Farage: hoist with his own petard

Nigel Farage has complained in a national newspaper about a political party set up to rival UKIP.

First some history: an occasional practice in British elections as recently as the 1990s was the decoy candidate.  A candidate would sometimes stand for election who would try to pass himself off as the candidate for one of the two main parties in the said election.  The aim presumably was to confuse at least some voters into voting for the decoy candidate rather than the candidate for the party whose name was being imitated.

Eventually laws were brought in to ensure the registration of political parties.  No political party can stand candidates for election in this country if the Electoral Commisson thinks that that party's name or slogan too closely resembles either the name or the slogan of another political party.  The slogan is a short message which appears beside the party's name on a ballot paper.

Farage is angry that a party is standing in the European Elections which is called An Independence From Europe, and has the slogan UK independence now.  He claims that his party has heard from postal voters who admit to having voted for AIFE by mistake, thinking they were casting their vote for UKIP.

While I do not doubt that many UKIP supporters may vote AIFE by mistake, I do not blame the Electoral Commission for allowing AIFE their choice of name and slogan.  UKIP does not own the word independence, and it is only fair to allow a party which supports independence from the European Union to reflect its core belief in its name and slogan.

Would Nigel Farage like to suggest a more appropriate name for AIFE which reflects what it stands for but which is less likely to confuse voters.  Can he suggest a more appropriate slogan for AIFE?

AIFE was founded by an MEP who left UKIP after realising what kind of party he was in.  Here is a quote from the AIFE website:

We are a democratic Party, unlike UKIP who under their Constitution have placed all power into the hands of the Leader and for example allowed him to adjust the so called "democratic" votes of the members in UKIP postal selection processes.

Presumably policy is also in the hands of the leader, as he has stated that existing policy no longer applies.

If Nigel Farage had done a better job of leading UKIP, then he might not now be competing for votes with AIFE.



Related previous posts include:
The return of the UKIP hamster
Demon words aimed at UKIP
UKIP and crime