23/04/2004
Predictably, UKIP campaign organisers are preening themselves on âenjoying great success in the mediaâ. Roger Knapman, according to the proud authors of the UKIP Campaign Information Bulletin (23 April 2004), âacquitted himself well against the âdreadedâ John Humphrys on Today prime-timeâ.
Was that the same Roger Knapman who told Humphrys that if the UK did not ratify the Constitutional Treaty, it would automatically lead her to being expelled from the EU â a comment that is without basis in fact and has had the gathering ânoâ campaign to vow to have nothing to do with UKIP? I think we should be told.
Nevertheless, party organisers concede that the Tories âhave endeavoured to wrong-foot Blair and maximise his discomfort in the debate over the referendum on the off/on Constitution issueâ. They do not venture to suggest, however, that this might be better than aligning with Blair and doing the work for the âyesâ campaign.
In what is likely to be a hallmark of the early campaign, it seems UKIP is more content â when it has time to break off from supporting Blair â to attack the Tories for a position which is âfar from comfortable or logicalâ.
It enjoins its members to apply their own 'spin' in letters to the media, âhighlighting the incongruousness of a major opposition party wanting to stay in the EU, whilst rejecting both the Constitution and the euro and then expecting to negotiate with 24 others on the repatriation of our fishing and farming policyâ.
As one prominent Eurosceptic observed, âthey seem to have forgotten who the enemy isâ.