Much of
the media has obediently been doing the work of the three main parties.
The BBC's normally admirable political editor, Nick Robinson,
interviewed Mr Farage in the tones one might employ for a convicted
international war criminal.
Most
newspapers of Left and Right (though not the Mail) have depicted Ukip
as an extremist party inhabited by fruitcakes, crooks or dangerous
lunatics.
The
normally Eurosceptic Times and Sun have been among Mr Farage's most
unforgiving critics. Of course, Ukip harbours some undesirable
characters, and the media would be failing in their duty if they did not
expose them.
But
I suspect that the majority of Ukip members are solid types who are not
racist, and I am sure the same can be said for most people who will
vote for the party today.
But
here is the extraordinary thing. Despite this barrage of insults from
the political class and much of the media class - surely unprecedented
in scale in modern times - Ukip still rides high in most opinion polls,
and it seems likely that it will outdo the Tories in today's vote, and
very possibly Labour, too."
No comments:
Post a Comment