Andy Yorke is bemused and disgusted in equal measure by the airspace and column inches afforded to UKIP’s Nigel Farage. Time to unmask the racist party
Two by-elections in October saw the anti-EU, anti-immigrant UK Independence Party win its first MP in Clacton, and come a close second to Labour in Heywood and Middleton. Panicked Tories and Labour alike are falling over themselves to attack immigrants, as the Rochester and Stroud by-election approaches on 20 November. David Cameron, desperate to staunch the flow of MPs defecting to UKIP, throws out copycat policies nearly every week.
First he announced the Tories would restrict benefits for EU migrants. Then he proposed a quota on EU migrants and wrangled with Brussels over Britain’s extra £1.7 billion contribution. The Eurocrats have rebuffed him on both measures, while his EU (Referendum) Bill collapsed, to the delight of UKIP leader Nigel Farage.
Tory Defence Secretary Michael Fallon claimed that there are “whole towns and communities being swamped by huge numbers of migrant workers”; what’s worse, Labour politician David Blunkett supported him. Not to be outdone, Labour leader Ed Miliband pledged that a Labour government would introduce electronic monitoring of EU migrants’ movements in and out of Britain and would negotiate longer restrictions on immigrants from new EU countries.
Meanwhile the drip-feed of UKIP politicians’ bigoted stunts continues. The latest is former Radio 1 DJ Mike Read putting on a crap Caribbean accent for a racist “UKIP calypso” song about “illegal immigrants in every town”.
Farage claims that UKIP is a “people’s army” opposing a politically correct “Westminster elite”. It’s not; it’s a racist, free-market party, funded by big ex-Tory millionaire donors and tax exiles. It blames migrants for poverty and unemployment to shield the millionaire capitalists who are really responsible.
Its pro-business policies on NHS privatisation and tax cuts for the wealthy take from the working class and give to the rich. Now Farage, to deflect questions about his position on the NHS, has said that the manifesto is out of date and that new policies are in the pipeline, allowing him to adjust his policies to fit the mood of the moment. Workers can’t trust UKIP an inch, or rely on Labour to stand up to racism. The only way to push back racism and cuts is for the working class movement to launch a new mass workers’ party that fights for socialism.
