UK Independence Party: Facts About The Party

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800px-UKIP_campaigning_in_Newport_High_Street_2

The UK Independence Party (popularly known as UKIP) is marking its anticipated return to Doncaster this autumn. Since the election results were declared on May 7, UKIP has been dealt a major setback because the party only secured one seat in Clacton.

The numbers really settled a mystery. In this election, everyone, including the media, anticipated that voters would have been tempted to vote for UKIP. But the tables were turned when the results were announced. Nigel Farage failed to become a Member of Parliament (MP). So what is the party’s next move or next mission—to confiscate ground from The Labour party? Yes, for the most part.

The party was founded on September 3, 1993, and has grown to be the largest UK party with three seats in the House of Lords, twenty-three European Parliament Members, and, of course, one Parliament member at the House of Commons.

Started with a main focus on Euroscepticism, which symbolizes criticism of the European Union (EU), the group today also focuses on nationalist and economically liberal policies. The Deputy leader for the group is Paul Nuttall, Member of the European Parliament (MEP), and the Chairman is Steven Crowther. The Parliament also has 499 councillors in local government and one member from the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The party’s other ideologies are right-wing populism and anti-immigration, topics that have also become important as political issues in most of the countries. But what the party is majorly concerned about now is the 2020 elections. And then, the right-wing Populist Party, headquartered in Newton Abbot, Devon, will be in competition with the Labour Party, a center-left political party.

Dan Jarvis, a politician and a former British Army officer, is a member of the Labour Party. He recently issued a statement saying, “There are no quick fixes or silver-bullet solutions for stemming the rising tide of Nigel Farage’s party.” Quoted by the Mirror website, he also added, “Labour must tackle UKIP head on if they want to win in 2020.”

Now here are a few facts about Nigel Farage.

  1. Farage did his schooling with the Turner Prize-winner Jeremy Deller, an English conceptual, video, and installation artist.
  2. Farage pointed out in his autobiography that he doesn’t like John Lennon’s song “Imagine.”
  3. As a child, Farage was always interested in joining the army and was actively involved in the school’s army cadet force.
  4. Before becoming a British politician, he was a commodity broker.
  5. Farage was run down by a car after a heated argument he had over politics with someone when he was drunk.
  6. Farage’s father attempted suicide. It was reported that he was also an alcoholic.
  7. He received death threats from a pilot who crashed a plane carrying a UKIP politician. The pilot was later found to be guilty.
  8. His love—his wife—is German. He met her in Frankfurt in 1996 and fell in love.
  9. Farage shared the same apartment with fellow politician Godfrey Bloom.
  10. Farage has always made controversial speeches in the European Parliament, and he has powerfully criticized the euro.

Nigel Farage recently also commented that immigration should be a key issue in the EU referendum campaign, stating the refugee policy has “opened the door to an exodus of biblical proportions.”

Farage was ranked 41st in The Daily Telegraph’s “Top 100 Most Influential” list and was also named as the “Briton of the Year” (2014) by The Times. He ranked 58th in the list gathered by Iain Dale and Brian Brivati for The Daily Telegraph in the year 2010. In the same 2012 list, Farage was ranked 17th, and in 2013 his list position improved when he was ranked 2nd after Prime Minister David Cameron.

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