Thursday, 3 April 2014

Nige for PM

I am trying to recall a time when a senior Government member went in for a political debate with a minor party and was bested to totally. I went to the Farage/Clegg debate and with all Clegg's whirring of arms and attempts at humour he came across as an arrogant, hypocritical snob. Quite an achievement against Nigel who really is a posh City buy, but has the common touch in a way Clegg absolutely despises - we all know he the opposite of this.

Of course I guess a match up between say Salmond and Cameron would be interesting, but Cameron is far to frit to go in for that kind of escapade. Clegg must have thought he had little to lose in taking on Farage but he hopefully has firmly shifted the Lib Dems into a deserved fourth place in the General Election as well as the European elections.

What amazed me, perhaps even slightly appalled, was that there was nothing for me to disagree with Farage on and at the same time, nothing that I could agree with Clegg on. I am a balanced person and spend my days playing devil's advocate for fun and taking opposing sides - but Clegg's pro-Euro (i.e. pro chez Clegg, literally) and anti-English is shocking.

Whereas Farage's refreshing populism is what the Country needs to shake it out of a morose plod towards penury and social collapse under the contradictions weight of 'social democracy.'


Swiss Tax Exile said...

Farage's problem is... Farage. This isn't a political movement, it's a personality cult.

If he fell under a bus tomorrow or had a heart attack UKIP would live on but as a diminished force. Farage is famous but even political anoraks would struggle to name five of his colleagues.

Anonymous said...

I see it as more of a "Clegg couldn't lose"...

UKIP will split the right wing of the conservatives which means more coalition government. +1 Clegg

UKIP are also unlikely to make a Westminster breakthrough (Duverger's Law) so could not offer itself as a coalition partner. + 2 Clegg

Any attempt to be conciliatory to UKIP will open clear blue water for Labour to attack +3 Clegg

Anonymous said...

Following on....

Dave could yield to Salmond's demands and lose the red rump north of the border

It would be win ..on penalties.. for him, but with a much smaller pitch.

Blue Eyes said...

I didn't watch the debate but the Clegg/LD position infuriates me. If they think the EU is so vital but needs reform as they say then why don't they use a referendum as a tool for negotiation and then to close any furthet debate for a decade? The LD position is insulting and stupid.

I think UKIP appeals to a noisy minority. I suspect that Cameron could get a few trivial changes and win a good majority for In in the subsequent referendum. Even if a pre-reform referendum was held I think In would win. Why are the LDs so against having a vote?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous @ 10.46

We know that Ukip won't form a Government. That's not the point of voting for Ukip.

We are not happy with Cameron and Britain is going down the toilet anyway. As one last hurrah we may as well hurt the only part of the political class that we can. We shall do so with relish.

What we won't do is vote for someone who condescends, patronises and verbally abuses us.

He was at it again this morning. Ukip views are 'extremist' apparently.

City Unslicker, by that measure, is an extremist.

Common sense has become 'extremist'. Well fuck you, Cameron.

Bill Quango MP said...

I remember a conversation we had a good few years back CU.
You listed some of Cameron's non-policy,continuity-Brown, policy-lite and green crap ideas and said
"he is making me UKIP. I don't want to be in the UKIP camp. I want nothing to do with them. Yet the Tories are making me, forcing me into a kipper!"

How prophetic.

Clive said...

Well, as the unofficial part time opposition spokesman round here, it certainly didn't do Labour any harm either. Not that I'm natural Labour voting material mind you. Just that faced with another dose of either Cameron's Crony Corporatism, Clegg's ridiculous Euro state outpost wannabe and Farage's neoliberal wet dream with a bit of little-Englander Johnny Foreigner go home antics thrown in for good measure, they at least don't seem quite so awful as the incumbents or "alternative" vote.

But crikey, how on Earth did British politics descend into such an "Ugly Contest" ? As Rupert Murdock said about broadcasting in the UK, it's just like the Adams Family.

Blue Eyes said...

I don't know what a neo-liberal is in policy terms but Nigel ain't any kind of liberal. He is a bit of a chauvinist nationalist if you ask me. He probably agrees with about 90% of the stuff that Cruddas comes up with.

The thing which scares me most about leaving the EU is that people like Farage, Cruddas, Miliband et al. would take the opportunity to turn Britain back into the siege economy of the 60s and 70s. A Thatcherite he innit.

Electro-Kevin said...

The main parties ought to be in a state of concern over Farage. He may well win some seats in the European Parliament - and therefore he would have great influence over the direction of the EU...

Perhaps he won't.

The main parties are focused on the 2015 general election and are prepared to write the Euro election losses off as mere protest voting.

"OK, we've taken a punch on the nose but the voters don't really mean it - not when it counts."

Not when it counts.

So what of the Tories claims that they prefer to work with Europe from within, because they can have greater influence ?

They aren't overly worried about Ukip winning seats there - why ?

Because they know that MEPs have absolutely no power. The European Parliament is a puppet theatre.

Influencing Europe 'from within' ?

Eurosceptic Conservative MPs, fully paid up and democratically elected can't even influence the Tory party from within - let alone Europe.

The direction is set and you dare point this out and you are called a loon.

CityUnslicker said...

Clive/Anon - I don;t see how this is good for Labour. Labour have hugely benefitted from being the ONLY opposition party, something that has not previously existed since the late 1970's - a very long time ago.

Now there is UKIP - the opposition vote can be split.

James Higham said...

Encouraging but a long way still to go.

Weekend Yachtsman said...

Cameron isn't frit to debate with Salmond.

It's just that he knows any such debate wouldn't be be about the issues but would about his accent and where he went to school.

So it would be pointless and completely counter-productive.

He's quite right to keep well away.

Anonymous said...

"turn Britain back into the siege economy of the 60s and 70s"

Farage is a flat tax, small state libertarian type - kilometres away (see what I did there?) from your vision.