Given that they are such a small party with next to nobody in an position of power why do they get so much media attention?

Same reason Katie Hopkins does.

Because their party members (and their leader) say lots of very stupid things.

Because the others are so pathetic, just copying each other to try and woo the middle ground, UKIP opt for high profile populist rhetoric that whips up the crowds and thus attract attention.

Because it is like watching an old Laurel and Hardy film. 😆

Media like them because it refreshing to have something “new” to write to wind people up a bit. 😆

The large parties are getting boring now …

because the press is right wing, a little xenophobic and hate the EU just like UKIP

Same reason this thread is filling up already…

More Fizz water, Meredith!

What about the greens? 5% of the vote and no clue what’s going on and they still get on TV.

because the press is right wing, a little xenophobic and hate the EU just like UKIP

RIGHT WING XENOPHOBES!

😉

Because they can be relied upon to “give good media” There’s always a good chance one of their number will say something daft, or racist, or xenophobic, or “off message” or will be a closet porn star, or some such.

makes for easy telly or column inches.

Because Ofcom has determined they are a major party for the purposes of this election.

Cap’n 😀

Nick +1

Papers want easy inches, people want false/easy answers

closet porn star

Papers want easy inches

As an election has been called we are currently in a pending period. Party’s are given airtime on a proportional basis. Con, lab and lib dem get the most (and equal to each other) and in an election based story must be given the same airtime. As you move down the list, parties are entitled to their say, just proportionally less than the main three.
Like it or not ukip are a legitimate 4th party and are entitled to a portion of airtime.
This is all very strictly monitored, well it is at our place….

MartynS – Member

Like it or not ukip are a legitimate 4th party

9th I think, and there’s a real big drop after the first 4.

Axis of evil innit

Fair enough northwind…

Who’s 4-8 out of interest?

The question was “why do they get so much media attention?” not why are they allowed to appear on the telly.

IMO part of reason they get so much media attention is because no other party has a leader who is prepared to appear on Have I Got News for You and sit there grinning like a halfwit for 30 minutes while the other contestants crack jokes at his expense.

The UKIP leader is one of the most high profile politician in the UK, and the only UKIP member most people can name.

Here they’ve only managed to get together 7 candidates for council, which makes them the fifth party in the council elections. I think that’s probably a good indicator of their actual size.

(Labour have 50, Conservatives 35, Green 26, Lib Dem about 18, Ukip 7)

It’s because deep down we all know that come election day, everyone is going to vote UKIP and they are going to win the election. Anything, to save us from the boring ‘zero differential’ Labour / Tory politics that blights the electorate.

Actually every recent opinion poll predicts that UKIP will have only about 2 or 3 MPs after the general election. The LibDems despite probably receiving less votes than UKIP will have approximately 20 MPs. That’s because unlike UKIP whose support is thinly spread LibDem support is in pockets of concentration.

If UKIP are to win the general election they need to get the finger out – 3 MPs won’t be enough.

I hope there are others out there, who have just had enough of the ‘same old’ Labour/Tory spin.

Whilst everyone slates their policies,they at least have foresight and vision!

“Subject to academic performance UKIP will remove tuition fees for students taking approved degrees in science, medicine, technology, engineering, maths on the condition that they live, work and pay tax in the UK for five years after the completion of their degrees. “

That has been a policy I have argued should have been adopted years ago and demonstrates they are at least thinking longer term

Whilst everyone slates their policies,they at least have foresight and vision!

When you say “everyone” I’m assuming that you had Nigel Farage in mind ?

Nigel Farage: 2010 UKIP manifesto was ‘drivel’

Since we are reliably informed that UKIP’s policies 5 years ago were drivel I take it that this year’s policies are now completely different.

That’s what I call ……..foresight and vision!

I hope there are others out there, who have just had enough of the ‘same old’ Labour/Tory spin.

See the other UKIP thread for a perfect example of a UKIP candidate publicly stating two radically different and completely opposing views to two different audiences. They are no different than any other politicians – their only unique point is being so swivel-eyed with it.

I hope there are others out there, who have just had enough of the ‘same old’ Labour/Tory spin.

You can vote for him if you agree with his stated policies but I really wouldn’t vote for him if you think he’s anything different from the Tories and Labour – he went to Dulwich College (public school) and worked for years in the City. He’s far far closer to the Establishment that his ‘man of the people’ image will have you believe.

FT profile

I really doubt you’ll get anything much different to the bluster and spin we get from the others….

I think I might setup a political party. What about policies along the lines of

1) All cycle related products are exempt from VAT
2) Cars banned from roads on Sunday mornings
3) Free beer and lap dancing on Friday afternoons in the office
4) Aggressive car drivers face mandatory life jail sentences

We need change!

MartynS – Member

Who’s 4-8 out of interest?

Lib Dem, DUP, Sinn Fein, then SDLP and Plaid Cymru tied for 7th.

Lolkatz were shit and went on for aaaages and were all over the place, it’s abit like that. Except they might get into government.

Never underestimate the pull of a rich backer; Stuart Wheeler is a loaded old man who donated a lot of money to the tories (when Nigel was an MP) and was responsible for influencing Hague’s disastrous policies, that are now being replicated in technicolour by UKIP

so the press give them kudos because they want to sell ad space (to said rich man), that becomes a story that the TV news pick up on because it’s a major theme and they don’t want to lose out on covering the big story

I’d guess its because in spite of his ‘man of the people’ persona it seems that farage is a solidly establishment figure. Public school, city boy, a failed investment banker.

Ukip are a mystery to me. Overlay maps showing high %age of immigration and %age ukip support – they are totally inverse. The only good is that they seem to split the right-leaning vote into non-election-winning chunks.

It turns out that laughing boy hasn’t got such a great sense humour after all.

Ukip asks police to investigate the BBC over Have I Got News for You]

Tonight Kent Police said it had decided not to open an investigation.

“The matter has been reviewed by officers but there’s no evidence of any offences and there will be no further action” a spokesperson told ITV News.

A BBC spokesperson said:

Britain has a proud tradition of satire, and everyone knows that the contributors on Have I Got News for You regularly make jokes at the expense of politicians of all parties.

Well, I’m laughing even harder now.

We can all have a good laugh when the election is over. 😆

because they’re funny

Don’t think UKIP have got that much press compared to last year.

When we had a proper journalist lead news out put, maybe they’d have had less but now news is entertainiment. UKIP are the comedians.

^^This

When we had a proper journalist lead news out put, they would have ripped UKIP to shreds based on real actual facts.

The problem is with most of the news being right leaning they don’t want to actually counter many of the UKIP arguments because they agree with the broad use of casual racism as a distraction to the real causes of modern problems. And the BBC have been absolutely toothless since the Hutton report.