United Kingdom Independence party (Ukip)
UKIP’s former leader Nigel Farage stood down from his party’s summit in a bid to focus on the 2010 general election. But will his attempt to win a seat in parliament pay off?
Follow the party’s progress across the country in the run-up to polling day here.
Low – January 19th: Burka outrage – UKIP got the year off to a bad start when its calls for a ban on the burka sparked anger. Farage said women who wanted to hide their face for religious reasons were “a symbol of an increasingly divided Britain that is not at ease with itself”. Indignant Muslim groups were outraged.
High – February 2nd: Wheeler cash boost – The party’s Buckingham campaign received a huge boost when it emerged multimillionaire Stuart Wheeler, who donated £5 million to the Tories’ 2001 campaign, is to help finance Farage’s race. The Times reported Wheeler could be providing funds of around £100,000 – not to be sniffed at, even if you are the Speaker (Farage’s opposition).
Low – March 4th: Rebel MEP thrown out– Nikki Sinclaire, a UKIP MEP, was finally expelled from the party after criticising the right-wing Europe of Freedom and Democracy grouping in the European parliament. The whip’s official withdrawal was something of a technicality – as she had been sitting apart from her former colleagues since mid-January.
High – March 19th: Pearson rouses supporters – Leader Lord Pearson received a standing ovation at the start and end of his speech to the party spring conference. “UKIP is not for lemmings; it is not for sheep,” he said. “UKIP is for independent thinkers who share a common passion for their country, and who do their best to mould themselves into a cohesive political force to achieve its salvation.”
Low – April 8th: Racism within the party – Ukip reinstates a parliamentary candidate, despite a racist post he uploaded onto a Community Care site. “You left-wing scum are all the same, wanting to hand our birthright to Romanian gypsies who beat their wives and children into begging and stealing money they can gamble with, Muslim nutters who want to kill us and put us under medieval Sharia law, the same Africans who sold their Afro-Caribbean brothers into a slavery that Britain was first to abolish (but you still want to apologize for!),” Paul Wiffen, candidate for Ilford South wrote.
High – April 8th: Farage kicks off campaign – Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage kicked off his campaign in Buckinghamshire with a blistering attack on Speaker John Bercow. “I won’t use taxpayers’ money to buy a second home,” he said. “Everybody has got the feeling we have a parliament full of people too frightened to speak their own mind. With me they know who they’ve got.” April 13th: Manifesto launch – Ex-leader Nigel Farage dominates the Ukip manifesto launch, but the emergence of Lady Pearson of Rannoch (wife of leader Lord Pearson) as Kensington and Chelsea candidate steals the headlines.
Low – April 15th: Rebellion in the ranks – Ukip candidate Jake Baynes refuses to stand down despite orders from the leadership. The party doesn’t want its candidates to run against other genuinely euro-sceptic candidates, but the man fighting Tory David Heathcoat-Amory in Wells, Somerset, refuses to back down.
High – April 22nd: Immigration comments – Peter Mason-Apps, Ukip candidate in Slough wins national headlines for saying the area cannot cope with more immigration. “The feedback I am getting from Slough people… is that they are finding it’s a problem at the moment,” he says.
Low – April 22nd: Sudden death – Voting in the north Yorkshire constituency of Thirsk and Malton is delayed following the death of Ukip candidate John Boakes. His opponents express their sympathy. The seat is still expected to go the Conservatives.
