Napoleon used to ask when appointing his generals, "don't tell me he is good. Is he lucky?". Well Nigel Farage has been lucky yet again with the idiotic Rotherham Conuncil deciding to take 3 children away from their foster parents on the grounds they are UKIP members 5 days before the Rotherham by-election. Farage was rightly all over the air waves since the story broke making as much political capital as he can out of this.
Milliband was even quicker out of the blocks distancing himself and Labour from this story. They could not put enough distance between themselves and the political correctness of Rotherham social services as evinced by Ms Thacker's interview with the BBC click on link to see and hear it. The Daily Mail published a very full account of the affair. Click on link to read it.
What Labour want to avoid at all costs is a repeat of the early 1980s when a succession of what were called loony left councils brought the Labour party to its knees. This has brought huge benefits to UKIP whom Liam Byrne, Labour shadow cabinet, today described as a mainstream UK political party. That is great for UKIP members who have worked so hard for this day.
Cast Iron Dave will also have to back pedal. He once described UKIP as closet racists and fruit cakes. He won't dare repeat that remark now and may well be challenged as encouraging Ms Thacker's views. It gets better than better.
Have I become a Farage fan? Well no. The comrades will hit back by digging up UKIP's fascist links not in the UK but in the EU between their MEPs like Farage and Bloom and mid European neo-fascist MEP mid European parties. And what area of the UK does Bloom represent? Thats right Yorkshire where Rotherham is located! He is sitting duck for this to say nothing of his views on the role of women.
This is the reason I have always opposed Farage being UKIP leader. He has too much right wing baggage and is an easy target for the opposition when, as is happening now, UKIP is starting to challenge for a Westminster seat. I have never denied Farage has talent for a good sound bite which matters so much in modern UK politics but he has too much baggage to be a credible leader annd lacks intellectual depth. Have him as press spokesman by all means but make sure he is expendable when the hits start coming. It's better to lose one man than the whole ship. UKIP's weakness is its seen as the Nigel Farage party but is more correctly a Nigel Farage cult. So when Farage goes down UKIP goes with him.
Labour will target Bloom in the Rotherham campaign and I expect he will take the flak for Farage this time but next time it will be Farage they go after.
UKIP's weakness is the lack of political nous amongst its other spokespeople. Steph McWilliam, chair of UKIP SW after they ditched Alan Wood a man who had won a District Council seat, was put on the Sunday Politics SW region part of Andrew Neil's Sunday Politics show. The interviewer tied her in knots on a number of ill judged remarks she made. Click on link and fast forward about 30 mins to get to Steph's demonstration of how not to do politics.
Worse was UKIP's nominee for the West region part of the show, one Neil Hamilton. That's right the man who shot to fame in 1997 during the Tory sleaze story and who lost the fourth safest Tory seat in the country to the anti-sleaze man in a white suit independent Martin Bell. Talk about giving the opposition an easy target. Click on link if you want you see his political Lazarus performance in his new UKIP skin.
We have of course seen this all before in the South West with Farage's close associates and nominees. So far his Napoleonic luck has held. The expenses scandal saved his bacon in 2009. Sooner or later his luck will run out as it did for Napoleon at Waterloo just 10 miles or so outside Brussels.
2 comments:
Dear Eric,
I'd like people to be clear that I left UKIP and concurrently resigned the chairmanship of the SW Region Committee because Lord Pearson became the party leader, supported and promoted by Nigel Farage. I was not forced out. Pearson's views were so extreme on certain issues that UKIP were no longer a Party I wished to support.
Farage's decision to form an EU Political Group, entertaining fascist extremists in order to gain extra finances, had a bearing on my decision.
The absurd decision by Rotherham Council to punish a couple of foster parents allegedly for membership of UKIP may seem like a gift horse to UKIP in the coming election. It may prove to be a Trojan Horse for UKIP's enemies who will expose the links to extreme partners.
The current Chairman of the UKIP South West Region was a tail end candidate on the UKIP slate in the 2009 European elections. We always used to complain that the BBC did not give UKIP people opportunities on political programmes. However, it is important that any representative is master of their subject when confronted by a skilled political interviewer - they are experts in their field.
It reminds me of the old saying "it is better to be thought a fool than open your mouth and prove it".
Sadly, thanks to Farage's influence the Party has not grown in intellectual capacity to meet the challenge of being a party of government, and any success in Rotherham will be a lucky hit.
Thanks Alan for clarifying why you left UKIP. I apologise. Steph is bemused by Farage as many others are but more importantly is qite happy to do his bidding in the SW. Having Hamilton as an MEP candidate should be vetoed by the SWRC as Del, I and David Abbott opposed Andreasen going on the SE slate when she failed 6 criteria aplied top other wannabee MEP candidates.
It is as my old minister's PPS used to say necessary to have a political sense to work in politics. You have it, Del Young has it, Steph McWilliams does not have it. Her only ability as it is with many others on UKIP committees is to say Yes to everything Farage wants.
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