In the run up to the election I was constantly told my intention to vote UKIP would do more harm than good by diluting the Conservative vote and potentially allowing Labour to remain in office.
My response to that threat was to point out that if Cameron was elected his statist policies and abandonment of what many still regard as Conservative values would be vindicated, thus exposing the country to the risk of a second Cameron term, and the certainty of a centre left, statist monopoly in politics.
If Cameron failed, especially if UKIP could claim the credit, the Conservative party would tear itself apart in a very messy but exciting orgy of blood letting before the traditional Conservatives (the Thatcherites if you like) joined UKIP supporters to form a new, electable centre right party and we would have a real choice at the next election. Cameron and his allies would no doubt have joined their friends in the Labour party. The Conservative name would have died, being soiled beyond recovery.
I fear the coagulation has saved Cameron and cost the country dear.
– Commenter MarkE
I’m inclined to agree. FWIW, I voted UKIP.
Me too.
I’m inclined to disagree. The absurdity of UKIP bashers is nothing if not hilarious. On the one hand the argument runs that since UKIP polled such a small percentage of the national vote no one can take them seriously as a political force, OR – according to poor old ‘MarkE’ – the coalition is actually UKIP’s fault because they took all those crucial swing seats from the Tories in which case UKIP evidently DO have quite considerable clout. C’mon trolls, make up your minds!
Oh, & FWIW expect UKIP’s share of the vote to rise even more next time round.
I am dubious of Red’s comment. Cameron lost the election, that was there for the taking, because he was obsessed with greenie things and ignoring completely the EU. I too voted for UKIP, I did not trust Cameron. I was certainly proven correct, he will not stand up for our Country and that alone damnes him.
Well Red either you did not understand the comment or it is you who are trolling.
I voted UKIP, but it’s early days yet. The next General Election will be interesting.
In Kettering I voted for the Conservative party candidate – but he was endorsed by UKIP.
I had a similar experience to MarkE and I asked the person if that was really the best thing they had, not a set of policies that the Conservatives had that were better than UKIP, but simply to put Brown out of power.
But it’s a pretty good reason for voting for AV next year. Both main parties have utter contempt for the electorate and trade on the fact that they have a near monopoly on their “side” of the divide. AV doesn’t just mean they could lose an election, it means that their whole party that they have dedicated themselves to, career-wise, could be wiped out and replaced with someone better.
Even Ann W. has noticed that something very odd is going on (in spite of being distracted by all this celeb stuff she does these days).
Ann W. said that she was upset that government was treating people as little children – who needed every aspec of their lives planned and manipulated.
But of course David Cameron thinks “Nudge” by Cas Susteen is a noble book (he has made it required reading for ministers) that is a GOOD thing to manipuate people with regulations and so on…….
I can not go on.