UKIP in libertarian clothing
Nearly all the papers cover the launch of the UKIP local election manifesto yesterday. The Guardian is typical - "UKIP trebles candidates for local elections".
That report is one of the few that also covers UKIP's policy review. At the launch, UKIP leader, Nigel Farage sought to present his party as “a libertarian band of bureaucracy-busters that would slash council tax, put power back in the hands of local leaders and give people more control over their lives." The Guardian
In part, this is about Farage’s attempt to shed UKIP 's image as that of a single issue party. However, the party’s constitution, website and the majority of its policies serve only to strengthen its single-issue credentials. The constitution is quite clear:
"The principal aim of the Party is that the United Kingdom (" UK ") shall again be governed by laws made to suit its own needs by its own Parliament, which must be directly and solely accountable to the electorate of the UK ." UKIP Constitution
Perhaps Farage, like Cameron and Blair before him, will seek a 'Clause 4 moment' of his own to convince us that he really does want to break with the single issue past. Whether he could carry his party with him is another matter, not least because, by developing a 'full range of domestic and foreign policies' UKIP will look dangerously like the thing it is campaigning against: all the other parties.
Re: Comments for 'UKIP in libertarian clothing'
Cameron clearly alienates many hard-core Tories, but
crucially not on the touchstone of Europe.
He carefully matched the pledges made by Liam Fox during the Conservative
leadership election. Though he's had trouble delivering them, it will be
other issues that make people leave first.
If they did this on a large scale would they seek our Farage or a separate
outfit of their own?
The left has countless different socialist groupings which
just don't exist on the right.
The right might see themselves as more disciplined, but their
pent up frustration is growing (see today’s ‘Rightwing MP urges Tories to be
bold on tax’ in the FT)
I suspect we would see a little balkanisation on the right with
UKIP joined by a few others for at least a little while.
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Can UKIP pull off normalisation?
I would not be so sure that diversifying beyond single-issue status is beyond UKIP. There is now a lot of space beyond Cameron Conservativism, and plenty of disaffected Thatcherites looking for a home.
Most of the Tories I know make wistful noises about UKIP, wishing it could be more serious and more broad in its appeal. They also generally think Farage its a Muppet (I wonder why!).
However, crucially, UKIP is small. A boost in membership from Tory defectors and they could tilt the balance of power and transform it into a serious (albeit small) party.
The question, therefore, is not whether Farage can move UKIP from being a single-issue to a multi-issue party: he can, but he'd probably be a casualty of the change, as a more serious contender took over.
The real question is, does UKIP actually benefit from being a single issue party? UKIP has thrived (nine MEPs!) by picking up anti-European votes in a political field with no genuinely anti-European party that does not have other issues which might alienate voters (fascism and communism being obvious examples). If UKIP does become a proper political party, they might find that many of their voters are put off by the specific policies they advocate.
Normalisation may not in fact be UKIP’s road to success but an act of suicide manifesting itself as extreme hubris.