What will Ukip do with the £1.3 million donated by Express chief Richard Desmond? The party cannot plough the money directly into its fight in South Thanet because strict spending limits apply on fights in seats during the short campaign. But it can spend it in other ways to promote the party, and of course to promote Nigel Farage.
The plan, sources tell me, is to buy more billboard posters and other national advertising slots, as well as being up Ukip’s social media presence. The Tories have been spending hundreds of thousands of pounds each month on this, so Ukip will never match them – but the party benefits not from money online but a strong grassroots presence of supporters who spread Ukip’s message.
What will be interesting is how aggressive the messages are that Ukip tries to communicate through these adverts and social media posts. Last night Farage was pretty pugnacious, and his strategy over the past couple of months seems to be to grow increasingly aggressive in interviews and debates.
Part of it is an attempt to keep those voters who Ukip wants to hold on to in the general election stoked up with enthusiasm for a party that seems to be under attack, and part of it is a sot of Miley Cyrus strategy, which is an attempt to get noticed in a crowded market by being more over-the-top than anyone else. Cyrus probably doesn’t care about the people who don’t listen to her music because they don’t like the way she twerks, and similarly Farage doesn’t care about the people in the audience who got upset when he insulted them last night. So long as what he calls the ‘real audience’ – i.e. voters who think mainstream politicians ignore their worries about immigration and other matters – can hear him, that’s all that matters.
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