Friday 16 December 2011

UKIP save deposit in Feltham & Heston

I woke this morning to the unmistakable tones of Farage on the radio so I knew UKIP must have had an OK result in Fetham an Heston. The full results were:


  • Seema Malhotra, Labour - 12,639 (54.42%, +10.79%)
  • Mark Bowen, Conservative - 6,436 (27.71%, -6.32%)
  • Roger Crouch, Liberal Democrats - 1,364 (5.87%, -7.87%)
  • Andrew Charalambous, UKIP - 1,276 (5.49%, +3.45%)
  • David Furness, BNP - 540 (2.33%, -1.21%)
  • Daniel Goldsmith, Green - 426 (1.83%, +0.74%)
  • Roger Cooper, English Democrats - 322 (1.39%)
  • George Hallam, London People Before Profit - 128 (0.55%)
  • David Bishop, Bus-Pass Elvis Party - 93 (0.40%)

It was a very low turnout of 28.8%, not unexpected on a cold night, in a safe Labour seat and a week before Xmas.

I agree with Farage that it was frustrating to get so close to the LibDems and just not quite manage to push them into 4th place.

I am sure the candidate worked very hard. The UKIP supporters I saw on TV all seemed a bit juvenile but as always it is the dogs that did not bark and were invisible I am concerned about.


Where was Marta Andreasen elected UKIP MEP for the Southern region? Where was Gerard Batten UKIP's London MEP? Where was Paul Nuttall UKIP's deputy leader and MEP? Please post answers on the comments section of this blog. I would love to have my suspicions disproved.


By-elections give small parties a heaven sent opportunity to raise their profile with the great British public. Its how the LibDems started off. I am old enough to remember Lubbock for the LibDems overturning a huge Tory majority in Orpington. It can be done and its one of the the few avenues open to minority parties but it takes a lot of effort and it has to start at the top of the party. UKIP's problem is many of its MEPs are there for the money not the cause. They want support but they don't want to give support.


Its campaigning on cold dark winter nights that tell you who is committed to our cause and who are there for the high life in Brussels and being feted in TV studios surrounded by a bevy of make up girls. UKIP had people who were great campaigners in all weather and all seasons, Alan Wood, Steve Allison, Mike Bridgeman and many others but all of whom are now no longer in UKIP. Too many chiefs, not enough Indians, too many sycophants is UKIP's story now. 


I applaud the candidate and Mr Farage. They have both I feel been let down by our MEPs. Farage is of course culpable as he approved these people as candidates and worse ensured other excellent people like Robin Page who would have been excellent MEPs were not put on the UKIP slate but Bannerman and Agnew were. That is the crucial weakness that makes  Mr Farage a poor leader. He is like Cameron a good PR man. Cameron however is surrounded by good able people, most chosen by their local constituency parties, who can cover up his lack of depth and knowledge. Nigel Farage got rid of such people at the top of UKIP for self serving sycophants of little ability. This has been the downfall of many leaders. I just hope Farage does not take UKIP with him when he falls.

3 comments:

Steve Allison said...

Eric, you say "By-elections give small parties a heaven sent opportunity to raise their profile with the great British public" which is of course true, but wether it is cost effective coud be debated. You then say "Its how the LibDems started off." Which is not actually true. The Lib-Democrats are the result of a merger between the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party. On the day it was formed the new party started with over 20 MPs in the House of Commons. The Lib-Dems lost ground in the first general election they fought in 1992 but then more than doubled their number of seats at the 1997 general election, when they gained 46 seats through tactical voting and concentrating resources in winnable seats. Of course both of those strategies require someone in a position of leadership who actually has strategic vision!

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Eric Edmond said...

Steve,

You are correct in what you say. I just regard the LibDEms as a continuation of the old Liberals sharing their history. I know there is still a Liberal party but it only seems to exist in the SW Celtic fringe.

I like your comment on the importance of having a leader with strategic vision. Obviously no one we know.

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