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| Ukip election success changes face of local government in England | Ukip election success changes face of local government in England |
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| England's shire county councils have a strikingly different face this weekend, after almost a quarter of those voting in the local elections opted for Ukip to represent them, propelling 139 of its members into the heart of local government. | England's shire county councils have a strikingly different face this weekend, after almost a quarter of those voting in the local elections opted for Ukip to represent them, propelling 139 of its members into the heart of local government. |
| It enjoyed the biggest surge for a new party since the second world war, taking votes from all three major parties. It made an electoral impact in counties from Cornwall to Lincolnshire, while claiming second place in the South Shields parliamentary byelection. The party has, for the first time, made good on its ambition to be a significant player in British politics. | |
| But if the scale of Ukip's bounce surprised the pollsters (Britain's leading local elections specialists thought the party might manage 40 seats, instead of 139), many of its new councillors were similarly unprepared. | But if the scale of Ukip's bounce surprised the pollsters (Britain's leading local elections specialists thought the party might manage 40 seats, instead of 139), many of its new councillors were similarly unprepared. |
| Dean Hunter-Clarke joined Ukip approximately eight weeks ago, after attending the local party's conference in Skegness to hear his son Robin speak. Robin, who is 20, had become a party member six months earlier, defecting from the Tories, for whom he had been elected to the town council. | |
| Today, father and son are Ukip councillors for Lincolnshire, just two among a group of 16 party representatives who are now likely to form the official opposition. | Today, father and son are Ukip councillors for Lincolnshire, just two among a group of 16 party representatives who are now likely to form the official opposition. |
| "I never expected 16," admits Robin Hunter-Clarke, who is studying law at Chester University. "I thought maybe four or five at best, but 16 was a real shock." The county's second biggest political party now includes a mother, Sue Ransome, and two of her daughters, Lizzy and Felicity Ransome (dad Don and another sister, Jodie Sutton, also ran unsuccessfully in other wards), a former candidate for the English Democrats, who had once been a member of the Young Socialists, and a former Conservative parliamentary candidate, Victoria Ayling, who has also been a member of the party for less than two months. | |
| Ian Smith, the new representative for Ferndown ward on Dorset county council, did not even attend the count as he had no expectation that he could win ("This morning I've signed on to my PC having got back home and discovered to my amazement and delight that I am now the Dorset Ferndown elected district – sorry, county councillor," he said on Friday). | |
| Even the party's leader, Nigel Farage, his habitual high spirits threatening to bubble off the scale, seemed unprepared for the scale of his party's triumphs, and the giddy chaos of unfamiliar victory. "I don't know what's going on," he told his press officers after emerging at 11.30am from the sixth or seventh TV interview of the morning. "How many seats? Are we losing seats?" He had to break off from his interview schedule to go and check out of his hotel, having apparently failed to anticipate that he would be in such demand. | |
| A gleeful Farage had decided to claim as his own Ken Clarke's description of Ukip last week as "a collection of clowns or indignant angry people", echoing David Cameron's earlier characterisation of "fruitcakes", declaring: "Send in the clowns! We've been abused by everybody, the entire establishment, and now they are shocked and stunned." | A gleeful Farage had decided to claim as his own Ken Clarke's description of Ukip last week as "a collection of clowns or indignant angry people", echoing David Cameron's earlier characterisation of "fruitcakes", declaring: "Send in the clowns! We've been abused by everybody, the entire establishment, and now they are shocked and stunned." |
| Certainly it's possible to view Ukip's elected representatives as a more colourful bunch than most of those standing for the more established parties. There are plenty of recent defectors among the party's new councillors, including Chris Lagdon, now representing Totton North in Hampshire, who left the Tories in March over New Forest council's decision to scrap free parking for blue badge holders. His newly elected colleague Andy Moore left the Lib Dems in February, saying they had failed to protect green spaces in Chris Huhne's former constituency of Eastleigh. | |
| Philip Fawkes, a retired teacher now representing Hampshire's South Waterside ward, is a very distant relative of Guy Fawkes (when his candidacy was announced, Farage said it showed "the blood of rebellion still runs in his veins"). Phil Gomm, representing Aylesbury East on Buckinghamshire county council, once took the parish council on which he was a representative to court over an unpaid bill of £100 worth of flower bulbs. Kerry Smith, new Ukip member of Essex council, is the brother of Barking and Dagenham Labour council leader Liam Smith. | Philip Fawkes, a retired teacher now representing Hampshire's South Waterside ward, is a very distant relative of Guy Fawkes (when his candidacy was announced, Farage said it showed "the blood of rebellion still runs in his veins"). Phil Gomm, representing Aylesbury East on Buckinghamshire county council, once took the parish council on which he was a representative to court over an unpaid bill of £100 worth of flower bulbs. Kerry Smith, new Ukip member of Essex council, is the brother of Barking and Dagenham Labour council leader Liam Smith. |
| Mark Staplehurst, also elected to Hampshire county council, admitted to the Guardian that he had written on Facebook that he hoped someone would slit the throat of Sinn Féin's Gerry Adams, but said while he had served in the army in Northern Ireland and "had to pick up body parts", he regretted the comments. "Of course I wouldn't slit anyone's throat … I'm a salesman, I'm not anything other than a middle-aged old man that's trying to help local people." (A comment relating to murdered Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane – "I'm only sorry they didn't get a few more of the sorry b******ds" – he said had perhaps been written on his open laptop by someone else.) | |
| However, several candidates who attracted controversy in recent weeks or were suspended – including one who was pictured giving a Nazi salute, one who had allegedly worked as a male escort while he was a member of the police, one who wore a Jimmy Savile mask and said the NHS should be disbanded, and another accused of making antisemitic remarks on her Facebook page – were not elected. | However, several candidates who attracted controversy in recent weeks or were suspended – including one who was pictured giving a Nazi salute, one who had allegedly worked as a male escort while he was a member of the police, one who wore a Jimmy Savile mask and said the NHS should be disbanded, and another accused of making antisemitic remarks on her Facebook page – were not elected. |
| In its defence, Ukip has argued that a close look at any party's local government candidates would reveal a proportion of eccentrics. And there may, in any case, be evidence that the party's colourful, perhaps even somewhat ramshackle offering is part of their appeal to the electorate. Farage boasted to journalists on Friday that when Clarke had called his party "clowns", its poll rating went up by three points, an assertion supported by some polling evidence. | In its defence, Ukip has argued that a close look at any party's local government candidates would reveal a proportion of eccentrics. And there may, in any case, be evidence that the party's colourful, perhaps even somewhat ramshackle offering is part of their appeal to the electorate. Farage boasted to journalists on Friday that when Clarke had called his party "clowns", its poll rating went up by three points, an assertion supported by some polling evidence. |
| Is this really part of why people voted Ukip? Europe and immigration, primary school admissions and potholes have all played their part – more than three-quarters (76%) told Yougov that they supported Ukip out of a desire to see immigration to Britain reduced, and 59% because they wanted to see Britain leave the EU – but there is also evidence that the party's appeal may not only lie with policy. Lord Ashcroft, former Tory deputy chairman and owner of the influential ConservativeHome website, has been pointing in recent days to "the biggest ever poll on what makes [Ukip] voters tick", which he conducted last year and which found that, policies aside, "the single best predictor of whether a voter will consider Ukip is whether they agree 'it is on the side of people like me'. | |
| "Ukip considerers see it as sharing their values, having its heart in the right place, standing for fairness and – especially – saying things that need to be said that other parties are scared to say." | "Ukip considerers see it as sharing their values, having its heart in the right place, standing for fairness and – especially – saying things that need to be said that other parties are scared to say." |
| There seems to be evidence for this on the doorstep. "People have had enough of the old parties that have failed this country for too long," says Hunter-Clarke when asked his view on the principal reason behind the party's success. "A new party full of new people has come along and it's a breath of fresh air." | There seems to be evidence for this on the doorstep. "People have had enough of the old parties that have failed this country for too long," says Hunter-Clarke when asked his view on the principal reason behind the party's success. "A new party full of new people has come along and it's a breath of fresh air." |
| Tony Barrell, who works on North Sea oil rigs and is a former Labour and Lib Dem voter, said he had turned to Ukip in the South Shields byelection because "I'm fed up with the local [Labour] council. I want a change. I know quite a bit about Nigel Farage, I've seen how he handles himself on Question Time … I like what he stands for." | |
| David Bell, another South Shields voter who helped push the party to second place, said: "I was very disappointed that Labour made no effort whatsoever to stand up for ordinary working people's rights … They ought to change their name. But I've found a party now that represents some of the views that I would like." | David Bell, another South Shields voter who helped push the party to second place, said: "I was very disappointed that Labour made no effort whatsoever to stand up for ordinary working people's rights … They ought to change their name. But I've found a party now that represents some of the views that I would like." |
| Jamie Huntman, one of nine new Ukip councillors on Essex county council, making the party the joint second largest, declared the results a "great day for democracy". | |
| "We are hardly clowns and fruitcakes any longer. I genuinely believe [the electorate] like Ukip." | "We are hardly clowns and fruitcakes any longer. I genuinely believe [the electorate] like Ukip." |