The UKIP Resurgence…

Apparently, UKIP is so busy processing membership application forms that the head office staff are having to work weekends, well that is what I am told anyway but whether that is true or not remains to be seen. I have been told the membership is now back to 20,000, though when I responded with, “Well it was 42,000 when I quit in 2014” that wasn’t received very well but that is true. So let’s say for argument’s sake that the UKIP resurgence is a reality, it really begs the question as to why that is and is the reason for it actually genuine or are people simply being taken for mugs?

If I ask myself what has UKIP actually done since June 23rd 2016, it really is difficult to think of anything positive, nothing whatsoever jumps out instantly to say they did this and it worked really well… Maybe someone can put something in the comments that I might have missed due to closing my eyes after seeing so many embarrassing moments over the past two years in a party that I was once a very proud member of. What have they done in regards to ensuring Brexit? Nothing whatsoever, what they have chosen to do instead, is constantly attack the one person who is actually in a position to deliver Brexit, Theresa May. Now don’t get me wrong here, by all means, hold governments feet to the fire to ensure they deliver the Brexit we voted for but some of the fictitious nonsense put out by UKIP over the past couple of years has been quite staggering. A perfect example of fiction is Nigel Farage’s constant repeated nonsense on LBC stating that Theresa the Appeaser is a Remainer because she would not answer Iain Dale’s question as to how she would vote if there was another EU referendum. Now I know Nigel and he is a lot smarter than that I can assure you and I know even he would not have answered such an obviously politically weighted question. What Iain Dale was really asking her was, who did she want to upset the most by answering that particular question, 16 million voters or 17 million voters and no politician worth their salt would ever have answered that. So do cut the crap Nigel Farage, your mask slipped a long time ago.

The truth of the matter is ever since June 23rd 2016, UKIP has done far more to help Remain and the EU than they have to help Brexit and the UK, that is an undeniable fact. So why the sudden resurgence, why are normally sane people actually shouting that UKIP could be the next party of government, when we all know that is actually an impossibility, especially now with Gerard Batten effectively turning UKIP into what can only be described as For Britain 2. The new UKIP party leader is actually breaking party rules by associating with Tommy Robinson, I know because I was warned about supporting Tommy whilst in UKIP but it still didn’t stop me but then I wasn’t the party leader. So I began to wonder what could make the UKIP NEC turn a blind eye to the rulebook and it didn’t actually take me long to find out… I suspect it is because they need this resurgence in membership desperately and it all stems back to the Jane Collins libel case. The £175,000 was only an interim payment of a court bill that is a staggering £669,605.68 and when Ms Collins did not pay up the three Labour MP’s took the matter back to court to claim the outstanding amount from UKIP, the judge made it a joint and severe debt of Ms Collins & UKIP. The judge also ordered an investigation into Ms Collins financial affairs and if she does not have the funds then she will be forced into bankruptcy and the whole debt will then be UKIP’s. Could this be why Gerard Batten and the UKIP NEC have gone against all the advice of the Overton Window and ignored their own party rulebook?

Then I began to wonder why this information regarding the Jane Collins bill was not all over the press, I suppose it could be because UKIP had become so irrelevant in British politics that they were no longer interested but then I kept seeing UKIP in media interviews and thought, hang on a minute, they lost nearly all of their vote share in GE2017 by backing the Tories and airtime is vote share related, so really UKIP should be getting less airtime than the LibDems, that is clearly not the case. Is it possible that UKIP is now controlled opposition, is it even possible that they always have been or at least have been for a long time now? I know that after we won the European Elections of 2014, there was a sudden change in UKIP, I left because I saw them suddenly going in a direction I had no wish to travel and the NARP’s (Newly Arrived, Rapidly Promoted) types like Suzanne Evans and others who did not have a clue what UKIP was actually about nor were they interested in finding out, simply wanted to turn UKIP into the exact same kind of establishment party we had always been against. Well, we saw how well that worked out.

Then look at the fiasco with Henry Bolton, he saw the faults and wanted to implement the changes needed so the NEC and others quickly ousted him and UKIP is still exactly the same as it was beforehand, nothing has really changed other than them getting rid of the silly Leo the lion logo and going back to its original, recognised brand of the pound sign. Though I did hear that all those who bought the new logo merchandise were told tough luck and were never refunded, no doubt those aggrieved by that are now in For Britain or DVP. Never really been that good at looking after the foot soldiers has UKIP and that is something else that still hasn’t changed. Another thing that hasn’t changed and it is something that Godfrey Bloom pointed out in 2013, UKIP is like the butcher, baker, candlestick maker of British politics and very few in the party actually have any political nous about them, if there was they would not continuous keep doing things that will obviously achieve nothing and risk serious damage if wrong.

Just imagine for a moment that the Tories are a competent political party who is fully aware that the EU will never agree to a deal, could it be possible that they are using the two years exit negotiations to not only show the rest of the world we are an honourable country worth dealing with by trying every possible avenue to come to a fair deal and then at the right time throw in the towel and walk away. Wouldn’t replacing a Brexit secretary and a Foreign Secretary with two new faces who are not beholden to anything Boris and Davis may have verbally agreed, set up a perfect scenario to throw that towel in and if she was to walk away on a no deal Brexit then May would then be seen as the new ‘Iron Lady’ in the eyes of the voters and all those who have been attacking her would look incompetent and unelectable… Is it possible or is it more probable that the Tories are going out of their way to commit political suicide as UKIP constantly tries to tell us? You decide…

Of course, this is only my own personal opinion based on what I have seen and dug up, there is always the possibility I am wrong but I do think people need to stop looking at UKIP through rose-tinted glasses and stop with the nonsense idea that they will have any effect over the outcome of Brexit at this late stage of the game. I suspect we will be out of the EU by the end of October and it will be a No Deal Brexit and how will UKIP look then if I am right? At least they will have saved their necks again with all the membership fees I suppose but that is not going to be of great help in Britain after Brexit. In just ten months time there will be the local elections across the country on May 2nd 2019 and I suspect there will be another General Election before then. These are the things that all parties outside government should be concentrating on now, especially all those with no influence over what will happen with Brexit… Have faith in the EU not agreeing to any deal and crack on with getting ready for elections, otherwise, we could be stuck in the two-party state forever…

Marty Caine

www.engage-uk.org.uk