David Aaronovitch in the Times last week: "Faragism, that "common-sense" combination of isolationist and autarkic politics. I call it "Faragism" because it exists in the Conservative Party and even, in etiolated form, in parts of the Labour Party. It is anti-EU, anti-American, anti-foreigner, anti-State, anti-aid, and anti-big project.
"Bizarrely, in Farage's own case, he wants a large, well funded military and then wants it not to do anything. I use the word "autarkic" to describe the fantasy of our economic separateness. And it is a unifying theme of post-crash pessimistic politics that somehow we were and are better off on our own. Better off with fewer migrants, outside the EU, unentangled in complex and incomprehensible foreign doings." Autarkic. Adj. Used by columnists to imply they know more about a subject than they do. Cognate of "etiolated". Usually signifies columnist is on thin ice.
UKIP is anti-EU, that is
correct.
UKIP is not anti-American.
UKIP is not "anti-foreigner" it is against uncontrolled mass immigration.
UKIP is not anti-State - it recognises - as do all mainstream parties, the limitations of the State's power to make life better for its citizens. Is UKIP anti-big project? Anti-HS2, it's true. And yes, it's true that UKIP is instinctively suspicious of big projects instigated by politicians. UKIP's aim is to get Britain out of the European Union. That's the biggest project of all.
Is UKIP anti-aid? The aid scandals round the world are genuinely shocking. A perfectly respectable body of opinion maintains that free trade is a more reliable way of raising living standards.
UKIP is not anti-American.
UKIP is not "anti-foreigner" it is against uncontrolled mass immigration.
UKIP is not anti-State - it recognises - as do all mainstream parties, the limitations of the State's power to make life better for its citizens. Is UKIP anti-big project? Anti-HS2, it's true. And yes, it's true that UKIP is instinctively suspicious of big projects instigated by politicians. UKIP's aim is to get Britain out of the European Union. That's the biggest project of all.
Is UKIP anti-aid? The aid scandals round the world are genuinely shocking. A perfectly respectable body of opinion maintains that free trade is a more reliable way of raising living standards.
Does
... UKIP think we are "better off on our own"? No: We believe in
free trade with the world, especially the fastest-growing
economies.
Does UKIP think we will be
"better off with fewer migrants"? We certainly do. Britain can't keep on
absorbing half a million migrants a
year. Does UKIP think we
are better off "unentangled in complex and incomprehensible foreign doings"? We
aren't fired by the spirit of liberal interventionism, it's true. Nor do we
believe the world is a moral gymnasium for our leaders.
The commentariat still like to use the
phrase Little England of UKIP. There'll be more discussion about this to come.
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