UKIP Wins Clacton

[poliphilo]

UKIP has yet to win a parliamentary seat with one of its own numpties. It was pretty much a foregone conclusion that Carswell would take back his own seat.

So I wouldn't hasten to claim that the mould of British politics has been broken. It's not clear that this represents anything more than a protest vote.

Or, perhaps, a popularity vote. The endearingly daffy Carswell against nobody in particular. What would have happened if the Tories had parachuted in a candidate with national recognition- Boris for instance?

If the big parties think they'll win back defectors by adopting UKIP's "policies" they've misread the runes. The UKIP phenomenon isn't about policies so much as it's about the disgust with Westminster. Farage's great advantage over the other party leaders is he's the only one of them who can stand in front of a pub going "Ha, ha, ha" without it looking like a photo-op.

Comments

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

In some ways it was the other result that was the more concerning.

We'll see if the people of my home town (my people) are damnfool enough to vote that arse Reckless back in!

The run up to next year's election is going to be poor, nasty, brutish and not so short, I fear........

Farage's hail fellow well mettery doesn't fool me for a moment but it seems to take in all too many people. :o(

[porsupah.livejournal.com]

And already, Labour's being called upon to toughen up their anti-immigration stance.

Insert this dramatic sting here.

*sigh*

(BTW, does that have a specific, actual name? It's such a classic bar, yet it only ever seems to be referred to as the "dah-duh-DAHHHH!" clip, or variants thereon)