Mr Farage, you are not the only Nigel standing in South Thanet
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Version 0 of 1. Standing behind the bar of the Queen Charlotte, my little Ramsgate pub, it was no surprise to hear loud cheers when I suggested that what united those present was a strong resentment of the notoriously dysfunctional Thanet district council. I’d been listening all night to the customers’ deep concerns about Nigel Farage standing as MP for South Thanet, and his intention to field a “Ukip army” in an attempt to take over the local administration, with the same sort of dysfunctional people who have jumped ship. I felt it was my duty to do something, so last October I called the first local meeting of Bez’s Reality party, with the intention of running for election in the constituency. Wondering whether I was behaving like Robert Lindsay in the 1970s TV comedy Citizen Smith , I only expected a couple of regulars to show up. But to my astonishment, it drew a large, smart crowd, everyone dismayed by the fact that Ukip’s rhetoric of bigotry had already lowered the bar in terms of what is acceptable; the pervasiveness of this could have a potentially devastating impact on the future regeneration of the area, which was at risk of being tarnished nationally, viewed as a regressive Ukip stronghold. Despite the suggestion that a new party in the area may split the vote, facilitating a Ukip win, the Reality party has gained momentum on the basis that it is mobilising the majority of the population who never vote, and will never vote for the main parties in this election. I was pleased to hear this week that Al Murray, the Pub Landlord, has had a political awakening and decided, through comedy, to draw attention to the danger of Ukip by also standing in Thanet South. Murray’s voting demographic is the same as the one I am targeting: the disenfranchised with nowhere to go. However, only one pub landlord is real, and has real policies for local people. The Reality party is a viable alternative to the system, in line with the views of Russell Brand but with a fundamental difference: we are rallying for everybody to vote so that we can achieve a true democracy. Now is the time the disenfranchised should be counted, and can hold the balance of power. My own political wake-up call came about during a visit to the fracking protest in Balcombe, Sussex. What I witnessed there confirmed my gut feeling that the current economic and power structure is fundamentally wrong. I decided I didn’t want my children growing up in a world where big business calls the shots, and where democracy is being fundamentally eroded by widespread apathy and disengagement from the political process. Closer to home, it is clear that the power of an area’s political voice is directly proportional to its ability to create wealth. Westminster politicians look upon areas like Thanet with disdain. White, largely working-class, and struggling to find a productive place in our growth-obsessed economic order, Thanet is consistently ignored, patronised or punished. The impact of economic policy and austerity is felt hardest in communities such as ours, where low wages and cutbacks to essential public services, coupled with longstanding problems including absentee landlords and appalling housing conditions, compound the misery of poverty. To add insult to injury, media-fuelled rhetoric about welfare scroungers is levelled directly at areas like ours. Against this backdrop, cross-party support for fracking, the coalition’s continual failure to curb banking abuses and make the rich pay their fair share, plus Labour’s stated commitment to prolonging austerity, complete a feeling of alienation from power and a conviction that we stand alone in recognising Thanet as a beautiful place with a resilient community, and in wanting it to thrive. Having been inspired by the Reality party members, whose irreverence and disregard for conventional politics was shown during the anti-fracking protests, my distinctive and flamboyant campaign will have a local focus. It has already been dubbed “the battle of the Nigels” – now it’s the battle of the pub landlords too. Our campaign isn’t all about Nigels or pubs, though: it’s about offering an alternative protest vote, and the chance of positive change for the place we love, by focusing on local issues. We will be resolving our issues with the electoral commission about our name being too similar to another party’s. But even if we have to change our name, this will not hold back our determination to fight for a fairer world. Unfettered by party politics and spurred on by an optimism born of a genuine love of South Thanet, we want to create our own reality. |