Friday, 3 May 2013

On being chatted up by the other parties

It is still less than a month since Thatcher shuffled off to be toasted by hell's fires, but since that day I have not only had various journalists put on my back by dear old Fred, but no less than three political parties have been in touch seeking to profit from UKIP's self-inflicted wound.

Labour were the first to call within a week of Fred's brain fart, with the local party secretary trying to recruit me back into the party and a promise that I could say whatever I liked about any Tory at any time. I thought that was a decent offer until I saw young Miliband looking all soulful at the old hag's funeral. At the end of the day he is as middle class as the rest of his party, so will have more in common with the likes of Thatcher than he ever will with a bloke like me. All the more reason to give Labour a body swerve from now on.

Next up were the British National Party who just wanted confirmation of a couple of points of the narrative, having obviously been well briefed by someone. As I pointed out in my last post, the briefings against me were pretty intense during the last couple of weeks, so I suppose that I should not be shocked that the BNP were on the same list.

Finally, and most engagingly, were the three calls I received from the Tories. They wanted briefings on future UKIP policy, which I could not give them, and then began to broaden the topic to discuss did I see the party developing along lines more congenial to me? I had no answer to that, either, but it was nice to chat.

One thing did stick in my mind. I said to one of my questioners that all this had begun because of my comment about the dead Margaret - did he not find it hard to chat to a leftist like me? He replied that she was yesterday's news, and all he cared about was tomorrow. I found that comment very telling: Fred McGlade may weep over his lost love but the Tories have ice water for blood and will deal with anyone if it is in their interests.

Yes, all in all a very interesting couple of weeks.

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