Thus to Buckingham to see this proposition in action.
Tuesday could not be a finer day to be abroad in England: A warm, sunny spring day with the hedgerow blossoms bursting forth. Spring is here in all her pomp.
I am deposited in the centre of Town and my first sight is of two buses, both sporting large UKIP posters on their posteriors. This striking feature is later noted by one of the foreign TV crews, in some amazement. Perhaps they don't do posterior posters in France.....
Yet try as I might to find it, there is little visible sign of the incumbent, Mr. Speaker (seeking reelection) and certainly no such posters on the back of anything let alone a bus.
Close by is the Old Gaol before which one of Nigel's opponents is declaiming to a TV crew. Apart from the media he is all but alone save for one curious onlooker who is not of voting age. The phrase 'one man and his dog' comes readily to mind.
So to the nerve centre, down a small shopping precinct that curls down to Waitrose.
Nigel is here getting himself ready for a succession of TV interviews. The BBC's James Landale is in town as is a French team and one from Germany. Buckingham is surely on the map in a way it would not have been but for the formidable threat Nigel poses to one of the Establishment's own: Mr. Speaker (seeking re-election).
It has to be said that the candidate himself seems to be thriving on it all. Looking fit, he soons leads us away from HQ out into the town.
Here one sees for the first time the reaction of the good citizens of Buckingham to this phenomenon which has dropped into their midst.
I am struck at once by the friendly greetings that come from all sides: the market traders, a couple of young mums, shoppers of all sorts, the Portuguese who runs the chippy (proudly British now, he declares for Nigel and promises his vote). Then a well-dressed lady approaches and engages Nigel animatedly, though she is chary of the cameras: perhaps her husband is something in the local Tory party and has been intimidated by the Cameroon threats, even though no Tory is on the ballot paper here.
By the by, within the constituency there are plenty of fields sporting a Tory hoarding......this seems to be a deliberate thing, doubtless crafted to give Mr. Speaker (seeking reelection) a bit of a sly leg up and to remind local Tories that, for all that the party actually loathes Bercow, the Cameroons regard the potential presence of Nigel in the Commons as their worst nightmare.
For that is surely why Conservative High Command has, whilst carefully holding its nose, gone out of its way to give Bercow a leg up: the prospect of Nigel on the backbenches articulating the things that so many of the new intake of fresh Tory MPs equally believe but are deterred from themselves saying for fear of the thuggery of the Whips, that is the thing of Tory nightmares.
In a hung Parliament or one with a slender Tory majority, Nigel's presence as something of an embodiment of so much that right-wing tories would like to say openly is seen as a grievous threat by the political elite: they have been in this game for 300 years and more and recognise a rallying point for disaffection when they see one.
Hence the ordinance that has gone out: campaign for Farage at your peril!
Nonetheless, this has not stopped plenty of Tories who remain willing to put Country before Party.
Thus Nigel is able to speak admiringly of Sir Nicholas Bonsor Bt. who, good as his word, came out and canvassed. Twenty years a Tory MP (and for a while a minister), Sir Nicholas is what one thinks of when one hears the phrase 'Tory Grandee'. That his preference is for Nigel rather than the erstwhile Tory MP has been an enormous lift. That he should be prepared to do the rounds with Nigel is a significant moment. Perhaps the flood gates are about to open....and as I write I hear of more rather grand Tories descending on Buckingham come to lend their support as well as our own William Dartmouth. Upon such events do elections turn.
We do a round of the pubs. This is quite deliberate. Snooty elements of the Tory party, ConHome commenters and other assorted enemies try to make much of the fact that Nigel is seen frequently canvassing with a pint in his hand.
They miss the point of course.
Can you imagine Cameron, Clegg or The Son of The Manse dropping into the Dog and Duck for a comfortable pint and a chat with all comers? No, I thought not.
Yet this is Nigel's forte. And what better place is there, in truth, than the Public Bar of a English pub for putting your finger on middle England's pulse?
None, I warrant. Here an Englishman is at his ease and will speak his mind as he would not in the street or place of work. And Nigel's willingness to work the pubs from posh village hostelry to the spit-and-sawdust tap room gives him an enormous advantage over the others: this is keeping your ear to the ground in the best possible way.
The welcome is warm. This is unsurprising for UKIP has also adopted some policies which are very pub-friendly.
So, in due course, we come to the Woolpack. Here the furniture is re-arranged and James Landale does his piece. At last we fellow UKIPPERs can slake our thirst.....and the dust of the street is swiftly washed down with a pint o' best.
A French TV crew follows the BBC. They are astonished that so many of the UKIP team are both French-speaking and Francophile. They find the concept of 'love Europe, hate the EU' a difficult one with which to grapple, brought up as they are by the enemy's propaganda to think of us as resolutely ignorant Little Englanders. This is a shock.
The morning is a gratifying one. The sense of distaste for the Old Parties is palpable. But none of the sullenness that seems to be abroad in much of the land can be detected here. Nigel has brought this contest alive. He is, of course, quite unlike a Cameron, a Clegg or The Dour Scot, when he speaks he speaks his mind. What you see is what you get. And people are tired of the shifty evasions, the dissembling and the circumlocutions of the Establishment.
And the other good thing that Nigel has going for him is that he exudes the sense of taking no one for granted. Buckingham was the sort of seat the Old Parties assumed they could simply weigh the votes on election night: how else would Labour have dared slot Robert Maxwell (better known as the Bouncing Czech) in as its MP in the late 1960s.
But Nigel does not, cannot, take anyone for granted: he has to win each and every vote and so he takes the time and the trouble to listen and take note. This is good for it will stand him in good stead if the people of Buckingham decide to make him their MP. They know they will get a hearing from their man.
They also know they will have a fierce champion in the House. What they will get is a loyal servant of the town and its hinterland.
And walking around the town with him, you get the strong sense that Buckinghamians know it.
But there is no complacency. Volunteers of all parties and none present themselves at the office and are marshalled and directed. Mr. Speaker (seeking reelection) has plainly made a lot of enemies in the Tory party for it is striking how many Tories call in to help.
Bercow himself snakes past the office......predictably he deflects the offer of a cup of tea. Being photographed with a UKIP mug in hand would not help. By all accounts his campaign has been lacklustre. Certainly there is little sign of him on the ground. I daresay he plays well to some sections of the Tory party (who knows, that invitation to dine in Mr. Speaker's apartments in the Palace of Westminster, may yet wing its way....) but it is plain that the ordinary folk of Buckinghamhave been paying attention: the Speaker's involvement in the expenses racket, his toadying to Labour, the careerism, all this has not gone unnoticed by the good folk of Buckingham.
A final thought then.......all to play for and every chance Nigel can pull it off. Above all this was a day when one could be proud of being an Englishman. Here in Buckingham they are thinking about where we find ourselves and making their own minds up. And they are not going to be browbeaten by anyone. Beware, then, the Little People when they have a mind for independence: ignore them at your peril!
Whoever you may be, if you think that Nigel should be heard on the national stage, help us if you can.
Home > Blog > The Brussels Poacher > Nigel is WYSIWYG!
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UK Independence Party in the European Parliament, Europe of Freedom and Democracy group, Rue Wiertz, 60 - 1047 Brussels
28/04/2010 15:49 
johnlocke 
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A correspondent writes:
So, in due course, we come to the Woolpack. Here the furniture is re-arranged and James Landale does his piece. At last we fellow UKIPPERs can slake our thirst.....and the dust of the street is swiftly washed down with a pint o' best.
