Nigel Farage to stand in South Thanet constituency

[-:Undertaker:-]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-28801303

UKIP's Nigel Farage seeking South Thanet selection

Mr Farage is expected to make his case for selection at a hustings on 26 August

UKIP leader Nigel Farage has confirmed he is seeking selection as the party's candidate for the Kent seat of South Thanet at the next general election.

In his column for the Independent, Mr Farage, said: "I have thrown my hat in the ring". He is understood to be one of eight candidates for the seat.

Mr Farage, who was born in Kent, has represented south-east England in the European Parliament since 1999.

South Thanet is currently held by the Conservative MP Laura Sandys.

Following weeks of speculation over which seat he would contest at the 2015 general election, Mr Farage said in his newspaper column that "one of the members of UKIP's Thanet South branch decided to tell a newspaper I was standing in that constituency in 2015".

'Good chance'

He added: "The situation is that there will be a hustings in the constituency... at which the branch will decide who they wish to represent them.

"I have thrown my hat in the ring, but so have others, including a top-class barrister and friend of mine.

"It may seem silly to some that the leader of a party would have to go through the process of being approved and selected but, I assure you, rank means nothing in UKIP."

BBC political correspondent Iain Watson said Mr Farage believed he had a "good chance" of becoming the party's candidate.

The other candidates understood to be on the party's shortlist for the seat include "a couple of local people and a UKIP councillor", our correspondent added.

The constituency, in east Kent, includes the seaside town of Broadstairs

A week ago, UKIP denied Mr Farage wanted to stand in the Kent constituency and said a shortlist had yet to be put together.

The party leader contested the seat at the 2005 general election but came fourth with just 5% of the vote.

The question of where he would stand come the next election came to the fore after he declined to put his name forward for the Newark by-election in June, despite intense speculation. The seat was instead contested by UKIP MEP Roger Helmer.

Mr Farage said at the time that he would not contest the Nottinghamshire seat as he had "no real connections" to the area and that his candidacy would "reinforce the impression UKIP is a one-man band".

Laura Sandys was elected to Parliament for the Conservatives in 2010 and has a majority of 7,617.

She is standing down at the next general election and the Tories have chosen a founding member of UKIP and former leader of the party, Craig MacKinlay, as their candidate.

Not surprising, hopefully it will start the snowball rolling if he manages to be elected in under a years time.

The latest Lord Ashcroft poll for South Thanet had the following figures...

Ukip 33%

Conservatives 29%

Labour 29%

Liberal Democrats 4%

Green Party 4%

Others 1%

Read more: http://www.thanetgazette.co.uk/Lates...#ixzz3ATsLY6Qm

Agree with him or not, it'd be fun to watch him barrack the Prime Minister in the Commons Chamber at PMQs.

Thoughts?

[Chippiewill]

I will definitely be curious to see how well he's able to represent the constituency at the same time as UKIP.

[hairpins]

feel sorri 4 tha pplz livin der havin 2 put wiv dat man hez a nasti persun irl

[-:Undertaker:-]

He's been selected, no surprise there then -

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/...p-south-thanet

Nigel Farage selected by Ukip to fight South Thanet constituency in 2015

Ukip leader to stand again in Kent coastal seat where he polled 5% in 2005, hoping 'perfect storm' will propel him to Westminster

Nigel Farage arrives for a hustings at the Oddfellows Hall in Ramsgate before he was officially nominated as the Ukip candidate for South Thanet. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters

The east Kent constituency of South Thanet has been catapulted to the forefront of British politics after local Ukip members selected the party leader, Nigel Farage, to be their general election candidate, setting up an intriguing battle with a Tory candidate who once headed Ukip himself.

In many ways ideal Ukip territory, the Conservative-held constituency – described by one expert as "an economically stagnant coastal seat, where there are lots of older, white and angry voters" – has long been regarded as Ukip's best chance of getting an MP.

While Farage had insisted he was "no shoo-in" before Tuesday night's selection vote in central Ramsgate, he was the only one of the four nominees to have been tailed around the town's historic seafront by a BBC camera crew; even in the driving rain, voter recognition was strong.

"I hope you'll be representing us Nigel," RAF veteran Paul Stoner shouted across a street as the Ukip leader walked by, cigarette in mouth. For Stoner, Farage would be an ideal MP due to "talking common sense". Echoing a sentiment among others who encountered Farage on his walkabout, the pensioner added: "I am not a prejudiced man but I think we are overpopulated and have too many immigrants here, and that includes Ramsgate."

Further along the promenade, Farage and his small entourage stopped in Corby's Tea Rooms, where he was given a warm reception by owners Len and Pat, who cited local concerns about overcrowded schools and NHS.

"There are a lot of people, and not just here, who see their country going to pot and they feel that he can do something about it," added Pat, formerly of Bermondsey, south London. Pat said she no longer felt the district was "my town" when she returned.

"A lot of people do agree with him and a lot of people are offended by him but I think it's horses for courses, isn't it?"

A July poll by Lord Ashcroft showed that Ukip was currently ahead in the constituency on 32%, against 30% for the Conservatives. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters

To Farage, the constituency is familiar territory; he contested it in 2005, though won just 5% of the vote. As he strode the harbour front on Tuesday however, he was confident that the wind was in his sails, pointing to factors in his favour ranging from Ukip's recently elected crop of local councillors to the impact on the area of decisions made elsewhere.

"You see a place with an amazing heritage in history, and people are rightly proud of where it is and what it is," said Farage. "And yet it feels like the end of the line, that something has gone wrong. The mining has gone and manufacturing, Pfizer, has gone.

"Support for us on Europe is 100% here," he said, gesturing to the harbour. "Yes there are some pretty nice boats owned by rich people but you have a fishing industry that has been wiped out by European policy."

Admitting that voters in the past had not seen Ukip as a credible alternative, he added: "Messages have their time and you can be too early with them. But the other factor is that it's not just about the policy. It's about having a credible organisation in place."

A poll conducted in July by the Conservative Lord Ashcroft showed that Ukip was currently ahead in the constituency, with 32% against 30% for the Conservatives, who will be represented by Craig Mackinlay, who led Ukip in the late 1990s but defected in 2005. Labour, on 27%, are also likely to fancy their chances of gaining from a split rightwing vote.

At the last election Laura Sandys won the seat for the Tories with a majority of 7,617. But she has decided to stand down, citing family demands.

The constituency is in many ways "classic Ukip territory", according to Matthew Goodwin, an expert on Ukip and co-author of Revolt on the Right: Explaining Support for the Radical Right in Britain.

Citing the area's economic difficulties and Ukip-friendly voter demographic, he said: "The local political factors play to Farage as well; the local Conservative MP is standing down, removing any incumbency factor, while the Tories have decided to stand an old Ukip activist as their candidate, which risks alienating anti-Ukip tactical voters who might otherwise have flocked behind a more centrist candidate.

"Add to that the fact that Ukip have been fighting the seat since 2001, that Farage knows the seat like the back of his hand and has lots of activists in the Kent area who can be pulled in to support his campaign, and you begin to see why the seat offers something of a perfect storm to Ukip's increasingly confident leader."

Going by the Ashcroft poll, this is now a three-way marginal.

It'll be one of the interesting constituency battles come 2015.

[A4R0N]

he looks like a thumb

Edited by mdport. (Forum Moderator): Please do not post pointlessly.