UKIP's Youth Club: is Generation Y falling for Farage?

Many people who are fed up with mainstream politics have been attracted to UKIP precisely because it is not a conventional party. They like Farage’s spontaneity, and the almost anarchic pleasure he takes in voicing opinions that he knows will upset the political establishment. For its youth wing, many of whom describe themselves as libertarians, this sense of a maverick determined to set the cat among the pigeons also appeals. According to YI chair Rob Comley, who lives in Bexley, South East London, ‘Nigel Farage is unlike most politicians; whereas most politicians say what the public want to hear, Farage says what he truthfully believes is best to fix the UK’s economy, and this is exactly the kind of character that appeals to young people. He is also not afraid of standing around, chatting and having a pint with those who wish to put an argument across to him — I’m not sure we will ever see Cameron, Miliband or Clegg do that!’

Farage and his merry men have prospered by refusing to play the political game in the cautious, conformist way in which most politicians play it. But while they are not afraid of looking, sounding or indeed being old-fashioned, their dismissive attitude to modern views is sometimes also a hindrance.

Some young activists have found their positions on issues such as gay marriage have put them fatally at odds with the core party. Oliver Neville, a former YI chair who was stripped of his position by the party leadership after expressing his support for gay marriage on national radio, claims that ‘a lot of young libertarians joined a few years ago when the party tried to push into that niche, but now the tide has turned back’. Neville has also accused the party, which he describes as ‘socially conservative and even authoritarian’, as having ‘a very short-termist view in light of the evidence about Generation Y’. However, he says he has no plans to join the Conservative party.

But Comley denies that there is a significant gap between UKIP’s age groups. ‘You don’t join a political party to change it.You join it because you agree with it.’

UKIP may well be justified in thinking that if it abandons its cavalier style, it would lose the advantage it enjoys over the other parties, stop providing a refuge for social conservatives (ex-Labour as well as ex-Conservative), and dwindle into just another bunch of timid, tepid careerists. It is not just that it has a problem with modernising itself: its aim is to be anti-modern. Farage’s air of loneliness — for behind his compulsive bonhomie and his pranks, he is plainly a sensitive person — is that of a man who has cut himself off from the great tide of received opinion for which David Cameron feels compelled to show such respect.

At the two-day national conference at Methodist Central Hall in Westminster, speakers will include the Finnish politician Timo Soini, leader of the True Finns, whom Farage describes as ‘changing politics in Finland in a pretty remarkable way’, and UKIP chairman Steve Crowther. ‘I think there’ll be an element in the party that wants to celebrate a bit,’ says Farage, ‘because we have made good progress.’ He points out that this will be the party’s last big gathering before next year’s European elections — ‘the elections no one talks about’ — and declares that ‘I will be putting one or two policy initiatives on the table. Things that I think might attract interest, and add to the impression that UKIP is far more than a single-issue party.’

While I’m asking Farage about the conference, Annabelle Fuller, his press officer, suddenly announces: ‘I’m doing a fringe meeting on female genital mutilation.’ I may have looked slightly surprised, for she continues: ‘It’s exactly the kind of thing people wouldn’t expect UKIP to talk about. People think the Left talk about female genital mutilation. I think that’s wrong — it’s actually multiculturalism that allows these things to perpetuate.’

In the 2014 European elections, Farage is confident of coming either first or second: ‘I have a feeling that in the run-up, the one thing the other parties will not be able to muster is very much support on the ground.’ On the same day, about 4,500 local council seats will be contested, and Farage regards these as in some ways even more important, for they will have a big bearing on UKIP’s prospects in the general election in 2015. According to him, we are seeing a big change in popular opinion: ‘We’re not prepared to put up with the consensus view any more. I think the vote on Syria was a manifestation of the fact that, increasingly, the politicians are scared of the people. I objected that on Syria, where UKIP opposes military action, there had never been a pro-war consensus. But, Farage insists, ‘on a lot of issues we have had a very significant impact on the national debate this year’.

Which issues? He refers to immigration and Europe, and agrees that he is becoming less of a social pariah: ‘I mustn’t get too popular or I shall have to pack it in. My biggest struggle in politics has been to get the views that UKIP stands for to be seen to be reasonable, respectable views.’ He claims that disquiet on the Tory party back benches about Europe has also been prompted by UKIP’s rise. I challenge him on this, saying, ‘No, it’s not only you. Enoch Powell, Margaret Thatcher.’ He replies: ‘If Jimmy Goldsmith had worked inside the Labour or Tory parties, we’d be in the Euro now. I believe you can change more without than you can within. The fact that we’ve advocated leaving the EU [means] we’ve softened the ground for [other parties] to say it as well, and many of them will acknowledge that in private: “You keep going Nigel, you’re making life much easier for us.” That’s fine. I don’t view the Eurosceptics in the Labour and Conservative parties as my enemies at all.’

So, won’t you be rather sorry not to get in yourself?

‘Oh you see, you can’t help yourselves, you lot, can you? This is not about having titles. I’m not interested in all that. It’s about changing things. I think we’ve got a sporting chance of doing it, I really, really do.’

In the short term, UKIP can undoubtedly prosper without running after the youth vote. Its far stronger appeal is to older voters, often retired, often ex-services or small business, living in modest circumstances in England’s seaside towns and feeling neglected by mainstream politicians. But will UKIP be able to renew itself as these supporters die off? Farage himself is not immortal. The twice-married father of four has had a number of near-death experiences, including his plane crash during the 2010 general election. If he refuses to think in any sustained way about how to encourage the generation that will come after him, then the whole thing is left to chance. But that is part of UKIP’s charm. It is all a bit of a gamble. ES

Photographs by Amelia Troubridge

Additional reporting by Tom Beardsworth