"Were I, God forbid, in the UK Independence Party, I would be moving heaven and earth to turn the Haltemprice and Howden by-election into a mini-EU referendum.
David Davis, the Conservative MP who has forced the by-election by bizarrely resigning his own seat and vowing to fight it again, wants the contest to be about the Government's 42-day terror detention plans.
Possibly. But if I were UKIP, I would not allow a Conservative MP's mid-life crisis to dictate the terms of the by-election debate.
Mr Davis may claim that Magna Carta is threatened by the 42-day detention plan - but in UKIP's eyes, Magna Carta is equally threatened by the Lisbon Treaty and the erosion of national sovereignty they claim it represents.
What's more, UKIP has topicality on its side.The Irish have said "No" to Lisbon. The UK Parliament is in the process of ratifying the treaty without a referendum.
Judges are currently contemplating whether the Government's refusal to hold a referendum on the treaty was unlawful.
There is plenty of meat there for UKIP to gnaw on if it wishes to.
What it would need, however, is a high calibre candidate to capture public attention. Dare I say it, a Robert Kilroy-Silk type, but one who knows how to behave and play the political game? Can UKIP find one and make hay?
You know, she might have a point.
5 comments:
Not Kilroy please!
Time to step up to the plate Gawain.
Now there is a thought.
However we shall have to wait for Question Time this week which will have David Davies on Nigel Farage crossing swords. I hope that DD comes out firmly against the EU arrest warrent, the EU driven DNA database, the Treaty and so on.
If so we can support him with a clear concience if not...
I would be deeply disaoointed if UKIP stood against that man on this ground.
You need to pick fights with your enemies, not your friends. Much of what Mr Davies is attacking is attack worthy, and something I believe many of us actually share. In such times, the cause is more important than other differences.
I'd think Mr Davis is closer to the UKIP position than many, so I frankly do not understand the theory of picking fights with such people, and further would not support it.
If UKIP is ever to increase its real ground, The tories remain the largest grouping to its position anyway, and given a set of circumstances, would be the allies you'd have to make.
Yes, I know, many a tory can't really be regarded as 'trusty' in this sense, but they do remain the nearest within the spectrum.
"Mid-life crisis" how pathetic a remark.
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