Thread: UKIP Contesting Croydon - Bensham Manor By Election 08/02/07

I'm afraid this result (and the result in Bedworth) are nails in UKIPs coffin. If we can't pick up votes in a place like Croydon with the current Conservative leadership doing their best to imitate the Lib Dems, then when can they? We were saved at the last Euro elections by Kilroy-Silk's media-staged intervention. It is time for a major re-think.

Getting high profile representatives out even in a minor local council election, indicates seriousness and determination to make an impact. Success in one local ward, can ultimately lead to success at a Westminter level. The attitudes displayed here about the apparent insignifance of any high ranking UKIP member to show their face in Croydon may typify WHY UKIP ARE performing badly at local levels.

You are either in politics to win, or simply to make a statement, as it stands, UKIP seems even barely capable of the latter.

Originally Posted by BASILDON BOY

Our c*** votes in these bye-elections are down to one of two reasons:

Maybe. Could I suggest a third reason which might, just possibly, be to blame? Could it be that the reason we got a **** vote, at least in the case of Bede, was that we didn't actually run a campaign?

If Labour or the Tories run a paper candidate in a local poll, they often still get a respectable number of votes because of people's ingrained voting habits. That doesn't apply in UKIP's case. If we don't campaign hard, we don't get any votes.

Which means we either shouldn't run paper candidates, or if we do decide to run them, we shouldn't beat ourselves up when they get no votes.

The reality is that people vote primarily for/against a party, not the candidate. Thats why the big 3 get decent votes regardless of candidate. UKIP has yet to grasp that and expects branches/candidates alone to wave magic wands. The public are seeing UKIP as irrelevant and there is yet no comprehensive UKIP plan visible to address voter needs and phsycology and seemingly no one delegated to do it. What evidence is there (so far) in 2007 that UKIP Party has any real interest in local elections and local government ? There must be some. tell us. 2 years to go before MEP elections. What ground is being prepared for that ?

Another problem is that it's London although Croydon has a cultural autonomy. Londoners are generally a different breed of people to those in the rest of the country and a party like UKIP doesn't appeal to Londoners en masse as it does to people who live in say Sussex or Devon. NuLab and Camorons Tories are modelled around Londoners which is why they will poll strong in London whilst losing support in the rest of the country. Londoners are generally pro EU, pro immigration, pro multicultural, and socially liberal regardless of their background, income, or class. This also explains why the Greens do so well in London and why about a third of their membership live inside the M25. No longer are the Greens the party of the environment who got their best support from rural areas. They are a humanitarian party who win support from gay rights activists, overseas aid donors, and London transport users.

UKIP should accept there are many areas they have no hope of getting support in the same way as Labour are useless in Surrey and the Conservatives are useless in Merseyside. Focus on the fertile territories.

Originally Posted by Dissident Congress

Another problem is that it's London although Croydon has a cultural autonomy. Londoners are generally a different breed of people to those in the rest of the country and a party like UKIP doesn't appeal to Londoners en masse as it does to people who live in say Sussex or Devon. NuLab and Camorons Tories are modelled around Londoners which is why they will poll strong in London whilst losing support in the rest of the country. Londoners are generally pro EU, pro immigration, pro multicultural, and socially liberal regardless of their background, income, or class. This also explains why the Greens do so well in London and why about a third of their membership live inside the M25. No longer are the Greens the party of the environment who got their best support from rural areas. They are a humanitarian party who win support from gay rights activists, overseas aid donors, and London transport users.

UKIP should accept there are many areas they have no hope of getting support in the same way as Labour are useless in Surrey and the Conservatives are useless in Merseyside. Focus on the fertile territories.

25% of Londoners said they would vote BNP in a poll not so long ago.
Dosnt seem like they are all liberals to me.

Originally Posted by This-England

25% of Londoners said they would vote BNP in a poll not so long ago.
Dosnt seem like they are all liberals to me.

Well I live and work in London, and I can confidently tell you that the suggestion that 25% of Londoners might even dream of voting BNP is so wildly, hilariously unlikely that we can safely deposit that particular poll in the round metal filing cabinet.

25% of Londoners said they would vote BNP in a poll not so long ago.

Shortly before the 2000 London Assembly elections, I stumbled upon a house in south London with a large Vote BNP sign outside. I thought that whoever had displayed this sign really had more courage than sense, but was gobsmacked when I found out the residents of the house were black. They told me they wanted to be repatriated and that some black people vote BNP. I believed them with an emphasis on some, but where anybody gets a figure of 25% from intrigues me.

Did they look like students, by any chance? Was it also rag week?

"Yeah, we want to be repatriated! Vote BNP! Heh heh heh."

Reminds me a little of an Australian comedian long, long ago... little nervous -looking bloke, I forget his name. He had a TV camera follow him down some street in Alabama doing supposed "vox pop" interviews with the locals. He approached some huge black guy who was cruising down the street minding his own business, and said:

"Sir, excuse me sir? Are you a member of the Klu Klux Klan?"