UKIP in Chaos

As predicted by The Socialist, the vote to leave the EU has plunged UKIP into an existential crisis. Nigel Farage has resigned. His replacement, Diane James, stood down after just 18 days. And now, two UKIP MEPs have been involved in a punch up which left the new leadership candidate, Steven Woolfe, hospitalized.

So much for the threat of a UKIP “takeover”, prophesied by liberal commentators and some on the left.

Theresa May and the Tories are now seeking to capitalise on this crisis by stepping up the anti-migrant rhetoric, thereby cutting across UKIP’s support base. In her conference speech, May announced plans to force businesses to disclose how many non-British workers they employ – a policy that a prominent UKIP MEP has stated “goes too far”.

Simultaneously, however, May has pledged to turn the state into a “force for good” to help working people, and stated that her vision was of a country “where everyone plays by the same rules and where every single person, regardless of their background or that of their parents, is given the chance to be all they want to be”.

Having lived through 6 years of brutal Tory austerity, the majority of workers will laugh at claims that the Tories are friends of the working class, but so much to the right of the political spectrum are the Blairites that it is possible that May’s pitch may appeal to some disgruntled Labour right wingers.

Indeed, one Folkestone Labour councillor, Claire Jeffrey, has already defected to the Tories in protest at Corbyn’s re-election as leader of the Labour Party.

Corbyn’s Labour has the opportunity to provide an alternative to such unprincipled political manoeuvrings. But in order to achieve this, he will need to first break with the Blairite politicians and councillors who infest the Labour Party at present.