Malcolm Pearson

Why it won’t be Ukip’s fault if Cameron loses

Lord Pearson, Ukip’s former leader, on the deal that might have saved the Tories from coalition

Newly elected United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) MP Douglas Carswell poses for pictures as he arrives at the Houses of Parliament in central London, on October 13, 2014. Britain's anti-EU UK Independence Party won its first seat in the House of Commons Friday October 10, 2014, sending jitters through Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives seven months before what is likely to be a tight general election. (LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images) 
issue 18 October 2014

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[/audioplayer]How odd that David Cameron is still threatening us with ‘Vote Ukip, get Labour’, even after the Heywood and Middleton by-election, which Ukip nearly won with thousands of Labour defections. But if the Conservatives do lose the next election by a Ukip-sized margin then Cameron has only himself to blame — for the second time in a row.

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