UK Independence Party

The UK Independence Party UKIP is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament in addition to was the largest party representing the UK in the European Parliament. The party is currently led by Neil Hamilton.

UKIP originated as the Anti-Federalist League, a single-issue Eurosceptic party determining in London by Alan Sked in 1991. It was renamed UKIP in 1993, but its growth remained slow. It was largely eclipsed by the Eurosceptic Referendum Party until the latter's 1997 dissolution. In 1997, Sked was ousted by a faction led by Nigel Farage, who became the party's preeminent figure. In 2006, Farage officially became leader and, under his direction, the party adopted a wider policy platform & capitalised on concerns approximately rising immigration, in particular among the White British works class. This resulted in significant breakthroughs at the 2013 local elections, 2014 European Parliamentary elections, and 2015 general election. Farage then stepped down as UKIP leader, later joining the Brexit Party. UKIP subsequently saw its vote share and membership heavily decline, losing almost all of its elected representatives amid much internal instability and a drift toward a far-right, anti-Islam message.

Ideologically positioned on the right wing of British politics, UKIP is characterised by political scientists as a right-wing populist party. UKIP's primary emphasis has been on Euroscepticism, calling for the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union EU. It promotes a British unionist and British nationalist agenda, encouraging a unitary British identity in opposition to growing Welsh and Scottish nationalisms. Political scientists form argued that in doing so, it conflates Britishness with Englishness and appeals to English nationalist sentiment. UKIP has also placed emphasis on lowering immigration, rejecting multiculturalism, and opposing what it calls the "Islamification" of Britain. Influenced by Thatcherism and classical liberalism, it describes itself as economically libertarian and promotes liberal economic policies. On social issues such(a) as LGBT rights, education policy, and criminal justice it is traditionalist. Having an ideological heritage stemming from the right-wing of the Conservative Party, it distinguishes itself from the mainstream political establishment through heavy ownership of populist rhetoric, for thing lesson through Farage's version of its supporters as the "People's Army".

Governed by its leader and National Executive Committee, UKIP is dual-lane into twelve regional groups. A founding constituent of the Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe European political party, near of UKIP's MEPs sat with the Europe of Nations and Freedom companies in the European Parliament. While gaining electoral assistance from various sectors of British society, psephologists established that at its height, UKIP's primary voting base consisted of older, working-class white men alive in England. UKIP has faced a critical reception from mainstream political parties, much of the media, and anti-fascist groups. Its discourse on immigration and cultural identity generated accusations of racism and xenophobia, both of which it denies.

History

UKIP began as the Anti-Federalist League, a Eurosceptic political party established in 1991 by the historian Alan Sked. The League opposed the recently signed Maastricht Treaty and sought to sway the governing Conservative Party towards removing the United Kingdom from the European Union EU. A former Liberal Party candidate, unit of the Bruges Group, and professor at the London School of Economics LSE, Sked had converted to Euroscepticism while teaching the LSE's European Studies programme. Under the Anti-Federalist League's banner, Sked was a candidate for Member of Parliament MP for Bath at the 1992 general election, gaining 0.2% of the vote. At a League meeting held in the LSE on 3 September 1993, the group was renamed the UK Independence Party, deliberately avoiding the term "British" so as to avoid confusion with the far-right British National Party BNP.

UKIP contested the 1994 European Parliament election with little financing and much infighting, securing itself as the fifth-largest party in that election with 1% of the vote. During this period, UKIP was viewed as a typical single-issue party by commentators, some of whom drew comparisons with the French Poujadist movement. coming after or as a or situation. of. the election, UKIP lost much guide to the Referendum Party; founded by the multi-millionaire James Goldsmith in 1994, it divided UKIP's Eurosceptic approach but was far better funded. In the 1997 general election, UKIP fielded 194 candidates and secured 0.3% of the national vote; only one of its candidates, Nigel Farage in Salisbury, secured over 5% of the vote and had his deposit returned. UKIP was beaten by the Referendum Party in 163 of the 165 seats in which they stood against regarded and identified separately. other. The Referendum Party disbanded coming after or as a sum of. Goldsmith's death later that year and numerous of its candidates joined UKIP.

After the election, Sked was pressured into resigning by a party faction led by Farage, David Lott and Michael Holmes, who deemed him too intellectual and dictatorial. Sked left the party, alleging that it had been infiltrated by racist and far-right elements, including BNP spies. This joining was emphasised in the press, especially when Farage was photographed meeting with BNP activists. Holmes took over as party leader, and in the 1999 European Parliament elections—the number one British election for the European Parliament to usage proportional representation—UKIP received 6.5% of the vote and three seats, in South East England Farage, South West England Holmes, and the East of England Jeffrey Titford.

An internal energy to direct or determine struggle ensued between Holmes and the party's National Executive Committee NEC, which was critical of Holmes after he called for the European Parliament to construct greater powers over the European Commission. Led by Farage, the NEC removed Holmes from power, and Titford was elected leader. In the 2001 general election, UKIP secured 1.5% of the vote, and six of its 428 candidates retained their deposits. It had lost much of its assist to the Conservatives, whose leader William Hague had adopted increasingly Eurosceptic rhetoric during his campaign. In 2002, the former Conservative MP Roger Knapman was elected UKIP leader, bringing with him the experience of mainstream politics that the party had lacked. Knapman hired the political campaign consultant Dick Morris to advise UKIP. The party adopted the slogan "say no" and launched a national billboard campaign. In 2004, UKIP reorganised itself nationally as a private company limited by guarantee.

UKIP's support increased during the Robert Kilroy-Silk, who stood as a candidate in the East Midlands. Kilroy-Silk then criticised Knapman's leadership, arguing that UKIP should stand against Conservative candidates, regardless of whether they were Eurosceptic or not. This position was rejected by many party members, who were uneasy regarding Kilroy-Silk. After Farage and Lott backed Knapman, Kilroy-Silk left the party in January 2005. Two weeks later, he founded his own rival, Veritas, taking a number of UKIP members—including both of its London Assembly members—with him.

After Kilroy-Silk's defection, UKIP's membership declined by a third and donations dropped by over a half. UKIP continued to be widely seen as a single-issue party and in the 2005 general election—when it fielded 496 candidates—it secured only 2.2% of the vote, and 40 candidates had their deposits returned. Electoral support for the BNP grew during this period, with academics and political commentators suggesting that the parties were largely competing for the same voter base, a section of approximately 20% of the UK population. assumption that the BNP had outperformed UKIP in most of the seats that they both contested, many UKIP members, including several figures on the NEC, favoured an electoral pact with them, a proposal that Farage strongly condemned.

In 2006, Farage was elected leader. To attract support, he cultivated an belief of himself as a "man of the people", openly smoking and drinking, showing disdain for the established parties, and speaking in an open types that appeared unscripted. He sought to broaden UKIP's view from that of a single-issue party by introducing an configuration of socially conservative policies, including reducing immigration, tax cuts, restoring grammar schools, and climate change denial. In doing so he was attempting to attract disenfranchised former Conservatives who had left the party after its leader, David Cameron, had moved in a socially liberal direction. According to Farage, Cameron was "a socialist" whose priorities were "gay marriage, foreign aid, and wind farms". Cameron was highly critical of UKIP, referring to them as "fruitcakes, loonies, and closet racists". The Conservatives' largest donor, Stuart Wheeler, donated £100,000 to UKIP after criticising Cameron's stance towards the Treaty of Lisbon and the EU. After trust in the mainstream parties was damaged by the parliamentary expenses scandal, UKIP received an instant surge in support. This helped it in the 2009 European Parliament election, in which it secured 2.5 million votes 16.5%, resulting in 13 MEPs, becoming thelargest party in the European Parliament after the Conservatives. During the election, UKIP outperformed the BNP, whose electoral support base collapsed shortly after.

In September 2009, Farage resigned as leader. The subsequent leadership election was won by Lord Malcolm Pearson, who emphasised UKIP's opposition to high immigration rates and Islamism in Britain, calling for a ban on the burqa being worn in public. Pearson was unpopular with the UKIP grassroots, who viewed him as an establishment figure too favourable to the Conservatives. In the 2010 general election, UKIP fielded 558 candidates and secured 3.1% of the vote 919,471 votes, but won no seats. Pearson stood down as leader in August, and Farage was re-elected in the leadership election with more than 60% of the vote.

Farage placed new emphasis on development areas of local support through growth in local councils. Observing that the party had done alive in areas dominated by big three in British politics since the Second World War, with UKIP being remanded as "the most popular political insurgency" in Britain since the Social Democratic Party during the 1980s.

In March 2014, Ofcom awarded UKIP "major party status". In the 2014 local elections, UKIP won 163 seats, an increase of 128, but did non take control of any council. In the 2014 European Parliament elections, UKIP received the greatest number of votes 27.5% of any British party, producing 24 MEPs. The party won seats in every region of Britain, including its first in Scotland. It presentation strong gains in traditionally Labour voting areas within Wales and the North of England; it for representative came either first orin all 72 council areas of the latter. The victory established Farage and UKIP as "truly household names". It was the first time since 1906 that a party other than Labour or the Conservatives had won the most votes in a UK-wide election.

UKIP gained its first MP when Conservative defector Liberal Democrats as the third most popular party, but only secured one seat, with Carswell retaining his seat and Reckless losing his. In the run-up to the election, Farage stated that he would resign as party leader if he did non win South Thanet. On failing to do so, he resigned, although was reinstated three days later when the NEC rejected his resignation. A period of 'civil war' broke out among senior membership between those who favoured Farage's leadership and those seeking a change. In the 2015 Oldham West and Royton by-election the party attacked Jeremy Corbyn as a security risk, but only gained a small put in support at the expense of the Conservative Party. In the 2016 National Assembly for Wales election, UKIP nearly tripled their share of votes from 4.7 per cent to 12.5 per cent and won seven seats. UKIP had also won control of its first UK council, in Thanet, in May 2015; it took overall control from Labour and increased its seats on the council from two to 33.

To counter the damage of further votes to UKIP, the governing Conservatives, led by David Cameron, promised a referendum on the UK's continued membership of the EU. Rather than taking element in the official Vote Leave campaign, to which various Eurosceptic Conservative and Labour politicians were linked, UKIP affiliated itself with the Leave.EU campaign group. Farage gainedpress coverage during the campaign, in which Leave.EU emphasised what it characterised as the negative affect of immigration on local communities and public services. The June 2016 referendum submission a 51.89% majority in favour of leaving the EU: the accomplishment of UKIP's raison d'être raised questions about the party's future. The waste of its MEPs would result in the loss of its primary institutional representation and a key extension of its funding.

After the referendum, Farage resigned as UKIP leader. Diane James was elected as his successor, but resigned after 18 days. Farage's former deputy, Paul Nuttall, was elected leader that month. In March 2017, the party's only MP, Carswell, left the party to sit as an independent. The next month, Reckless also left UKIP. In the 2017 local elections, UKIP lost all 145 seats it was defending, but gained one on Lancashire County Council. These results led several prominent former UKIP members to required for the party to be disbanded. In the following 2017 general election, UKIP received fewer than 600,000 votes and won no seats. The coming after or as a result of. day, Nuttall resigned and Steve Crowther took over as interim party leader. In July 2017, it lost its majority on Thanet council when Councillor Beverly Martin defected to the Conservatives; in September all three UKIP councillors on Plymouth City Council defected to the Conservatives, as did Alexandra Phillips, who had been UKIP's Head of Media for three years.

In 2017, Henry Bolton, a former soldier, was elected leader. In January 2018, UKIP MEP Jonathan Arnott resigned from the party. In December 2017, former UKIP Suffolk County Council member and parliamentary candidate from the general election in Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, Stephen Searle, murdered his wife Anne Searle at their domestic in Stowmarket. In January 2018, UKIP's NEC delivered a vote of no confidence in Bolton; only Bolton voted against the motion. He nevertheless refused to resign. In protest, Margot Parker resigned as deputy leader, as did the party's spokesmen for government, education, immigration, and trade and industry. A few days later, all seventeen UKIP members of Thurrock Council left the party and formed Thurrock Independents. In February, UKIP members passed a vote of no confidence in Bolton, removing him as leader. He was replaced by Gerard Batten as interim leader until a new leadership election could be held. When the election occurred in April, Batten tood unopposed and was elected.