UK Independence Party
UK Independence Party | |
---|---|
far-right[11] | |
European Parliament group | Europe of Democracies and Diversities (1999–2004) Independence/Democracy (2004–2009) Europe of Freedom and Democracy (2009–2014) Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (2014–2018) Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe (2014–2017) Europe of Nations and Freedom (2019) |
Colours | Purple Gold |
Slogan | "People not politics" |
Website | |
ukip | |
The UK Independence Party (UKIP;
UKIP originated as the
Ideologically positioned on the
Governed by its leader and national executive committee, UKIP is divided into 12 regional groups. While gaining electoral support from various sectors of British society,
History
Foundation and early years: 1991–2004
UKIP began as the Anti-Federalist League, a Eurosceptic political party established in 1991 by the historian Alan Sked. The League opposed the recently signed Maastricht Treaty and sought to sway the governing Conservative Party towards removing the United Kingdom from the European Union (EU).[12] A former Liberal Party candidate, member of the Bruges Group, and professor at the London School of Economics (LSE), Sked had converted to Euroscepticism while teaching the LSE's European Studies programme.[13] Under the Anti-Federalist League's banner, Sked was a candidate for member of parliament (MP) for Bath at the 1992 general election, gaining 0.2% of the vote.[14] At a party meeting held in the LSE on 3 September 1993, the group was renamed the UK Independence Party, deliberately avoiding the term "British" so as to avoid confusion with the far-right British National Party (BNP).[15][16]
UKIP contested the
After the election, Sked was pressured into resigning by a party faction led by Farage,
An internal power struggle ensued between Holmes and the party's national executive committee (NEC), which was critical of Holmes after he called for the
Growing visibility: 2004–2014
UKIP's support increased during the 2004 European Parliament elections, when it placed third, securing 2.6 million votes (16.1%) and winning 12 seats. This had been made possible through increased funding from major donors and the celebrity endorsement of former chat show host Robert Kilroy-Silk, who stood as a candidate in the East Midlands.[32] Kilroy-Silk then criticised Knapman's leadership, arguing that UKIP should stand against Conservative candidates, regardless of whether they were Eurosceptic or not. This position was rejected by many party members, who were uneasy regarding Kilroy-Silk. After Farage and Lott backed Knapman, Kilroy-Silk left the party in January 2005.[33][34] Two weeks later, he founded his own rival, Veritas, taking a number of UKIP members—including both of its London Assembly members—with him.[35]
After Kilroy-Silk's defection, UKIP's membership declined by a third and donations dropped by over a half.[36] UKIP continued to be widely seen as a single-issue party and in the 2005 general election—when it fielded 496 candidates—it secured only 2.2% of the vote, and 40 candidates had their deposits returned.[37] Electoral support for the BNP grew during this period, with academics and political commentators suggesting that the parties were largely competing for the same voter base, a section of about 20% of the UK population.[38] Given that the BNP had outperformed UKIP in most of the seats that they both contested, many UKIP members, including several figures on the NEC, favoured an electoral pact with them, a proposal that Farage strongly condemned.[39]
In 2006, Farage was
In September 2009, Farage resigned as leader.[51][52] The subsequent leadership election was won by Lord (Malcolm) Pearson, who emphasised UKIP's opposition to high immigration rates and Islamism in Britain, calling for a ban on the burqa being worn in public.[53][54][55] Pearson was unpopular with the UKIP grassroots, who viewed him as an establishment figure too favourable to the Conservatives.[56] In the 2010 general election, UKIP fielded 558 candidates and secured 3.1% of the vote (919,471 votes), but won no seats.[57][58] Pearson stood down as leader in August, and Farage was re-elected in the leadership election with more than 60% of the vote.[59][60][61][62]
Farage placed new emphasis on developing areas of local support through growth in local councils.
Entering mainstream politics: 2014–2016
In March 2014, Ofcom awarded UKIP "major party status".[72] In the 2014 local elections, UKIP won 163 seats, an increase of 128, but did not take control of any council.[73] In the 2014 European Parliament elections, UKIP received the greatest number of votes (27.5%) of any British party, which elected 24 MEPs.[74][75] The party won seats in every region of Britain, including its first in Scotland.[76] It made strong gains in traditionally Labour voting areas within Wales and the North of England; it for instance came either first or second in all 72 council areas of the latter.[77] The victory established Farage and UKIP as "truly household names".[78] It was the first time since 1906 that a party other than Labour or the Conservatives had won the most votes in a UK-wide election.[79]
UKIP gained its first MP when Conservative defector Douglas Carswell won the seat of Clacton during an October 2014 by-election.[80][81] In November fellow Conservative defector Mark Reckless became UKIP's second MP in a Rochester and Strood by-election.[82][83] In the 2015 general election, UKIP secured over 3.8 million votes (12.6% of the total), replacing the Liberal Democrats as the third most popular party, but only secured one seat,[84] with Carswell retaining his seat and Reckless losing his.[85][86] In the run-up to the election, Farage stated that he would resign as party leader if he did not win South Thanet.[87][88] On failing to do so, he resigned,[89][90] although was reinstated three days later when the NEC rejected his resignation.[91][92] A period of 'civil war' broke out among senior membership between those who favoured Farage's leadership and those seeking a change.[93] In the 2015 Oldham West and Royton by-election the party attacked Jeremy Corbyn as a security risk, but only gained a small increase in support at the expense of the Conservative Party. In the 2016 National Assembly for Wales election, UKIP nearly tripled their share of votes (from 4.7 per cent to 12.5 per cent) and won seven seats.[94] UKIP had also won control of its first UK council, in Thanet, in May 2015; it took overall control from Labour and increased its seats on the council from two to 33.[95]
2016 Brexit referendum
To counter the loss of further votes to UKIP, the governing Conservatives, led by David Cameron, promised a referendum on the UK's continued membership of the EU.[96] Rather than taking part in the official Vote Leave campaign, to which various Eurosceptic Conservative and Labour politicians were linked, UKIP affiliated itself with the Leave.EU campaign group.[97] Farage gained regular press coverage during the campaign, in which Leave.EU emphasised what it characterised as the negative impact of immigration on local communities and public services.[97] The June 2016 referendum produced a 51.89% majority in favour of leaving the EU: the accomplishment of UKIP's raison d'être raised questions about the party's future.[98] The loss of its MEPs would result in the loss of its primary institutional representation and a key source of its funding.[99]
Decline: 2016–present
Downward turn (2016–2018)
After the referendum, Farage resigned as UKIP leader.
In 2017, Henry Bolton, a former soldier, was elected leader.[111] In January 2018, UKIP MEP Jonathan Arnott resigned from the party.[112] In December 2017, former UKIP Suffolk County Council member and parliamentary candidate from the general election in Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, Stephen Searle, murdered his wife Anne Searle at their home in Stowmarket.[113][114][115][116] In January 2018, UKIP's NEC delivered a vote of no confidence in Bolton; only Bolton voted against the motion.[117] He nevertheless refused to resign.[117] In protest, Margot Parker resigned as deputy leader,[118] as did the party's spokesmen for government, education, immigration, and trade and industry.[119] A few days later, all 17 UKIP members of Thurrock Council left the party and formed Thurrock Independents.[120] In February, UKIP members passed a vote of no confidence in Bolton, removing him as leader. He was replaced by Gerard Batten as interim leader until a new leadership election could be held.[121] When the election occurred in April, Batten stood unopposed and was elected.[122]
Association with the far right (2018–2019)
In the 2018 local elections, UKIP lost 124 of the 126 seats it was defending, and gained a single seat in Derby, for a net loss of 123.[123] MEP James Carver left UKIP to sit as an independent on 28 May 2018, becoming the sixth UKIP MEP to leave since 2014.[124]
Under the leadership of Henry Bolton, party membership was understood to have fallen to around 18,000 by January 2018.
Batten's appointment of Robinson as an adviser was followed by a wave of high-profile resignations from the party. Farage announced his decision to resign in December 2018, calling Batten "obsessed" with Islam and saying that "UKIP wasn't founded to be a party based on fighting a religious crusade".[133] Former deputy chair Suzanne Evans had left earlier that week after Batten survived a vote of confidence from the party NEC.[134] The former leader of the party in the Welsh Assembly, Caroline Jones, and the MEP William Dartmouth had also cited the party's trajectory to the right as reasons for leaving the party.[135] Another former leader, Paul Nuttall, also left for the same reason.[136] By December 2018, a majority of the party's MEPs had left. Others leaving included Peter Whittle, the party's top vote-winner on the London Assembly.
On 9 December 2018, before an important vote on
By April 2019, the British government had agreed an extension to EU membership with the EU until 31 October 2019, which would mean the UK would take part in the 2019 European Parliament elections. Candidates selected by UKIP to run in the election included right-wing YouTube personalities Carl Benjamin and Mark Meechan.[139] Benjamin had caused controversy by making "inappropriate" comments in 2016 about the rape threats to a female Labour MP Jess Phillips, with the UKIP Swindon branch chair calling for him to be deselected.[140] Videos made by Benjamin in which he used racist terms also caused controversy.[141] In May, the 2019 United Kingdom local elections saw UKIP lose around 80% of the seats it was defending. The party was criticised for failing "to capitalise on the collapse of the Conservatives" by commentators.[142] In the European elections later that month, UKIP received 3.3% of the vote and lost all its remaining seats.[143]
On 2 June 2019, Batten resigned his post as party leader as he had promised if he lost his MEP position.[144] In the 2019 UKIP leadership election, Richard Braine was elected UKIP leader and attempted to appoint Batten as deputy leader.[145] Braine's attempt to appoint Batten as the party's deputy leader was blocked by its NEC. Braine was criticised in the press for comments he has made which were considered racist and offensive, including one incident in which he claimed he "often confused" London mayor Sadiq Khan with Mohammad Sidique Khan, one of the 7/7 terror attackers.[146] Braine later further came under fire when he announced he planned to boycott the September 2019 UKIP Party conference in Newport, after less than 450 tickets were sold for the conference. The chairman of UKIP, Kirstan Herriot, told members that Braine had attempted to cancel the conference due to the low turnout and was highly critical of this attempted action.[147]
Internal instability and wipeout (2019–present)
In October 2019, UKIP underwent a leadership crisis in the run-up to its NEC elections after it suspended Braine's membership, and by extension, his eligibility to be party leader, over allegations of data theft from party databases. Three other members associated with Braine – Jeff Armstrong, the party's general secretary appointed by Braine; NEC candidate Mark Dent; and Tony Sharp – were also suspended.[148] In response, Braine accused the NEC of carrying out a purge of members.[149] All four members were reported to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau.[148] On 30 October 2019, Braine resigned as leader of the party. He cited "internal conflict" and an inability to "prevent a purge of good members from the party", referring to the NEC's decision to add "Integrity", an anti-Islam faction within UKIP supporting Tommy Robinson, Batten and Braine, to the party's proscribed list of organisations.[150]
On 7 November 2019, Welsh Assembly Member and UKIP group leader
On 16 November 2019, NEC member
In January 2020,
In March 2020, according to a tweet by former leader Gerard Batten, the party was reported to be "close to insolvency".[157]
On 25 June 2020, Freddy Vachha was elected unopposed as leader.[161] He stated that the party "went astray quite a few years ago" and that under his leadership it would "return to our libertarian freedom-loving principles".[162] On 12 September 2020, it was reported that Vachha had been suspended from the party following a formal complaint of bullying and harassment. Later that day, UKIP Wales leader Neil Hamilton was made interim leader.[161][163] Vachha argued a short time later that he was still leader, and that his suspension was unconstitutional, as he claimed to have appointed Marietta King as chairman in place of Ben Walker a few days earlier.[164] Vachha decided to take legal action, however in December a judge refused his request to fast-track the case. Vachha then dropped his legal case and was ordered to pay the party's legal costs.[165]
In the
After a period as acting leader, Hamilton was elected as leader in October 2021, receiving 498 votes of 631 cast (78.9%) against challenger John Poynton.[171][172] In April 2023, the party removed a longstanding ban of current or former members of far-right groups and parties – including the British National Party (BNP) – from joining the party, and replaced it with a ban of members of several anti-fascist, left-wing, and environmentalist groups.[173] In the May 2023 local elections, it lost all of its remaining council seats leaving the party without representation at any level.[174][175]
At the start of 2024, Hamilton announced that he would retire as party leader that May, leading to a new leadership contest. Bill Etheridge, Lois Perry, and Anne Marie Waters, who had rejoined the party the previous year after having left to form the For Britain Movement, were announced as candidates for the contest.[176]
Ideology and policies
Right-wing populism
UKIP is situated on the right-wing of the
The political scientists Amir Abedi and Thomas Carl Lundberg characterised UKIP as an "Anti-Political Establishment" party.[182] The party's rhetoric presents the idea that there is a fundamental divide between the British population and the elite who govern the country.[183] UKIP claims to stand up for ordinary people against this political elite.[184] UKIP politician Bill Etheridge for instance claimed that his party represented "a democratic revolution... the people of Britain rising up and fighting to wrestle power from the elite".[185] Contributing to this anti-establishment message, Farage describes the party's supporters as "the People's Army",[186] and he regularly held photo-opportunities and journalistic interviews in a pub, thus cultivating an "erudite everyman" image that contrasted with his past as a commodities trader.[187]
UKIP uses recurring populist rhetoric—for instance by describing its policies as "
Nationalism and British unionism
UKIP has always had the politics of
UKIP considers itself to be a
UKIP has emphasised the need to correct what it perceives as the United Kingdom's imbalance against England resulting from the "
Euroscepticism, immigration, and foreign policy
UKIP embraces the ideology of
The party opposed the 2004 enlargement of the European Union into eastern Europe.[213] UKIP advocated leaving the European Union, stopping payments to the EU, and withdrawing from EU treaties, while maintaining trading ties with other European countries.[214] Initially, UKIP's policy was that, in the event of winning a general election, it would remove the UK from the EU without a referendum on the issue.[97] The party leadership later suggested a referendum, expressing the view that in the case of an exit vote, it could negotiate favourable terms for the country's withdrawal, for instance through ensuring a free trade agreement between the UK and EU.[215][216] UKIP eventually committed to a referendum in its 2015 manifesto.[97] In contrast to involvement in the EU, UKIP has emphasised the UK's global connections, in particularly to member states of the Commonwealth of Nations.[217] UKIP rejected the description that they were "Europhobes", maintaining that its stance was anti-EU, not anti-European.[217]
UKIP has placed great emphasis on the issue of immigration to the UK,[218] and in 2013 Farage described it as "the biggest single issue facing this party".[219] UKIP attributes British membership of the EU as the core cause of immigration to the UK, citing the Union's open-border policies as the reason why large numbers of East European migrants have moved to Britain.[219] On their campaign billboards, UKIP have presented EU migrants as a source of crime, as well as a pressure on housing, the welfare state, and the health service.[220] Farage has emphasised not only the economic impact of migration but also the public anxieties regarding the cultural changes brought by immigration.[220] In its 2009 electoral manifesto, UKIP proposed a five-year ban on any migrants coming to the UK.[210] By 2015, it had modified this to the view that the five-year ban should apply only to unskilled migrants.[221] To regulate the arrival of skilled migrants, it called for the UK to adopt a points-based system akin to that employed by Australia.[222] It advocated the establishment of a watchdog to help curb immigration, and bring the levels of net annual immigration down from the hundreds of thousands to between 20,000 and 50,000, which was the average level in the UK between 1950 and 2000.[221] UKIP calls for all immigrants to require compulsory health insurance,[221] and proposes that migrants be barred from claiming any state benefits until they had been resident in the UK for at least five years.[223]
UKIP gained traction from the fact that post-2008, immigration had come to the forefront of many Britons' minds as a result of increased EU migration and its concomitant social changes.[224] By the 2015 general election, the political scientists James Dennison and Matthew Goodwin argued, UKIP had secured "ownership" of the immigration issue among British voters, having secured it from the Conservatives.[225] However, the party's campaign against immigration has been accused of using racism and xenophobia to win votes.[226] Political scientist David Art suggested that in its campaign to restrict immigration, UKIP had "flirted with xenophobia",[227] while Daniel T. Dye stated that part of the party's appeal was its "sometimes-xenophobic populism",[228] and the journalist Daniel Trilling stated that UKIP tapped into the "anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim populism" that was popular in the late 2000s.[229] The political scientist Simon Usherwood stated that UKIP's hardening of immigration policy "risked reinforcing the party's profile as a quasi-far-right grouping",[230] elsewhere stating that the party was only held together by its opposition to the EU and immigration, suggesting that it had "no ideological coherence" beyond that.[99]
In its 2015 campaign, UKIP called for the foreign aid budget to be cut.
Economic policy
"So what kind of party is UKIP? Ideologically, the party combines a mix of old-style liberal commitments to free markets, limited government and individual freedom with conservative appeals to national sovereignty and traditional social values."
— Political scientist Stephen Driver, 2011[235]
On economic policy, UKIP shares the main three parties' acceptance of the core principles of a capitalist market economy,[236] and the party is generally at ease with the global free market.[237] The academics Simon Winlow, Steve Hall, and James Treadwell commented that on economic issues, "UKIP wants to have its cake and eat it. It wants to retain the best bits of the market economy while discarding what it considers the negative outcomes of 21st-century neoliberalism."[238] They noted for instance that it wanted "free movement of capital" yet wanted to curtail "the free movement of workers across borders".[239]
On economic issues, UKIP's original activist base was largely
UKIP would allow businesses to favour British workers over migrants,
Social policy
In
In 2015, Farage attracted widespread press attention for suggesting that HIV positive patients who were not British citizens should not receive treatment on the NHS.
Although Farage had long been reticent about focusing on public anxieties surrounding Muslims in Britain, he spoke out following the
UKIP is the only major political party in the United Kingdom that does not endorse
In its 2015 election manifesto, UKIP promised to teach a chronological understanding of "British history and achievements" in schools,
Farage argued that British Overseas Territories like Gibraltar should have representatives in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, akin to the privileges given to French overseas territories in France. Farage believes that all citizens for whom the British Parliament passes legislation, whether in the United Kingdom or its territories, deserve democratic representation in that Parliament.[269]
Support
Financial backing
In 2008, Usherwood noted that UKIP relied heavily on a small number of major financial backers.[270] According to The Guardian, a leaked internal report to UKIP's executive committee dated to September 2012 shows that the party's leader argued that "the key to money for us will be the hedge fund industry".[271]
According to UKIP's annual returns to the Electoral Commission,[272] in 2013 the party had a total income of £2,479,314. Of this, £714,492 was from membership and subscriptions, £32,115 from fundraising activities and £1,361,640 from donations. By law, individual donations over £7,500 must be reported.[273]
UKIP has several high-profile backers. In March 2009, the Conservative Party's biggest-ever donor, Stuart Wheeler, donated £100,000 to UKIP after criticising Cameron's stance towards the Treaty of Lisbon. He was then expelled from the Conservatives and in 2011 appointed treasurer of UKIP.[274] In October 2014, Arron Banks, who previously gave £25,000 to the Conservatives, increased his UKIP donation from £100,000 to £1 million after Hague said he had never heard of him.[275][276] The multi-millionaire Paul Sykes has helped finance the party, donating over £1 million to its 2014 campaign at the European Parliament.[277]
In December 2014,
In September 2016, the major UKIP donor, Arron Banks, said that UKIP would be "dead in the water" if Diane James did not become leader.[280] Following her departure after 18 days, Banks said that he would leave UKIP if Steven Woolfe was prevented from running for leader, and if two other members remained in the party: "If Neil Hamilton and Douglas Carswell [UKIP's only MP] remain in the party, and the NEC decide that Steven Woolfe cannot run for leader, I will be leaving UKIP".[281]
Membership
UKIP's membership numbers increased from 2002 to the time of the 2004 European Parliament election, before hovering around the 16,000 mark during the late 2000s.[16][282] In 2004, the party claimed 20,000 members, with this remaining broadly stable, and in June 2007 it had a recorded 16,700 members.[283] By July 2013, the figure had grown to 30,000[284] before ending the year at 32,447.[285] In 2014, the number was 36,000 on 22 April,[286] by 7 May reached 37,000[287] and on 19 May, less than a fortnight later and only three days before the 2014 European Parliament election, rose to 38,000.[288] In January 2015, UKIP membership was the fifth-highest of British parties.[289][290]
Membership was 45,000 in May 2015, but since then has fallen to 32,757 in November 2016,[291] and as low as 18,000 under Henry Bolton by January 2018.[292]
In June 2018, four political activists known through social media – Paul Joseph Watson, Mark Meechan, Carl Benjamin, and Milo Yiannopoulos – joined the party. This was followed by the party gaining around 500 members.[293]
In July 2018, it was reported the party had attracted 3,200 new members, a 15% increase.[294]
The party's report to The Electoral Commission of its accounts as of 31 December 2020 stated the party had a membership of 3,888.[4]
Voter base
UKIP's voters are not single-issue Europhobes or political protesters, they share a clear and distinct agenda, mixing deep Euroscepticism with clear ideas about immigration, national identity and the way British society is changing. The conflict between UKIP's voters and the political mainstream reflects a deep-seated difference in outlook among voters from different walks in life. Those who lead and staff the three main parties are all from the highly educated, socially liberal middle classes, who are comfortable in an ethnically and culturally diverse, outward looking society... Those who lead and staff UKIP, and those who vote for them, are older, less educated, disadvantaged and economically insecure Britons, who are profoundly uncomfortable in the 'new' society, which they regard as alien and threatening.
— Political scientists Robert Ford and Matthew Goodwin, 2014.[295]
In its early years, UKIP targeted itself towards southern English, middle-class Eurosceptic voters, those who had been supporters of the Conservative Party until John Major's Conservative government signed the Maastricht Treaty.[296] This led to the widespread perception that UKIP's supporters were primarily middle-class ex-Conservative voters, with commentator Peter Oborne characterising UKIP as "the Conservative Party in exile".[297]
After 2009, UKIP refocused its attention to appeal primarily to white British, working-class, blue-collar workers; those who had traditionally voted Labour or in some cases for Thatcher's Conservatives but who had ceased voting or begun to vote BNP since the emergence of the New Labour project in the 1990s.[296] In this way, UKIP's support base does not line up with the historical left-right divide in British politics, instead being primarily rooted in class divisions.[298] This mirrored the voting base of other radical right parties across Western Europe which had grown since the early 1990s.[299] This scenario had come about following the rapid growth of the middle-classes and the concomitant decline of the working-class population in Western Europe; the centre-left, social-democratic parties who had traditionally courted the support of the working classes largely switched their attention to the newly emergent middle-classes, leaving their initial support base increasingly alienated and creating the vacuum which the radical right exploited.[300]
On the basis of their extensive study of data on the subject, in 2014 the political scientists Matthew Goodwin and Robert Ford concluded that "UKIP's support has a very clear social profile, more so than any of the mainstream parties. Their electoral base is old, male, working class, white and less educated".[301] They found that 57% of professed UKIP supporters were over the age of 54, while only one in 10 was under 35, which they attributed to the fact that UKIP's socially conservative and Eurosceptic platform appealed far more to Britain's older generations that their younger counterparts, who were more socially liberal and less antagonistic towards the EU.[302]
57% of UKIP supporters were male, which Ford and Goodwin suggested was due to women voters being put off by a number of high-profile
Ford and Goodwin nevertheless noted that UKIP was "not a purely blue-collar party but an alliance of manual workers, employers and the self-employed."[308] Geoffrey Evans and Jon Mellon highlighted that UKIP receive "a greater proportion of their support from lower professionals and managers" than from any other class group.[309] They highlighted that polls repeatedly demonstrated that UKIP drew more votes from Conservative voters than Labour ones.[310] They suggested that the assumption that working-class voters who supported UKIP had previously been Labour voters was misplaced,[311] suggesting that these people had ceased voting for Labour "a long time before UKIP were an effective political presence", having been alienated by Labour's "pro-middle class, pro-EU and, as it eventually turned out, pro-immigration agenda".[312] In 2011, Goodwin, Ford, and David Cutts published a study that identified Euroscepticism as the main causal factor for voters supporting UKIP, with concern over immigration levels and distrust of the political establishment also featuring as important motives.[313] They noted, however, that during elections for the European Parliament, UKIP was able to broaden its support to gain the vote of largely middle-class Eurosceptics who vote Conservative in other elections.[314]
Ukip has become more than the single issue on which it was founded: under Farage's leadership it has become a welcoming home for the many in British society who feel that 'the system' isn't working for them, or has left them behind, economically, socially or politically. In so doing, it has gained supporters from across the political spectrum, including many old Labour voters in economically distressed regions of the country.
— Political scientist Simon Usherwood, 2016.[99]
From their analysis of the data, Ford and Goodwin stated that UKIP's support base has "strong parallels" both with that of western Europe's other radical right parties and with the BNP during their electoral heyday.[315] Conversely, an earlier study by Richard Whitaker and Philip Lynch, based on polling data from YouGov, concluded that UKIP voters were distinct from those of far-right parties. The authors found that voter support for UKIP correlated with concerns about the value of immigration and a lack of trust in the political system, but the biggest explanatory factor for their support of UKIP was Euroscepticism.[316] A further study by the same authors suggests that UKIP voters' core beliefs align very closely to those of the UKIP candidates; particularly so on issues surrounding European integration, which has resulted in Conservative voters switching to UKIP due to Conservative divisions on this issue.[317] One study found that 63% of UKIP voters considered themselves to be right-wing, while 22% thought centrist and 16% thought leftist.[318] 81% believed that immigration undermined British culture, a view shared by only half the wider British population.[319] On economic issues, there was a divide between UKIP voters and the party itself.[320] In contrast to the party's economic liberalism, UKIP supporters often held more leftist attitudes to the economy, with almost 80% opining that big business took advantage of working people and almost 70% thinking that privatisation had gone too far.[321]
UKIP has been most successful along England's eastern and southern coasts, in parts of south-west England, and in the Labour heartlands of Northern England and Wales.
UKIP supporters are sometimes nicknamed "Kippers". In May 2017, in response to large defections from the party, Goodwin said "Former Kippers did not walk but literally sprinted over to the Conservatives."[329]
Organisation
Leadership
Leader of the UK Independence Party | |
---|---|
Term length | Four years |
Inaugural holder | Alan Sked |
Formation | 3 September 1993 |
Deputy | Pat Mountain |
According to Part VII of the UKIP constitution, the party leader is voted for by postal ballot by all paid-up party members "in good standing". The winner is the candidate with the
Leader | Took office | Left office | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Alan Sked | 3 September 1993 | July 1997 | Party founder; left party in 1997 |
Craig Mackinlay was acting leader during this interim | ||||
2 | Michael Holmes | September 1997 | 22 January 2000 | MEP 1999–2002; left party in 2000 |
3 | Jeffrey Titford | 22 January 2000 | 5 October 2002 | MEP 1999–2009; left party in 2023 |
4 | Roger Knapman | 5 October 2002 | 12 September 2006 | MEP 2004–2009 |
5 | Nigel Farage | 12 September 2006 | 27 November 2009 | Former chairman; MEP 1999–2020; left party in 2018 |
6 | The Lord Pearson of Rannoch | 27 November 2009 | 2 September 2010 | Member of House of Lords; left party in 2019 |
Jeffrey Titford was acting leader during this interim | ||||
(5) | Nigel Farage | 5 November 2010 | 16 September 2016 | |
7 | Diane James | 16 September 2016 |
4 October 2016[N 1] | Leader-elect, MEP 2014–2019; left party in 2016 |
Nigel Farage was acting leader during this interim | ||||
8 | Paul Nuttall | 28 November 2016 |
9 June 2017 | Deputy leader 2010–2016; MEP 2009–2019; left party in 2018 |
Steve Crowther was acting leader during this interim | ||||
9 | Henry Bolton | 29 September 2017 | 17 February 2018 | Left party in 2018 |
Gerard Batten was acting leader during this interim | ||||
10 | Gerard Batten | 14 April 2018 | 2 June 2019 | MEP 2004–2019 |
Piers Wauchope was acting leader during this interim | ||||
11 | Richard Braine | 10 August 2019 | 30 October 2019 | Suspended from party in October 2019; subsequently resigned as leader |
Patricia Mountain was acting leader during this interim until 25 April 2020[152]
| ||||
Leadership was vacant until 22 June 2020 | ||||
12 | Freddy Vachha | 22 June 2020 |
12 September 2020 | Chairman of UKIP London, Leadership candidate in 2019. Suspended from party on 12 September 2020 |
13 | Neil Hamilton | 12 September 2020 | Incumbent | Initially served as interim leader;[332] substantiated on 19 October 2021[172] |
Timeline
Deputy leadership
Deputy Leader | Tenure | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Craig Mackinlay | 1997–2000 | Left party in 2005 |
2 | Graham Booth | 2000–02 | MEP 2002–2008; died 2011 |
3 | Mike Nattrass | 2002–06 | MEP 2004–2014; left party in 2013 |
4 | David Campbell Bannerman | 2006–10 | MEP since 2009; left party in 2011 |
5 | The Viscount Monckton of Brenchley | Jun–Nov 2010 | Leader of UKIP in Scotland, 2013 |
6 | Paul Nuttall | 2010–16 | MEP since 2009; left party in 2018 |
7 | Peter Whittle | 2016–17 | London AM since 2016; left party in 2018 |
8 | Margot Parker | 2017–18 | MEP 2014–2019; left party in 2019 |
9 | Mike Hookem | 2018–19 | MEP 2014–2019 |
10 | Pat Mountain | 2020 | Interim Leader 2019, NEC Member |
11 | Rebecca Jane | 2022–2024[333] |
Party chairman
Chairman | Tenure | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Nigel Farage | 1998–2000 | Later became Party Leader |
2 | Mike Nattrass | 2000–02 | |
3 | David Lott | 2002–04 | |
4 | Petrina Holdsworth | 2004–05 | |
5 | David Campbell Bannerman | 2005–06 | |
6 | John Whittaker | 2006–08 | |
7 | Paul Nuttall | 2008–2010 | Later became Party Leader |
8 | Steve Crowther | 2010–2016 | |
9 | Paul Oakden | 2016–18 | |
10 | Tony McIntyre | 2018 | |
11 | Kirstan Herriot | 2018–2019 | |
12 | Ben Walker | 2020– |
Spokespersons
The front bench team is divided into departmental sub-units, the principal ones being the economy, foreign policy and immigration. Sometimes the front bench team consists of more than just the principal positions.
Regions
UKIP's organisation is divided into 12 regions: London, South East, South West, Eastern, East Midlands, West Midlands, Yorkshire, North East, North West, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland.[334] An additional 13th branch operates in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar; it held its first public meeting at the Lord Nelson pub in April 2013.[335]
At the end of 2013, UKIP Scotland was dissolved after infighting tore the regional party apart; the party's administrative body was dissolved, Mike Scott-Hayward (the chairman and chief fundraiser) quit, and Farage fired Lord
Veteran and former long-serving Antrim and Newtownabbey-based councillor, Robert Hill was appointed by Gerard Batten as UKIP's Spokesman for Northern Ireland in May 2018.[338] In August 2018, Welsh Assembly Member Gareth Bennett was elected as leader of UKIP in Wales after a membership ballot.[339]
Representatives
House of Commons
In the UK, the
In 2014, two Conservative MPs changed allegiance to UKIP and resigned their seats to fight by-elections for UKIP. Douglas Carswell won the Clacton by-election on 9 October, making him the first MP to be elected representing UKIP.[346] Mark Reckless was also victorious in the Rochester and Strood by-election on 20 November.[83] At the 2015 general election, Carswell kept his seat in Clacton but Reckless lost Rochester to the Conservative Kelly Tolhurst.[347] UKIP had 3,881,129 votes (12.6%) and was the third largest party on vote share, yet it won only one seat.[348] Because of this, there were calls from some in UKIP for a voting reform in favour of proportional representation.[349] Carswell quit the party in March 2017 to become an independent, leaving UKIP without any MPs in the Commons.[103] In the 2017 election, a snap election initiated by PM Theresa May and scheduled for 8 June 2017, UKIP got 1.9% of the votes (after 12.6% in the 2015 election) and no seats in the House of Commons.
House of Lords
On 24 June 1995, UKIP gained its first member of the House of Lords,
Devolved parliaments and assemblies
UKIP competes electorally in all four parts of the United Kingdom.[181]
Northern Ireland
In October 2012, UKIP gained its first representation in a devolved Assembly the Northern Ireland Assembly in David McNarry, MLA for Strangford, who had left the Ulster Unionist Party.[355] The party however failed to continue its representation at the 2016 election, coming within a hundred votes of taking a seat in East Antrim.[356] This seat was unsuccessfully contested in the 2017 election.
Scotland
UKIP's support has been particularly weak in Scotland, where it has no representatives in the devolved parliament.[357] UKIP fielded candidates at the Scottish Parliament election on 5 May 2011, when its platform included a commitment to keep the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, while replacing the separately-elected Members of the Scottish Parliament with the Members of the House of Commons elected in Scotland.[358] The party fielded candidates on the regional lists in the 2016 election without any success.[359] In the 2021 Scottish Parliament election candidates were again fielded on regional lists.[360]
Wales
The party also fielded candidates for the
Local government
UKIP initially paid little attention to local government elections. However, this changed after Farage observed that building localised strongholds of support in various parts of the country had been the process by which the Liberal Democrats had entered the House of Commons, and that this was a strategy that could benefit UKIP.[366] UKIP subsequently focused on the 2011 local elections, in which it fielded over 1,100 candidates, winning seven seats and becoming the main opposition in over 100.[367]
The first UKIP local council election win occurred when one of its members was elected to
In the 2013 local elections, UKIP won 147 seats and established itself as the largest opposition party in six English county councils.
In the
In the 2023 local elections, the party lost all remaining representation at council level; only one incumbent councillor defended their seat,[376] out of the six seats UKIP contested,[377] and losing 25 councillors from 2019, the last time the seats were up for election.[378] The party now only has elected representatives on parish and town councils, the lowest level of local government; party chairman Ben Walker said the party had "about 30 parish councillors".[376] During the elections, Labour made significant inroads into Leave-voting areas that UKIP in which were formerly strongly competitive,[379] and notably won overall control of Thanet District Council,[380] that UKIP either controlled or were the largest party on between 2015 and 2019.
European Parliament
As a result of its hard Eurosceptic approach, UKIP does not recognise the legitimacy of the European Parliament, and under Sked's leadership refused to take any of the EP seats that it won.[381] This changed after 1997, when the party decided that its elected representatives would take such seats to publicise its anti-EU agenda.[381] As a result of the 1999 European parliament election, three UKIP MEPs were elected to the European Parliament. Together with Eurosceptic parties from other nations, they formed a new European parliamentary group called Europe of Democracies and Diversities (EDD).[382]
Following the
Following the
In the 2009–14 parliament, UKIP ranked 76th out of 76 for attendance, took part in 61% of votes, and had three of the six lowest attending MEPs,[392] which led to criticism from other parties and ex-UKIP MEPs that low participation may damage British interests.[393] Between July 2014 and May 2015, its 23 MEPs maintained their record as the least active, participating on average in only 62.29% of votes.[394] In response to criticism of low participation by UKIP MEPs in the EU Parliament, Farage has said that "Our objective as MEPs is not to keep voting endlessly for more EU legislation and to take power away from Westminster."[395]
Members of the European Parliament
UKIP had no members in the European Parliament following the 2019 EU election. Twenty-four UKIP representatives were elected in the 2014 election, but twenty subsequently defected, one was expelled
James Carver left UKIP to sit as an independent on 28 May 2018.[398] William Dartmouth left the party on 26 September 2018 to sit as an independent, accusing Batten of "hijacking the party to campaign against Islam as a religion" and associating himself with "outlandish people and extreme right-wing groups".[399] Bill Etheridge followed shortly afterwards, on 2 October 2018, saying that the party under Batten's leadership "is seen by voters as a vehicle of hate towards Muslims and the gay community".[400]
In November 2018, Patrick O'Flynn resigned to join the Social Democratic Party in protest over UKIP's move to the "hard right",[401] and Louise Bours became an independent MEP.[402] Former leader Nigel Farage quit on 6 December 2018,[403] as did Scottish MEP David Coburn.[404] Another former leader, Paul Nuttall, quit the party the following day, as did London Assembly Member Peter Whittle.[405] It was reported that Tim Aker had also quietly quit the party earlier in 2018.[406] Julia Reid announced her resignation from UKIP on 8 December 2018,[407] with Jonathan Bullock following the next day.[408] Jill Seymour, Jane Collins and Margot Parker left for the Brexit Party on 15 April 2019, with the first of those three citing the party's current direction and occupation of 'the extreme right of politics'[409] and the second citing Batten's 'sick' defence of Carl Benjamin's rape comments.[410] On 17 April, Jonathan Arnott and Ray Finch both defected to The Brexit Party and, along with Seymour, Collins and Parker, sat in the EFDD group.[411]
As of April 2019, Batten and Agnew were members of the
Election results
European Parliament elections
Election year | Leader | # of total votes | % of overall vote | # of seats won | Outcome |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1994 | Alan Sked | 150,251 #8th | 1.0% | 0 / 87
|
No seats |
1999 | Jeffrey Titford | 696,057 #4th | 6.5% | 3 / 87
|
Opposition |
2004 | Roger Knapman | 2,650,768 #3rd | 15.6% | 12 / 87
|
Opposition |
2009 | Nigel Farage | 2,498,226 #2nd | 16% | 13 / 87
|
Opposition |
2014 | Nigel Farage | 4,352,251 #1st | 27.5% | 24 / 87
|
Opposition |
2019 | Gerard Batten | 554,463 #8th | 3.2% | 0 / 87
|
No seats |
General elections
During the 2010–15 Parliament, two Conservative MPs defected to UKIP and were re-elected in subsequent by-elections. At the 2015 general election, UKIP retained one of these seats (Clacton) and received over 30% of the vote in Boston and Skegness, South Thanet, Heywood and Middleton, Thurrock and Rochester and Strood. It lost its only seat in the 2017 election, when Clacton was regained by the Conservatives.
Election year | Leader | # of total votes | % of overall vote | # of seats won | Outcome |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1997[413] | Alan Sked | 105,722 | 0.3% | 0 / 659
|
No seats |
2001[414] | Jeffrey Titford | 390,563 | 1.5% | 0 / 659
|
No seats |
2005[415] | Roger Knapman | 603,298 | 2.2% | 0 / 646
|
No seats |
2010[416] | Lord Pearson | 919,546 | 3.1% | 0 / 650
|
No seats |
2015[417] | Nigel Farage | 3,881,099 | 12.6% | 1 / 650
|
Opposition |
2017[418] | Paul Nuttall | 593,852 | 1.8% | 0 / 650
|
No seats |
2019 | Patricia Mountain
(interim leader)[152] |
22,817 | 0.1% | 0 / 650
|
No seats |
Reception
Other political groups
In campaigning on emotive issues, UKIP has proved divisive.
For many years, mainstream political figures derided or demeaned the importance of UKIP, although this did little to obstruct its electoral advances.
Media and academia
The British press have publicised statements made by UKIP activists and candidates which have been regarded as racist, sexist or otherwise bigoted.
In a May 2014 YouGov survey, 47% considered the media to be biased against UKIP, which was double the percentage who deemed the media biased against any other party.[435][432] The BBC received almost 1,200 complaints about its coverage of the 2014 European and local elections; 149 claimed that the BBC were biased against UKIP, while the rest claimed that it gave disproportionate attention to the party. The BBC defended its coverage.[436] Farage accused the BBC of a "liberal bias", particularly on issues of immigration, the EU, and climate change.[437]
David Deacon and Dominic Wring's examination of press coverage of UKIP during their 2014 campaign demonstrated that of the elite newspapers, the pro-EU titles The Guardian and
Academic research has been carried out into UKIP. In 2016, it was noted that most of this had focused on examining the party's electoral support base, its consequences for other parties, and the possibilities and prospects of a referendum on continued EU membership, with little having focused on an examination of the party's policies.[440] Two currents have emerged among those seeking to interpret UKIP: the first, and generally older, current views them as a manifestation of Britain's strong Eurosceptic movement, while the second seeks to explain their position in the British parliamentary system while drawing upon the comparative literature on right-wing populist parties elsewhere in Europe.[441]
See also
- Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom
- Russian interference in the 2016 Brexit referendum
- 2010s in United Kingdom political history
Notes
- November 2016election.
References
Citations
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- Art, David (2011). Inside the Radical Right: The Development of Anti-Immigrant Parties in Western Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-49883-8.
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- Dolezal, Martin (2012). "Restructuring the European Political Space: The Supply Side of European Electoral Politics". In Kriesi, Hanspeter; Grande, Edgar; Dolezal, Martin; Helbling, Marc; Höglinger, Dominic; Hutter, Swen; Wüest, Bruno (eds.). Political Conflict in Western Europe. Cambridge University Press. pp. 127–150. ISBN 978-1-107-02438-0.
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Further reading
- Cutts, David; S2CID 157747740. Archived from the original(PDF) on 26 April 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
- Deacon, David; Wring, Dominic (2015). "The United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) and the British Press: Integration, Immigration and Integrity". In Lachapelle, Guy; Maarek, Philippe (eds.). Political Parties in the Digital Age: The Impact of New Technologies in Politics. Oldenbourg: De Gruyter. pp. 129–147. ISBN 978-3110413816.
- Mellon, Jon; .
- Moufahim, M.; Parsons, M.; Rees, P. (2016). "Shades of Purple – A Discursive Analysis of Mainstream Political Party Responses to UKIP" (PDF). Journal of Customer Behaviour. 15 (3): 261–282. .
- Usherwood, Simon (2016). "The UK Independence Party: The Dimensions of Mainstreaming". In Akkerman, Tjitske; Sarah L. de Lange; Rooduijn, Matthijs (eds.). Radical Right-Wing Populist Parties in Western Europe: Into the Mainstream. Abingdon: Routledge.
- Towler, Gawain (2017). "A Polite Insurgency: The UKIP Campaign". In Wring, Dominic; Mortimore, Roger; Atkinson, Simon (eds.). Political Communication in Britain: Polling, Campaigning and Media in the 2015 General Election. Springer. ISBN 978-3-319-40933-7.
- MacMillan, Catherine (2016). "The European Union as a Totalitarian Nightmare: Dystopian Visions in the Discourse of the UK Independence Party (UKIP)". Romanian Journal of English Studies. 13 (1): 158–165. S2CID 159636568.
- Webb, Paul; Bale, Tim; Poletti, Monica (2017). "'All mouth and no trousers?' How many Conservative Party members voted for UKIP in 2015 – and why did they do so?". Politics. 37 (4): 432–444. .
- Macmillan, Catherine (2017). "Reversing the Myth? Dystopian narratives of the EU in UKIP and front national discourse". Journal of Contemporary European Studies.
- Pai, Hsiao-Hung (2016). Zephaniah, Benjamin (ed.). Angry White People: Coming Face-to-Face with the British Far Right. Zed Books Ltd. pp. chapter 7. ISBN 978-1783606948.