How often will UKIP dismiss a comment as "not reflecting
the view of the party" before they've run out of members who could have a
different view?
The latest blunder is Enfield UKIP candidate William
Henwood’s ignorant and thinly-veiled racist tweet about Lenny Henry. Prior to
that, we had Oxfordshire councilor David Silvester blaming the recent flooding in the UK on the Government’s decision to legalise gay marriage. Then there was Geoffrey Bloom’s awful comments on "Bongo-Bongo Land" and the apparent inferiority
of women in the workplace. The list keeps growing.
Thankfully, UKIP saw sense and had both Bloom and Silvester suspended. Unfortunately, not from a great height.
UKIP's mistakes have become frequent enough for future
generations of the party to be born with their head in their hands. Give a UKIP member enough rope and they’ll hang themselves, provided the rope was
sourced in Britain and didn’t come into contact with any ethnic minorities.
Despite all this embarrassment, they still score
alarmingly high in the polls. Not with the Poles,
though; UKIP wouldn’t like that. It’s worrying how many can’t see the
unpleasantness that lurks behind Nigel Farage’s jokey personality and media
savvy.
The point is we need
Europe, possibly more than they need us. We couldn’t survive without EU trade.
Britain is isolated geographically; let’s not ostracize ourselves
politically as well.
(Bernie Clifton ostracized himself once, incidentally, with
terrifying results.)
This morning, I received a UKIP pamphlet through my door. I couldn't help but make some subtle alterations.
It was childish, but very, very satisfying.