Will last-minute media attacks hurt Ukip?
Jonathan Lindsell, 19 May 2014
The EU elections are on Thursday. This is the most attention they have ever got, and the so called ‘fringe’ parties are likely to take unprecedented levels of the vote, far more than minor rebellions against Blairite foreign policy did. For years the media’s promoted Nigel Farage, perhaps because he’s a genuine, charismatic individual with a simple message. But now with real, important elections looming, they’re rounding on their darling.
The Times is the most committed attacker, running story after story about Ukip expenses irregularities, European extremist links, bizarre party management and Farage’s marital flutters. The BBC’s Nick Robinson followed their cue in investigating Mrs Farage’s job. Now The Sun is savaging Ukip too, oddly since it’s another of Rupert Murdoch’s papers. The Australian mogul has a soft spot for Farage, indeed has dined with him and tweets in his support, so it’s odd that two of his papers can pursue such a vendetta. Standpoint sees a conspiracy of celebrity columnists and Cameron cheerleaders behind the ‘hysterical campaign’.
Last week, LBC radio caught out the Ukip leader, whose comment ‘you know the difference’ (between Romanians and Germans) was heralded as more evidence of bigotry. Farage half-apologised, and has a full-page Telegraph advert defending himself from ‘a predictable storm of protest’– ‘[it’s] not racist to want to stop organised criminal gangs undermining our way of life’.
Meanwhile, the Telegraph continues its slide-show of Ukip’s more colourful individuals, today highlighting how MEP candidate Gordon Ferguson thinks ‘politicians from Britain’s three main political parties should be hanged and their voters tried for treason’. Boris Johnson reinforces the paper’s line, singing in perfect harmony with No 10’s renegotiation and referendum tune.
Even the Mail joined the attack, reviving historic accusations from Ukip’s founder that Farage used racial slurs. This sits alongside Private Eye reminding readers that Ukip’s Newark by-election candidate once backed voluntary migrant repatriation, called homosexuality ‘distasteful if not viscerally repugnant’, and claimed date-rape victims shared responsibility. Roger Helmer has since distanced himself from the comments.
Surprisingly, it’s the left-wing press that are more balanced. The Guardian discusses Labour’s problems adapting to Ukip, and how to address voters’ immigration concerns. New Statesman’s annual essay was a detailed dissection of Ukip voters’ make-up, fears, and how they relate to failings by Thatcher, Major and New Labour.
But Ukip are still leading in the polls. Nothing sticks – not even accusations that Ukip threaten free speech. Unlike traditional parties Ukip doesn’t have loyal publications, so hostility is expected from all quarters, even largely Eurosceptic papers. Moreover, a charge led by The Times can hardly dispel voters’ impression that ‘The Establishment’ is hostile to and afraid of Farage. Charges of racism, fascism or ‘uber nationalist xenophobia’ (Eric Pickles, there) just reinforce the narrative that the capital’s elite fail to empathise with, or even understand, the genuine anxieties Ukip voters have over the EU. They consider themselves reasonable patriots, not swivel-eyed loons. Being repeatedly labelled ‘fruitcakes’ doesn’t make fringe-voters come around to mainstream positions – it alienates them, offends them and galvanises them.