It’s fair to say it has been a tough few weeks for UKIP. The party has tailed off in the polls recently, dropping from above 15 percent to around 13 percent as election campaign season gets underway.
Nigel Farage’s trip to America didn’t get the headlines he would have wanted either, as he failed to attract much of an audience to his big speech in D.C. The only bit of good news for UKIP’s leader is the Survation poll putting him in first place in South Thanet.
This has come as a huge relief in UKIP internally, given the previous Ashcroft polling suggesting Farage would struggle to win the seat. It is seen within the party as evidence that the large amount of groundwork Farage is doing in the constituency is paying off.
That said, UKIP really could do with a giant, headline-grabbing good news story at their spring conference, which is taking place today and tomorrow. At the party’s summer conference in Doncaster, many attendees went home early because they thought the show was over.
Out of nowhere, UKIP then announced Mark Reckless had defected from the Tories. A brilliant coup, which took everyone by surprise and meant weeks of good coverage. Is there a cat in the bag this time? Whether it’s a big name backer, a new major policy or something else, UKIP need a boost down in Margate.
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