[Livia]

Originally Posted by GiRTh

I didn't realise old skool Tories were taking UKIP so seriously. I wonder if these guys actually see UKIP in power or is it a reaction to Camerons lightweight leadership.

I think it's a mixture of the two things. Tory members were already muttering when the party decided it was going to use gay marriage as a smokescreen for its austerity measures when the issue of gay marriage wasn't even in the manifesto. Sure enough, the people they alienated most were the huntin' fishin' shootin' twin-set-and-pearls wearing blue-rinse membership. They're the people that keep the party afloat not just with votes but with donations and fundraising. Then they alienated them further by hitting pensions. The soft-peddling and sometime/maybe attitude to a European refrendum played into UKIP's hands. I'm not sure whether the government truly understand how many times they've shot themselves in the foot. And this week's comment about party activists being "swivel-eyed loons" came from somewhere. You can't talk about your members like that even if you think it, or they stop giving you money and you end up out of a job. If the government can't see how badly they've ****ed up, then frankly they shouldn't be running the country. Sadly, I don't see any kind of viable alternative.