Norman Tebbit, UKIP's new cheerleader - is he right?

[Gromit]

http://blogs.telegrap...ukip-is-a-wasted-one/

[plautus]

"He told unemployed northern folk to migrate to the south east"

Still a bloody long way to go on a bike, especially with two suitcases!

[Duncer]

Northerners with enough to fill one suitcase, never mind two?

[FredPuli43]

Lesser party does quite well in by-election is hardly news. What's UKIP's domestic policy? What's the foreign policy , apart from pulling out of the EU? Since the Tory party have no intention of doing that, they'll just have to live with the votes against them of those who want it. But, come a general election that will prove insignificant. What's the alternative for these disaffected Conservatives, come the big question? Let Labour in? Allow the Lib Dems another crack in government? Can't see either as a likely choice for them.

[Duncer]

But, above all, accept the paypal.....

[modeller]

I support the main plank of UKIP of getting out of Europe because there is no other way, at the moment, of breaking the shackles that bind us to its regulations. There is no Half-Way house . When Ted Heath joined the Common Market and left EFTA (European Free Trade Area ) he sowed the seeds of the farce we are in now. All our goverments have contributed to the mess. We are tied by treaties which we can't change without the permission of all the other members. Which we will never get.

This is the same situation as in the former USSR . It needed the collapse of Communism to bring about change . Ditto the EU .

[ichkeria]

I'll say this for Lord Tebbit, having read the attached article he's obviously gained/developed a sense of humour.
As for whether he is right about UKIP, well only time will tell but it's important not the lose sight of the fact that they're a basically single-interest pressure group with a few unworkable social and economic policies tacked on for effect.
They're doing well at the moment partly because of the Eurozone crisis, and controversy over issues such as extradition and asylum. They'll always pinch votes off the Tories in by-elections, especially when there is an unpopular Tory government seen as too "soft" by what one might politely (but probably inaccurately) term the "core Tory voter". Their vote tends to tail off in general elections as more people's minds become focussed on who's going to do best for the economy, rather than making a protest.