Tag Archives: UKIP

UKIP

I Don’t Want To Be Rude Mr Farage but….

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A theme is emerging in the run up to the poll and it’s not so much user generated content as user-generated poster advertising.  The airbrushed for change David Cameron mash-ups have been the most prominent but this week Nigel Farage of UKIP gets the grassroots advertising rollover treatment.

Idontwanttoberude.com is home to the poster above a riposte to Farage’s barrage of abuse directed at the Belgian-born EU President Herman van Rompuy in which he told the European leader in the EU Parliament that he had the charisma of a “damp rag” and the looks of a “low-grade bank clerk”.  The boos in the chamber have been followed by more abuse on-line for Mr Farage who also described Belgium, as “pretty much a non-country.”  Look’s like he won’t be off to Belgium in a hurry but one voter at least has told him where to go.

By-election

Conservatives Get Result In Norwich North

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Tory candidate Chloe Smith has won the Norwich North by-election with a majority of more than 7000 and at 27 becomes the youngest MP in the House of Commons.  The result comes some 12 hours later than might have been expected due to the unusual step of delaying the count until this morning.  

The seat had been Labour since 1997 when Ian Gibson was first elected.  If the results of this by-election were replicated across the country at the general election, the Tories would be on course for a majority of 100. 

The full results are as follows:

Peter Baggs (Independent)     23

Thomas Burridge (Libertarian Party)      36

Anne Fryatt (None of The Above Party)     59

Bill Holden (Independent)     166

Laud Howling (The Official Monster Raving Loony Party)     144

Craig Murray (Put An Honest Man into Parliament)     953

Chris Ostrowski (Labour)     6,243

April Pond (Liberal Democrat)     4,803

Rupert Read (Green)     3,350

Chloe Smith (Conservative)     13,591

Glenn Tingle (UK Independence Party)     4,068                    

Robert West (British National Party)     941

 The Times reported that the post defeat in-fighting in the Labour party senior ranks began even before the scale of the defeat was officially announced.  The Guardian has been reporting live throughout the morning and predicted the share of the vote between the main parties well ahead of the official announcement.

Europe

The UKIP Distraction

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The European election result in the UK may well be all about UKIP.  The main parties are all largely tarred with the same brush so the smaller parties like UKIP and the Green Party will benefit.

The results will occupy the news agenda for a few days but that will only serve to act as a distraction from the real issues in the run up to the General Election.   If the announcement of the departure of Hazel Blears today, following on from those of her cabinet colleagues yesterday was intended to bring the Labour leadership crisis to a head the timing was poor.  The disruption in the senior ranks of the government party will hand the news agenda to the beneficiaries of the protest vote. 

The media will return to discussion of the crisis at the heart of government as soon as the dust has settled on the Euro vote.