Cameron takes swipe at 'consummate politician, not ordinary bloke' Farage

Cameron takes swipe at 'consummate politician, not ordinary bloke' Farage

PM hits out at Ukip leader's claims to being ordinary, portraying him instead as supremely tactical, with big expenses claims

Rowena Mason, political correspondent

theguardian.com, Monday 26 May 2014 / http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/may/26/cameron-consummate-politician-farage-ukip-european-elections-expenses

David Cameron has launched a personal attack on Nigel Farage for pretending to be a "normal bloke down the pub" when he was really a "consummate politician" with big expenses claims and a wife on the public payroll.

After Ukip's historic victory in the European elections, the prime minister said on Monday he did not accept Farage's claims of being ordinary and suggested this image was disingenuous.

Cameron made the unusually direct swipe at the Ukip leader after Farage said he was "over the moon" about the European election results and hailed his new place as leader of the third party in British politics. Ukip has now got at least 23 MEPs, the Tories and Labour have 18 each, while the Liberal Democrats lost 10 MEPs leaving them with just one. Northern Ireland is still to declare.

For months, the prime minister and other senior Conservatives have tried to avoid mentioning Ukip, after realising Cameron's portrayal of the party as a bunch of "fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists" badly backfired. However, the prime minister appears to have been provoked into criticising Ukip and Farage more openly again in recent weeks, as well as repeatedly rejecting the idea of any pacts or joint tickets with the party for the general election. He made the new comments after being asked why he could not answer simply like Farage, instead of dodging a question about whether he felt closer to Ukip or the Liberal Democrats.

Cameron told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I don't actually happen to agree with that. Listening to him on the radio and television for the last few days, it all seems supremely tactical. It's about trying to grow votes in clusters or something in different parts of the country. I don't really accept this thing. He's a consummate politician, we've seen that with his expenses and his wife on the payroll and everything else. So I don't really accept the 'he's a normal bloke down the pub' thing."

After the Conservatives came third behind both Ukip and Labour, Cameron said he believed voters had turned to Farage's party because they were "deeply disillusioned" with the European Union and wanted change. He also indicated this might strengthen his hand if he wins the next election and begins negotiating with the European Union for a new relationship with the UK.

Having taken just 24% of the national vote share for the Tories, Cameron said the message of discontent about the role of the EU was "absolutely received and understood". But he dismissed calls for an early referendum on Britain's EU membership from senior colleagues – including David Davis, his former rival for the leadership.

Cameron said it would take time to get the renegotiation done and shortening the time frame "would not be right". People would realise after the next election that the 2017 date for the referendum was "real, genuine" and approaching fast, he said.

"The real test of my plan for Europe will be at the next election," he said, where voters would have to decide between Conservatives that would give voters a renegotiated EU or Ed Miliband offering the "status quo". Addressing the Conservative party's prospects for the next election, Cameron said it would be a "really tough struggle" to win but still a possibility.

His comments came as Labour defended its performance in the European elections after coming second behind Ukip but slightly ahead of the Conservative party.

Shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna said he believed, from the results of the local and European elections, that Labour could win the next election but it did not yet have it in the bag.

He told the Today programme: "These are a very good set of results. Let's not forget back in 2009 we got less than 16% of the vote. We've got over 25% of the vote on the results in so far. We've seen our tally of MEPs go up from 13 to 18. We're expecting to perhaps get another couple on top of that.

"So that's a really good set of results on top of a very good showing in the local elections where, in addition to the 2,000 extra councillors we've put on since 2010 we put on an extra over 370 just a few days ago. So we're moving forward and we'll seek to build on that with a view to of course winning the general election next year."

Ukip's national share of the vote was around 28%, a near doubling of the 16.5% it secured in the last European elections in 2009, when it came second to the Tories with 13 seats.

Farage said the victory put his party in a good position to win seats at the general election if Ukip could build up "clusters" of support and broaden its top team beyond the one-man-band of himself.

"My dream has become a reality, and despite the onslaught we faced over the last few weeks as if the whole world was against us, the British public stood firm, they back Ukip and we've won a national election, I'm over the moon," he said.

He said the implications for the other parties could be profound, especially for Nick Clegg, who was facing questions about his leadership.

"The implications for Nick Clegg are very serious indeed, the implications for Ed Miliband are serious indeed, and for David Cameron perhaps not quite as bad, but that debate, that split within his party is going to continue," he said. "What everybody says – 'Oh, UKIP have done well in this, but they can't repeat it next year' – I've been looking at some of the constituencies, seats in which we won council seats, seats in which we have topped the poll, and it's clear now that we have a targeting strategy for next year that is valid."

Farage said he was planning to take some time out of the spotlight over the summer in order to build his new team of MEPs into a stronger frontbench of spokespersons.