UKIP Goes to War with MPs Who Voted Against Brexit

A demonstrator holds a banner outside The Supreme Court in London, Monday, Dec. 5, 2016. May's government will ask Supreme Court justices to overturn a ruling that Parliament must hold a vote before Britain's exit negotiations can begin _ a case that has raised a constitutional quandary and inflamed the country's heated debate about Brexit. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Nigel Farage’s UK Independence Party (UKIP) has announced it will target at least seven British members of parliament who voted against triggering Article 50 by the end of March 2017 even though their constituents voted for Brexit in the referendum earlier this year.

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UKIP was basically founded in order to push Britain out of the European Union. However, shortly after the referendum result some commentators started wondering whether the victory hadn’t made the party obsolete. After all, they did what they were created to do. What now?

Well, it looks like the party has finally come up with an answer:

Ukip has vowed to target the seats of MPs who voted against triggering Article 50 last night, despite serving constituencies who voted Leave the European Union in June.

A total of seven MPs rebelled against Theresa May’s plan to trigger Brexit yesterday, in a vote which supporters said gave the Prime Minister a “blank cheque” to take Britain out of Europe.

Ukip sources have said they will pour all their efforts into winning over the MPs’ six English and Welsh constituencies in the next general election.

Gerard Batten, who is UKIP’s Brexit spokesman, explained that “these MPS have just written their own political epitaphs. Their action is a clear invitation to UKIP to remove them at the earliest possible opportunity.” That is why all of these arrogant establishmentarians who think they know better than their own electorate have to look over the shoulder from now on. UKIP will target them. Hard.

Interestingly enough, UKIP may even have the support of some eurosceptic Tories who are angered by these elitist nimcompoops. Andrew Rosindell, a conservative MP, had a go at all of them, calling their vote against the triggering of Article 50 “a shameful kick in the teeth the their constituents.” He added: “At least Zac Goldsmith had the integrity to put himself before the electorate on a matter on principle. Perhaps they should consider doing likewise.”

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The most beautiful part of this story is, of course, that UKIP isn’t a traditional party. The party is able to get votes from disgruntled Tory voters and disgruntled Labour voters who are fed up with Labour’s pro-EU policies. UKIP appeals to everybody, not just to those unhappy with, say, former Tory leader and prime minister David Cameron.

In other words, chances are that UKIP will be able to cash in on the MPs’ decision to vote against the clearly expressed wishes of their own electorate. And that would truly be a wonderful development: Britain can use a sizable UKIP faction in parliament.

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