UKIP - Farage Spinner In Trouble

Today, Nigel “Thirsty” Farage and his fellow saloon bar propper-uppers at UKIP are holding their “Spring Conference” at the Kent coast town of Margate, where demonstrators have also gathered to pass adverse comment on Mr Thirsty and his devoted followers, some of whom have recently taken to making the kinds of observations that go significantly beyond anything that can be passed off as political incorrectness.

Squeaky Stateside finger up the bum time

In such circumstances, one might think that Farage and his staff would have put all their energies into promoting the conference, to the exclusion of all else, but that thought would have been misplaced: earlier this week, Mr Thirsty upped sticks and crossed the North Atlantic to give the 2015 CPAC event in Washington, DC the benefits of his superior insights, expecting to go down a storm.

But this whizzo wheeze did not turn out necessarily to the Farage fringe’s advantage: despite the build-up, when he went on stage to address all those bright-eyed and bushy-tailed Stateside conservatives, there were only about 250 of the 5,000 seats occupied. It was an expensive, pointless and ultimately humiliating disaster. Who was so silly as to think that there would be any mileage in such a stunt?

Pretentious? Who, moi?

Worse, it was the kind of stunt that the Kippers could ill afford just over two months from the upcoming General Election. So whose daft idea was it? And will said person carry the can? What will that person’s future within UKIP look like? As so often, the full picture is only slowly emerging, but there are sufficient clues to see who might be in the frame to receive the full force of Nige’s retaliation for the mess.

For starters, look at where the Farage visit was exclusively trailed - Breitbart London, formerly the domain of Raheem “call me Ray” Kassam, now Mr Thirsty’s right-hand man. “United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage will cross the pond at the end of February to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) … Breitbart News has learned exclusively” they told.

Then there was “BREITBART NEWS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ALEX MARLOW INTRODUCES UKIP’S NIGEL FARAGE TO CPAC”, but not that only 5% of seats were occupied. And the thought that Kassam had played a part in the farce was only reinforced when the rumour began to circulate that he had somehow missed the flight back to the UK on Thursday night. Had there been a falling-out between the two?

Right now, it looks as if the idea might well have been Kassam’s - he’s an old hand at CPAC visits. It also looks like he may be carrying the can. As to his future, well, it might be difficult for Mr Thirsty to get himself another spinner so close to the elections in May. But if “Ray” was behind the débacle, he’d be well advised to look for another berth soonish. Whether or not there will be any takers is another matter.

Meanwhile, UKIP limp on, weakened even further by this misadventure. So congratulations are in order to whoever was daft enough to organise it.