A bit more UKIP. There are two groups of people who think the Labour Party should take UKIP seriously: the Blairite former-regime loyalists, and some of the radical Left.
Group one is easy: for them the answer always seems to be nice cuts and flogging immigrants, and what was the question? Further, they were always obsessed by unpopular populism and this is just more of it. And any opportunity is good enough to fight the real enemy, pursuing their grudges inside the party.
Group two, though, is harder: if you wanted to sum up UKIP’s message, wouldn’t it be something like We hate you fucking people? Or as my grandad on my dad’s side would say, well into the 1980s, several times a day: It’s that bloody Harold Wilson! Polling of ‘kippers, famously, showed that they don’t care much about the EU and they’re not libertarians, unlike their leaders. What does stick out seems to be conservatism as an identity, mostly defined by hating anything associated with the Left except perhaps the NHS. In many ways, it’s the symbols, tone, and style that are doing the work, not policy content.
So I don’t really understand why any of the radicals think they can convince them, given that their unifying ideology is basically loathing anyone who might be on the Left. I do have a theory that a lot of people on the Left imagine themselves in the great world-historical struggle against fascism all the time, and this of course requires a regular Hitler-hit. (In that, they are at one with the History Channel Bloke ‘kippers.)
Wasn’t some poll done of UKIP voters, and the thing about Britain that they were most proud of was “the past”?
I think it is a longstanding trait with sections of the radical left that all the discontented are potential socialists, even if they are completely crazy. As a strategy it has failed again and again, from seeking the support of Strasserite Nazis and Powellite racists to Islamist headcases.
Similar to the issue in the US where Rand Paul and the “Libertarians” have some ideas that attract the Left. But Paullites also hold other very repellent views. Strange bedfellows or deal-with-the-devil? Need to be very careful…
And, per the previous post, UKIP is to Tories as Tea Party is to Republicans. At least UKIP is an actual party, not a myth funded by the Koch brothers…
The danger in treating them as a joke, a process many of us followed with the Tea Party, is you miss the real power play going on behind the scenes and end up with exceptionally radical right wing views being debated as if they had merit.
Who is really behind UKIP? And are the Tories, as the Republicans have with the Tea Party, using them to advance a more radical agenda.?
Basically, disaffected bits of the Tory apparatus. The money comes from Stuart Wheeler, former Tory funder and spread-betting jillionaire.
So the similarities are almost mirror images… thanks for the information.
I lived in England from 1995 to 2000. Enjoyed following the politics. Blood and Treasure blog had a recent take down of Blair that left blood on the floor. Blair’s embrace of W was catastrophic.