Farage hints at UKIP-Tory pact in 2015

but only if Cameron steps down (or is forced out)...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/poli...h-Murdoch.html

Originally Posted by The Telegraph

Nigel Farage, the leader of the UK Independence Party, held a private dinner with Rupert Murdoch earlier this week in which he suggested he would form an electoral pact with the Conservatives if the Prime Minister stepped down.

Seems like a bit of mischief to me, giving Tories concerned about their seats and already discontent with Cameron further motivation to challenge his leadership.

Seems like a great idea to me. Farage is in a bit of a bind right now. He knows that ultimately, only an in-out referendum bill sponsored by one of our main parties stands any chance of becoming law. The Tories are the most likely party to deliver that. However, the tories have also shifted leftwards and worse, from Farage's viewpoint, they are led by a man who derides UKIP as a party supported mostly by "fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists" - a view he expressed some years ago but still explicitly stands by.

Look at Eastleigh - the combined 'right of centre' vote was in excess of 50pc. Maria Hutchings, the Tory candidate, was precisely the sort of person UKIP should be standing aside for in the event of a pact: a marginal seat the Tories can, and should, win, being contested by a candidate who has personally signed the People's Pledge, the nationwide, all-parties-and-none referendum campaign.

Dan Hannan MEP has long argued for a 'unite the right' movement such as the one which led to the formation of the modern Conservatives in Canada and turned decades of irrelevance into a series of election wins. The two issues I can see with that here is that at present, UKIP still does not represent a large enough chunk of the right of centre vote for the Tory high command to be ready to concede they need a pact and, secondly, Cameron is a serious personal obstacle.

There is still time for things to change though. UKIP should do well in May at council elections and is well placed to win the Euros next year. Come 2015 there is a real possibility that an offer for UKIP to stand aside in a number of key marginals might represent the only chance of the Tories scraping a majority. So never say never ...