“Nadine Dorries to join UKIP”

Sources suggest that Nadine Dorries is planning to join UKIP after the expected demolition of the Conservative Party in the European elections next year. In fact it has been said that there are up to 7 Conservative MPs seriously considering their future. Certainly if the surge in support for UKIP continues then many Conservative MPs who still have some affection for old fashioned conservative principles such as national sovereignty, controlled immigration and the benefits of employment, will wonder whether or not they will be around to promote them in a much reduced Conservative Party after 2015.The Daily Telegraph is trying to plant the idea that Nadine Dorries is not welcome in UKIP. This would seem to indicate that they have heard the same whispers and are doing their best to reduce the prospects of even this most outspoken of Conservative MPs having the courage and confidence to risk all. But sooner rather than later must surely be best for all concerned. There are plenty of things to be critical of in regard to Dorries. But most UKIP supporters no longer seem to believe that politicians are either blameless or faultless. In fact it is possible to put up with a great many weaknesses in an MP if they only speak up for the people they are supposed to represent. And if Nadine Dorries could concentrate on those few issues which unite the mass of the people in their concerns, and try to keep her mouth shut for the rest, then the inevitable misunderstandings and misrepresentations can be excused.

I would rather an MP who was politically incorrect, but genuinely open-hearted and generous, than one who never put a foot wrong, but was only interested in self-promotion. In fact Dorries seems genuinely popular in her constituency and gained a majority of the votes cast. If she became the first UKIP MP, and accepted some form of self-discipline, then she could play an important role in the growing influence of UKIP. She would be able to keep the issues which UKIP campaigns on in the forefront of Parliamentary business, and could also be an encouragement to the other six Conservative MPs whose names are circulating as being likely to defect when pushed hard enough by circumstances.

Michael Portillo and Nigel Lawson have both made statements explicitly hostile to the Coalition programme, with Portillo even going so far as to say that Cameron’s EU referendum is an ‘insincere ploy’. It looks as though the pressure is building in the Conservative Party, and principled actions by those who do believe in the integrity and value of our British culture and society can be expected. Nadine Dorries may be the first to join UKIP, but she undoubtedly will not be the last. We may be critical of some of her past statements and actions, but if she is willing to voice our own popular demands for political change, and risk what is a fairly safe seat, then she deserves to be encouraged and supported. For all her faults, if she does become the first UKIP MP she will find herself among friends.