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I will be writing an analysis of UKIP’ 2015 election result in due course. In April 2014 I wrote a critique of Ford and Goodwin’s book on UKIP, Revolt on the Right, arguing that they overestimated the potential of UKIP to break through electorally. In particularly, I questioned the assertion that UKIP were imminently about the start making inroads Labour’s working class electoral base. This is, particularly on Matthew Goodwin’s part, allied to something of a “Blue Labour” view that the Labour Party needs to be more assertive in accommodating the anti-immigration views of many in its potential electoral base.
In this review I argued that Ford and Goodwin’s view that UKIP could break through into Westminster politics was at best an exaggeration, but more likely based on a reading of their statistical data that was simply wrong. The election result, I think, bears this view out (although this needs much more detailed analysis). The original piece bears re-reading in this context. Read it here.
British Contemporary History 