Who else but UKIP?

Do you watch Family Guy, Gentle Reader? Well if you do - and you should, it's great - you know a character called Quagmire who is, putting it mildly, a sex pest. Whenever he does something outrageous a recurring gag is a cutaway that says "who else but Quagmire?"

Well, if you a Britisher then you will almost certainly be aware of a party called UKIP (the UK Independence Party). UKIP, broadly speaking is politically right of the Conservative party, the main right of centre party in the UK, and more toward the British National Party (BNP), an openly nationalist very right  wing, traditionally very racist and homophobic party. The BNP, UKIP and others like the English Defence League have historically been consigned to the lunatic fringes of British politics. However, UKIP has emerged over the last few years to become something verging on entering the political establishment.

How and why? Well, the Conservatives have been inching leftward over the last few years - equal marriage for the gays is an example of this; another is subsidies for renewable energy. All the mainstream parties have been doing this. Thus there is a bit of room on the right hand side of the normal range of politics. A bit of room that asks, and this is UKIP's totem, should Britain be in the European Union? Are there too many immigrants coming into the country? So UKIP has its traditional followers and is picking up traditional Conservative party voters who have been left behind by the party moving ground.

This apparent electability is a problem because unfortunately UKIP is beset by scandal. Time and time again its candidates for election, and not a small number of the local councillors it has had (many of whom defected from the Conservatives) have come up with bizarre, even irrational views. That 'gay marriage' caused recent severe flooding. That Muslims should be forced to sign up to a special code of conduct. That the developing world is "bongo bongo land".

Or even:

Charming. You can read a much more succinct and captivating article about UKIP than I could ever write here: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/mehdi-hasan/ukip-racism-myths_b_5271986.html

Well, I've reached a point where I feel like "... who else but UKIP?" when a scandal comes along.

The UKIP leader, Nigel Farage complains none of the other parties get this kind of focus. Maybe so, but it is clear UKIP has not got fit for purpose vetting procedures for its candidates and is thoroughly unable to keep them on message; or alternatively many more people in its party machine agree with those views. In addition, as an 'anti-establishment' party that says the mainstream parties have sold Britain out and politicians should de better,  the expectation it can get its act together and that it can behave in a way that sets it above its competition. As The Spectator put it "scandals are so frequent you have to conclude that it is not the rotten apple that needs throwing out but the whole stinking barrel."

Still, scandal after scandal and little changes. It's time to face the fact that UKIP is a bit Teflon at the moment and the truly odd and upsetting things some people linked to it have done won't harm it very much.

So what will? Well, fearful of conferring legitimacy on the party the mainstreams seems not to be fighting back on their policies. We should. People should be told about how UKIP policies would affect them.

Let's tackle them with some simple questions or reminders about Britain's membership of the EU for anyone thinking of voting UKIP:

• Do you ever travel to Europe? do you like doing a booze cruise to Calais or soaking up the sun in Spain? Think that will be as easy if you're not in the club?
• Are you in favour of animal testing? It's EU legislation that banned it. And most forms of factory farming e.g. for chickens and pigs too.
• Do you remember all the furore about the sharing of medical records recently? The Data Protection Act came from a EU directive.
• Ever been made redundant or had your job transferred under TUPE? EU protections again.
• Oh, and the guarantee on your electronics, the rules around getting compensation for a delayed flight, the cap on mobile phone charges: consumer protection generally: EU again.
• Rules against advertising cigarettes to children. Will you keep them?
• Clear food labelling so you know what you're eating... pesky eurocrats again, or something worthwhile?

Yes, ask UKIP why it wants to make your holidays more expensive, your job less safe, your information less secure. They want to make it easier for you to be ripped off. They even want to harm fluffy animals! And... for what? Seriously, what will UKIP do for you? Conversely if they don't want to do those things, what's the point of UKIP??

I often put a Quote Of The Day on my Twitter feed - here's one I got from the reader comments on the Pink News Article that I found the 'poofter' quote, above.

"If I had a pound for every time Nigel Farage said he'd "never heard" of a candidate accused of homophobic/racist/transphobic/sexist comments, I probably could have single-handedly bailed out the British economy and had a bit left over to build a Death Star. Plausibility only lasts as long at it's plausible"

NB on the grounds of strict fairness the UKIP website is here.