Wednesday, 1 July 2009

And the new name for 'centre-right' is ...

Commenting on the successor to the Independence & Democracy Group ...

Graeme Atkinson, the European editor of Searchlight, the respected UK journal that reports on the activities of the far right told EUobserver: "This basically is the far-right 'lite' forming a group, a community of interest, with Ukip's help - right-wingers more of a populist than fascist character."

Stick me down as a "moderate extremist" then.

7 comments:

Stan said...

Why aren't "populist" parties more popular?

Paul said...

Some interesting parties there.

What kind of relationship does UKIP have with the Dutch PVV? It seems ambiguous to say the least.

Mark Wadsworth said...

Stan, nearly all parties are 'populist'.

Paul, I dunno, probably very little whatsoever.

Paul said...

The reason why I asked was because the PVV has very similar free-market economic and Eurosceptic policies to UKIP. I wouldn't be surprised if some sort of friendly relations were there particularly as a lot of UKIP supporters most likely have a sneaking regard for Wilders but are too scared to admit it for fear of being shouted down as racist.

Mark Wadsworth said...

Paul, WIlders' lot are less EU-sceptic than UKIP, somewhere nearer the Tories actually. I'm not convinced that Wilders is racist either, he seems perfectly sensible to me.

Obnoxio The Clown said...

Sounds like something out of Private Eye: "James Whohe is the moderate right wing of the extremist left-of-centre BNP".

wv: No mob. Hmmm...

Paul said...

MW: I like what Wilders says a lot but a lot of the other partners in the EFD are a lot less EU-sceptic than UKIP. It seems an odd decision for UKIP to ally itself with a motley crew of racists, antisemites and other crackpots but not a popular grouping like the PVV. One can only surmise that the PVV have themselves decided to stay non-inscrit because of the proposed make-up of the other parties in the EFD. I can't help but think that UKIP are making a rod for their own back here.

Still, as a new UKIP member I'll be interested to see what happens in the next parliament.