We Have No More Kippers

"But UKIP got four million votes!"

 

And how very, very, very long ago that seems now.

 

There is no electoral space to the right of wherever the Conservative Party happens to be at the given time. That space simply does not exist.

 

Ask Nigel Farage and Paul Nuttall, with 12 failed attempts between them to enter the House of Commons.

 

Consider, by contrast, that George Galloway's return to Parliament at Manchester Gorton would restore the situation that obtained between 2012 and 2015.

 

That was when members of the House of Commons from outside the Labour Party and to the left of most of its MPs were taking their seats on behalf of all five of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the South of England, and the North of England.