A rebuttal to a left-wing bigot's poor hatchet job on UKIP
- UKIP is entering the big leagues now and journalists should recognise this reality by resisting the same old lazy smears
He begins with the just factually incorrect assertion that UKIP’s manifesto is negative. In actual fact it supports grammar schools, prison expansion, a doubling of the defence budget, taking those on minimum wage out of income tax, abolishing national insurance, bringing in a 31 percent flat tax, and a number of other very positive, forward-thinking ideas. But I guess he missed those bits.
Then we get to the widely-discredited “extremism” accusations. There has been a concerted attempt over many years to try and smear UKIP as racist, fascist and xenophobic. It failed after many years of dirt digging once most quality journalists realised the answer was a cut and dry “no”.
And the original article:
- Their manifesto might just look like a list of things that annoy people, but party members hold some views that should concern us, says Alex Andreou
Ukip’s manifesto is a collection of promises selected, seemingly, on the basis of “twenty things that really annoy people”, with no inkling of implementation method or any costings; a wish list for The Annoyed.
Scared of immigrants? Vote Ukip.
I think the first article is written much better. He has collected a large body of evidence, statements by prominent members (including Mr Farage), and members being thrown out of the party for not supporting racist views.
The response comes down to "these are lazy smears!". Some of them are lazy- the ban on former BNP members joining is commendable, and you can defend their decision to sit with the far-right racist parties in Brussels by saying that their common ground makes up for the nastiness, though personally I'd be extremely uncomfortable with it, like Nikki Sinclaire clearly was- but most are substantiated and accurate.
It is true that UKIP is attracting a lot of support because the right wing press is becoming increasingly anti-Europe and the public are dissatisfied with the mainstream parties. Many of UKIP's supporters will not be bigots, but will simply agree with a single issue, normally Europe. However, those people need to be informed of the downright nasty streak in the party, and some of the dangerous policies proposed in successive UKIP manifestos.
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