Quote of the day 5th September 2014

"There is a certain irony in the Tories holding an internet driven open primary in Clacton to select their candidate and UKIP HQ imposing Douglas Carswell, the prophet of iDemocracy, as their candidate."

(Paul Staines, a.k.a. Guido Fawkes, in a blog post  here.)

Comments

Jim said…
UKIP are not exactly a democratic party, one of the reasons i never joined it.

Sure they all bleat about democracy, and iDemocracy, They sit in a group in the Eu parliament called EFD (Europe of Freedom and Democracy) but none of them want to practice it.

Much like all the others, they want to dictate the things you can vote for, a little like would you like your car tyres punctured with a nail or a screw kind of thing.

Chris Whiteside said…
Fair comment. It is important to nudge all the political parties in the direction of practicing more democracy.

One of the sad things about Douglas Carswell's defection is that until the point he jumped ships he was one of the voices moving the Conservatives in the direction of great democracy and giving more power to the people through exactly the sort of direct democracy you have often argued for, Jim.

We will miss that voice.

Whether he will succeed in moving UKIP in that direction I do not know, but the manner of his selection is definately not a good start.
Jim said…
Yeah, I must admit, Carswell was one of the main pushers for democracy.

The thing that i am wondering now though is, should he be elected under a UKIP ticket, could that be the end of the "farage supporters club" and UKIP actually becoming a serious party?

Farage hates anyone who can do better than he can, he sees talent as a threat to him, rather than a party advantage, though with Carswell as an MP, and Farage not, would that mean the end of his leadership, and hense, a much stronger UKIP?
Chris Whiteside said…
If Carswell actually managed to replace Farage as head of UKIP, that is not quite impossible.

The track record so far is that everyone else who has the combination of a functioning backbone and anything remotely resembling any ability or star quality who has ever joined UKIP in recent years has gone through the same trajectory:

1) They start out on good terms with Nigel

2) They fall out with Nigel

3) They leave UKIP.

I would not bet tuppence against Douglas Carswell following the same course, though it is of course possible, especially if the two of them have any sense that they will be careful to avoid any bust-up until after the General Election.

Then they will probably have a "winner takes all" fight for the leadership.
Jim said…
hmmm, I would say you are right. I can actually see Carswell going the distance though, that is until after the election. This of course would be the "winner takes all" you mentioned, though i can actully see Farage willingly standing down. His actions of late seem to suggest it.

You are bang on with your 3 stage UKIP phases in the last few years, and I could not agree with that more. Though i think Nigel is tired (possibly one pint too many) and Douglas is not exactly poor quality. This may well be interesting.

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