So. Just where does UKIP sit on the political spectrum?
This is easier to answer than it used to be. At one time it was a very 'broad church' and took its votes pretty equally from all the three larger parties.
The members of all political hues were generally able to coexist because of the shared realisation that our membership of the EU is the single largest, negative drag on our society.
I always considered that this catch-all position would become untenable in the longer term.
In the meantime, the malevolent guardianistas decided to present UKIP as a tiny notch to the left of the BNP - which, taking into account the vast range of the membership, was beyond absurd!
I have long pushed for UKIP settling into a role as a straightforward, right of centre party.
Such a position is, I believe, now beginning to happen - more because of the failings of the tories than any conscious decision made by UKIP. Although, I must say that when I asked Nigel Farage several years ago why we weren't trying to target disillusioned Labour voters more, his reply was interesting. He said that it would be 'necessary to pluck the the fruit first from the low hanging branches' - and the context clearly meant the disillusioned tories!
UKIP has, I think, moved into the ground where it will ultimately succeed. It is now that non-tory, centre right party which I have long desired. The tories have seemingly deserted that ground.
Even most Labour voters prefer our policies. These people who would NEVER vote tory in a month of blue Sundays, might well vote UKIP - once they see them having a prospect of success. After all - it is almost exclusively labourites who have in the past transferred votes to the BNP in protest.
The disillusioned tories are already flooding in.
UKIP will never gain votes from the Greens or that handful of Lib Dem voters who actually grasp what they are voting for - but the non-committed Lib Dems may well be attracted by UKIP's stance on civil liberties and all round good sense. (That is in very short supply in Lib Dem circles - certainly the higher up that party you go.)
Will BNP votes come our way? - Hopefully, the UKIP policy of 'anti-immigration but not anti-immigrant' may appeal to some. We want those votes. Perhaps it would bring extremists back more into the mainstream - and remember - there ain't no such animal as 'a polluted vote'. Do remember that many of these are the 'up yours' voters who do not so much like the BNP as hate the left of centre parties and political correctness.
We NEED UKIP to become the true protest vote until we overcome the dragback of the FPTP voting system!
