Having been elected and having pledged to topple the EU from within, one might think the Ukipians would be assiduous attenders, the better to disparage and critique it. Instead, they are famed absentees. This seems a badge of honour. They get elected to the European parliament, receive a salary and allowances for being members of the European parliament. And then restrict appearances there on the basis that regular attendances would lend the place legitimacy. Ukip's deputy leader, Paul Nuttall, set out the position on his blog after his spotty record in the EU parliament was flagged up in the Telegraph.
But so what? Much of the criticism of what Farage calls the establishment elite boils down to influence and money. He says that the other parties are in hock to vested interests and that chimes. No one wants to see the political process skewed by interests with fat wallets.
So what is one to think of the Ukip poster campaign? The multimillionaire Paul Sykes has been generous, as previously he was to the anti-EU Democracy Movement and to the Conservatives before he fell out with them. He funded it. Prudent perhaps. One of Britain's richest self-made men, he didn't become rich by wasting his money. But if his input is that important, who calls the shots? Leave aside the now acknowledged mistake of featuring Lampitt in the party political broadcast. And the fact that another person described as an ordinary voter in a manifesto document turned out to be a party employee who works for Farage.
And the fact that one man featured in the poster campaign turned out to be a migrant actor from Ireland. And the fact that former head of the British Army Lord Dannatt condemned the image of the British flag on fire.
Consider the central implausibility of the central claim: that 26 million of the European unemployed are gunning for jobs in Britain. Two million from the total are British anyway. Consider that if an entity save for a political party enjoying exemption from the advertising code of conduct ran that misleading ad, it would have been forced to withdraw it.
Then consider this, from the Sun on 12 April. We have been informed that no such EU proposals exist and are happy to set the record straight. Has there ever been a major party so dependent on one sellable character?
Farage is, without question, the most dominant and effective party leader in national politics. Erase him from the canvas and what is left? EU stayaway Nuttall? The cult of Farage is rivalled only in its potency by the cult of Boris, for like him, Farage is a vivid brand deployed to politics. Both trade illusions. Boris projects slapstick and shambles when all the time beneath is ambitious focus and a keen-eyed grasp of modern politics.
Farage is Everyman; all booze and fags and antennae for the cares and fears of ordinary people. This from the son of a stockbroker, with an often-lamented career in the City behind him; children all privately educated; prosperous product of a village upbringing in Kent. Quite the biggest achievement of Ukip has been to shape the ground on which we discuss two touchstone issues, Europe and migration.
Both are complex. Both bring benefits and present challenges. UKIP is about more than Brexit though. We have policies on every area of governance, many of which have been "adopted" by the government. Get involved and help make Britain a free, fair, and independent nation. UKIP was founded in September Despite the Referendum of that job is far from done. UKIP was founded as a democratic party.
We have always held true to those principles and we always will. We put the interests of the British people first, but we want trade, friendship and co-operation with all the nations of the world.
Britain should not restrict itself to economic ties with the European Union. We have always been a global trading nation. UKIP believes our government should put the interests of the British people first.
We exchanged a democratic system of governance for an undemocratic one. Democracy is only meaningful among a group of people that share a common national or historic identity and accept the same common language, legal system and values: two examples being the United Kingdom of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and the United States of America.
UKIP believes that the UK should always retain control of its national self-determination, and that it should always be exercised in the interests of the British people.
The vote alone does not ensure democracy. It would also restore "traditional" non-university training for nurses. It would build more warships and carry out an urgent review of the case for replacing Trident, including the option of a new British-built nuclear missile system capable of launch from air, sea or sub-surface vessels.
It would also cancel all wind farm developments. Instead, it backs the expansion of shale gas extraction, or fracking, and a mass programme of nuclear power stations. It also opposes a third runway at Heathrow, arguing instead for an expansion of Manston airport, in Kent. It also argues that multiculturalism has "split" British society.
It would legislate to allow smoking in pubs, in designated rooms, and hold local referendums on repealing the hunting ban.
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