakness obliges it to act in a parasitical fashion around the Conservative Party in particular. It seems to have amongst its leadership a number of people whose will to control causes them to adopt a 'what we can't control we must destroy' attitude.
In a recent meeting of the City of London Branch of The Freedom Association addressed by Philip Davies, MP he was being constantly sniped by mainly UKIP MEP's who seemed to want to take over the meeting. Philip said that he would back the Conservatives to take Britain out of the EU before UKIP formed a government. I'm delighted to report that having their prejudices disturbed by fact left the MEP's looking even more futile than they'd made themselves look.
Posted by: Keith Standring | February 22, 2006 at 16:53
I doubt if the New Party, Veritas, or English Democrats will ever pick up more than a tiny number of votes, so I think they're all irrelevant to UKIP.
Although there are places like East London, where the BNP and UKIP compete for votes, by and large their voters are different - with the BNP tending to draw its support more or less evenly from Tories and Labour; while UKIP tend to draw more from the Tories than any other party.
As it happens, I think UKIP (or something) will increase their support because there is plainly a gap in the market for them. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they topped the poll in the next round of European elections, and won 4-5% of the vote in any subsequent general election.
Posted by: Sean Fear | February 22, 2006 at 17:01
That should have read "(or something similar)"
Posted by: Sean Fear | February 22, 2006 at 17:02
UKIP is a sect because it has convinced itself that it has 'captured' the real truth about the EU and all this has not been grasped by any other Party.
The fact escapes them that there are those in effective Parties, who not only understand fully the dangers for Britain to remain in the EU, who are aware of a multiplicity of other infringements of Britain's traditional liberties, freedoms and free speech and which are able to make a difference, unlike UKIP.
I say to UKIP members - join or re-join the Conservative Party since this is the only sure way of achieving your objectives.
Posted by: Keith Standring | February 22, 2006 at 22:09
Veritas is finished and was really pretty much from the beginning, it never had any real raison d'etre other than as the Robert Kilroy Silk Fanclub and now that he has abandoned them what is there left for them, The English Democrats are somewhat lightweight policy wise, UKIP actually despite the Kilroy Fiasco got the second biggest gain in total number of votes for any party after the Liberal Democrats and at 2.5% are now up to where the Liberal Party was in the 1950's, on the other hand the Liberal Democrats have a lacklustre leadership campaign with a lot of scandals, are divided on economic policy and show every sign of being ready to implode.
The next election will see a big turnout by Labour and Conservative supporters and where Liberal Democrat MP's do survive it will be solely due to tactical voting, UKIP could even make a breakthrough in a couple of seats but I think Labour will still win, so it will be more strongly toward a 2 party system but with the strongest 4th party performance in UK history.
Posted by: Yet | February 23, 2006 at 01:24
"UKIP cost the Conservatives 25+ seats at the last General Election"
I take it you would support a switch to a first/second preference system of voting, then?
Posted by: comstock | February 24, 2006 at 13:58
I left UKIP over two things - its pigheaded insistence that issues outside the EU's direct purview shouldnt be talked about unless they offend someone with a differing opinion and also because to visit their website you would think that 7/7 never, ever happened.
However I do have to wonder just what colour the sky is in the world of Tories who still believe that 'working from within' is the only way to get Britain out of the EU. Why the hell should UKIP not stand against Tory candidates when the Tory Party's policy is, always has been, and always will be to stay in unconditionally?
Posted by: dangerouslysubversivedad | February 25, 2006 at 10:59