Robert Jackman

No wonder Ukip failed at the European elections

How does a party go from topping the European elections in 2014 to scraping just over three per cent of the vote, and losing every single MEP, within five years? Just ask Ukip, whose staggering decline is one of the most interesting subplots from this year’s elections.

Some may quibble with the ‘Ukip wipeout’ analysis. They will say that the real Ukip – both its heart and structure – was rolled over to the Brexit party along with its former leader, Nigel Farage. And they’re partly right: in the last few years, all but three of Ukip’s 2014 MEPs quit the party. But the fact remains that Ukip still mounted a full slate of candidates and took these elections seriously. And it failed miserably.

Ever since the 2016 referendum, Ukip has failed to articulate its purpose in British politics. After Leave voters flocked back to the main parties in 2017, its new leader, Gerard Batten, began a one-man mission to rebrand and revitalise the party. 

Batten’s initial plan was to try merge Ukip with the Tommy Robinson movement, a loose network of protest groups opposing the ‘Islamification’ of Britain. Batten wanted to bring Robinson himself into Ukip but was rebuffed by the party’s more mainstream members. In the end, Batten settled for making Robinson an ‘advisor’ on integration issues – handing Robinson, a convicted criminal looking to make it big stateside, a big credibility boon. How did Tommy thank him? By running against Ukip in the European elections, taking nearly 40,000 of Ukip’s votes in the North West.

Batten’s second pivot was even less successful. He rolled out the red carpet to a loose alliance of ‘anti-PC’ YouTubers who he hoped would win over young voters. The arrival of the YouTubers – Paul Joseph Watson, Sargon of Akkad, and Count Dankula – was hailed as a great victory.

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