Thanks Nigel, but we're all glad you don't want to be PM

                     
                        

UKIP Leader Nigel Farage realises that this is as good as it gets.

In an interview he gave today to the Grauniad the android faced leader of the UK Independence Party. Plane crash survivor and slightly righter-right winger Nigel Farage confessed that he 'doesn't ever want to to be Prime Minister'. This will come as a relief to some, but only a few. As there can only be a few people who would ever genuinely consider becoming worried about the possibility of a UKIP-led Government. Granted that it is more likely than one led by Nick Clegg. 

That he would consider entering into a coalition with the Tories is no surprise. What would be a surprise would be if it were to actually happen. Those people who paid particular attention to the last General Election in 2010  may recall a brief time when a few of us held out for a Labour-Lib-Small Parties Coalition. It was never going to happen. Unless the Tory and UKIP votes both increase significantly in 2015, they'll both find themselves without a majority. Unless they side with the BNP.

Dear old Dishface put his foot in the racial row back in 2006 by calling UKIP 'closet racists'. They're not racist, just, as the interview demonstrates, overly idealistic about Britain and their hopes for what 'Great Britain' means. That Farage laments not being able to have a drink in the country pub on a Sunday afternoon feels terribly nostalgic. The problem with nostalgia being that it recalls only the best of times. So yes, a Britain with Country Pubs, independence from the EU and all the shops closed on a Sunday would be nice. I'm not so sure about rationing, mainstream fascism, sexism and widespread poverty are quite such appealing aspects of the 20th Century which Farage and pals would like to see return.

I'm not a Royalist, but I don't hate the Queen, I just don't think we should pay for her. I'm a liberal but I don't think that there is a conspiracy of the Right to screw us all out of our Pensions. Nor do I think that Higher Education should necessarily be something paid for entirely by those who don't choose to take that path. I'm what most people call a human being, with opinions just like any other human being and whether or not you agree with me. You don't have any reason to hate me, or call me crazy. 

Nigel Farage isn't bonkers, despite what he says about the kind of people he wants in his party. There are aspects of his views with which I sympathise (hey, in 2001, UKIP campaigned on the basis of keeping the Pound - which in hindsight was a pretty wise move). What I find objectionable about Nigel Farage, I actually find to be a fundamental flaw with politicians as a whole. A tendency to over-zealous rhetoric and the constant quest to give out the right kind of soundbite. 

UKIP are at best the presentable face of reactionary politics - although 99% of political posturing is reactionary as it is. I don't doubt that they have views beyond Britain leaving Europe, an Englishmans right to his pint and an objection to Gay Marriage based on outdated ideological views. 

On that last topic Nigel is actually a good example of the typical psuedo-Anglican who gets enraged about the fact that two people of the same gender can get married in the place where they go for Christmas, Easter, Funerals, Christenings and (straight) Weddings. On the basis of which I should be able to say that all Wetherspoons should serve Michelin Star Food and have table service. I mean, I go there about once every two months (more often that Farage goes to church) so I have the right to make a claim about how the place should be run, despite knowing noting about how to run a budget pub chain. 

In truth, not that many people will care about Farage not gunning for 10 Downing Street. For two reasons; firstly, the chances of him actually getting there are incredibly slim and secondly, he'd have to be tied into a Coalition deal to actually get a foot in the door so it's unlikely that much legislation would ever get through during his time in office. So not that different to the current establishment then.

That said, stranger things have happened. This man is going to run for election again, after getting clear of jail thanks to a piece of legislation which he ensured passed into law:

               

Oh World. You are funny.