by Mike Newland.
UKIP’s problems at their recent conference have pointed a searchlight on one of the key issues in how any outsider to the system party should address its audience out there in the country.
Nigel Farage railed about how fed up the public is with ‘cardboard cut-out careerists in Westminster who don’t say what they really mean’. Within a day he’d expelled from office one of his own closest associates for saying what he really meant! Doh.
The trouble with Farage’s now plainly theoretical view of what makes desirable politics is exposed by asking a question. Who wins elections? Is it the parties of cardboard men or the more plain speaking? Bad news for plain speakers – well too plain speakers anyway. The cardboards win nearly every time.
So should parties like the BDP talk in robot speak. ‘Hard-working families’, ‘let’s be clear on this’, ‘the right thing to do’? Scream!
The flaw in the debate as presented is a fallacy of the false dichotomy. It’s either robotic cardboard creatures or ‘language’. The reality is that the most effective politics is somewhere in between. What tends to happen with small parties – as with Godfrey Bloom – is that frustration with the state of the country leads people involved to feel they are entitled to ‘have their say’ without consideration of the more tender concerns of the voters.
The fact is that the people are rightly fed up with the disastrous misrule we suffer. They are also terrified of radicals who might make things go really belly up in their enthusiasm for change. There is a lot of clinging to nurse for fear of something worse.
If a party like the BDP wishes to be politically effective it needs to present a radical view without frightening the horses and it is.
Anyone who has been in a nationalist party knows of the fury that suggestion produces among some people who ‘just can’t wait to get at ’em’. Well sorry but this is not a country like France where they come out on the streets at the drop of a hat. People expect you to sound like you will make sure the petty cash is in order as well as bringing substantial change. Britain is not a country where people are poised to bring out their pitchforks.
UKIP has not learnt the lesson. You can indeed be radical but a certain decorum is also required to gain public confidence. Godfrey could have said what he wanted to say with very minor changes and no mileage for opponents. But he just had to let steam did he not? Effective politics is not letting off steam. Little Crick did his usual trick of chasing behind the politician’s elbow in the street with loaded questions. Godfrey’s boiler blew. Not good.
So far so good for the BDP. But we must be on our guard against the excess of enthusiasm us veterans have seen all too often in other groups. Meant with the best of intentions, it can stump you if you are not careful. The voters won’t tell you what they are really thinking but they think it anyway. The dreaded words: “I agree with what they say but they are not ready for government”.
We are not trying to appeal at large to a minority of hard-core nationalists. The aim is to appeal to the vast majority who will only support what looks like responsible government. There is always a middle way of presenting a radical case in moderate terms.
You sink or swim in your willingness and ability to do that.
You’re absolutely right Mike, but it’s only because the system has to be played by their rules. Once the system is nationalist in character, there will hopefully be a welcome return to the plain truth, spoken and written.
The other point about this is that it can be inordinately difficult to keep ones gob shut. I try, but I don’t succeed everytime. 🙂
Well our fate could depend on purchases of sticky tape then Craig…
Hear hear. Common sense.
You are right Andrew. People instinctively worry about wild statements. They are also wary of irresponsible policies. Ed Miliband will regret his promise to fix energy prices; if they can fix gas and electricity prices why not food or rents? There is a national mood to control immigration that must be encouraged by reasoned debate. Shouting slogans will not do the trick.
(Party Member) Super, up to date with events and Right !
(Party Member) The biggest question facing our unknown in the country new party is should we stand in the European Elections? Our Andrew Brons is retiring from his seat, but with the massive PUBLICITY gained by standing, maybe we should appoint a new candidate in this ONE seat? ? ?
(Party Member) I put out our excellent leaflets every week in Dorset. As yet nobody has ever heard of us! Should the decision be to stand in this one seat be made, I pledge £100 towards the costs.
I think that the most unfortunate thing about the whole Bloom/Farage fiasco is that, by his reaction, Farage has allowed the media to set the rules of what is acceptable and what is not.
Nowadays everyone is so ready to be offended by almost anything, that what years ago would not have even been mentioned is now blown up out of all proportion. Also, the media are out to get UKIP so there will be a lot more of this kind of thing.
If it means that every spokesperson in UKIP and any other new party has to turn themselves into yet another mealy-mouthed cardboard cut out, then that will not be a good thing. We have to strike a balance, but we must never let the MSM set the agenda.
Mr Farage had no choice but to take action against Godfrey Bloom. He will have many more actions to take against some of his members if the ‘hard left’ have its way.
Even Nick Griffin had no choice in the run up to the 2008 GLA Elections. He sacked and expelled the then London Organiser Nick Erickson. If one remembers, an old comment and rather distasteful one at that was unearthed on an internet forum.
Just as a growing BNP once had the odd egomaniac nutter doing Nazi salutes on facebook or worse: UKIP have similar woes.
It is all a matter of hoping UKIP can hold it together in the run up to the Euro Elections next year. One would have wished ‘Godfrey’ could have got stuck into the LIB LAB CON with a more sophisticated comment than ‘Bongo Bongo land’. After all, they are the ones with the platform. Mr Farage shouted ‘we want our country back’ at last weeks Conference. He made it sound realistic and patriotic.
We know the flaws of the ideology of UKIP. Today, for many honest hard-working British people they are the most radical aspiration in British politics. They could be the third-biggest political party in Britain come next summer. I do think that UKIP’s main problem will come from its ranks and the media will be calling them ‘skinheads in suits’ before long.
Mike is right it is about appealing to the mass not just the few. Who knows how long it will take the BDP to build a Party. The website and the content give the Party a great edge for the future.
Yes, people are terrified of radicalism. For me the Patriotic Nationalist argument has never been simpler.
Overpopulation = Housing Crisis = Bedroom Tax = Poverty.
Overpopulation = NHS Crisis = Care Home crisis = Premature death.
Overpopulation = Competition = Mass Unemployment = Poverty.
We could all go on and on, the point is our ideas are not rocket science they are simple.
Good points Johnny. It can only get worse for the new ‘Nazis’ on the block, more so, as they are eating into Labour’s vote in working class areas. I think the media over-promotion of them in the last few years has built up a bit of a head-of-steam that will be hard to stop before the Euro elections next year.
(Party Member) I hope our new party adopts the policy of bringing back the Married Man’s Tax Allowance. LEFTY assures me this is a throwback to the “dreadful white family of a man and a woman and two children”. Terrible he says. “Sounds like the fifties”. Well, it sounds great to me and follows British Democratic Party values! I am sorry if the cardboard politicians find such mild language upsetting! ! !
As a nationalist, before we always failed because the party wanted control from the centre. Free thinkers were banned or thrown out.If we are to succeed in the new party, and we can, we must organise our branches regions and fight at every level. As individuals we are ham strung and, as a party, Blair and his public order act stymied most opposition but we must fight that as time is very fast running out.
That was certainly true of the BNP in later years. In fact, there is an army of ex-UKIP who feel that they were required to agree with Farage on everything.
As regards the Public Order Act passed by Thatcher, the left actually complained at the time that it would help nationalists! The argument was that it forced people to be very polite in the way they put over their points. Politeness is better politics.
(Party Member) I hope our new party appoints spokesmen and women for each major sector of Government, with regular press releases issued, on subjects like housing, as soon as possible. Having home affairs, European Union/ foreign affairs etc, etc, will show the country we are serious. The old party just have one man ‘shooting from the hip’ on everything and to be honest he is not very good in the pressure cooker situation of a live interview, is he.
Will the British Democratic Party be warning people of the dangers of electing that gang of the treacherous called the Labour Party knowing full well that the idea of Red Ed withdrawing us from the corrupt failed EU is not going to happen. But mass immigration,further kowtowing to the USA UN and EU will continue. Mr Brons is right not to trust UKIP.