Or will he stand, lose and next year we will go back to talk
about Labour, Conservative and the Liberal Democrats.
That’s the dilemma facing the UKIP leader tonight, stand and
win and he grabs a paintbrush and to paint a new political picture from the UK.
Lose and we might all go, ‘well they aren’t up to much are
they?’ – a huge bodyblow less than 12 months from the General Election.
Or to borrow from Blair, is there a third way? Could the
party have Diane James line up for the seat, fresh from a very good performance
in Eastleigh?
She is an incredibly articulate woman, a plain speaker and,
unlike some, does not have any faux pas to hush up.
Farage could then take to the airwaves, explain he wants to
focus on UKIP’s Euro election campaign and doesn’t want to be ‘part-time
candidate’ and ‘the people of Newark deserve more’.Unlike Eastleigh, Newark is safe Tory country giving UKIP a clear run at the Conservative vote, Farage can take the temperature of things are going because if she loses, well it was a 16,000 seat majority….
If she wins, Cameron gets a bloody nose and, allied to
predicted poor Euro results, the Prime Minister could find himself distracted
in the weeks ahead.
And wouldn’t Farage fancy a seat in the Home Counties anyway
and the glory of beating the Conservatives on General Election night itself?