‘Every pub is a parliament’: on the campaign trail with Nigel Farage

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[/audioplayer]Ambushing your opponent’s walk-about is a classic tactic of the political insurgent. When a major party leader comes to town, you position guerrilla campaigners on his route, near the cameras. Then you pounce, so the local news features your posters and messages, rather than his.

Senior Tories often complain about how often Ukip has done this to them. But in this European election campaign, it is the Tories who were trying to muscle in on Nigel Farage’s action. In Portsmouth, as Farage arrived to much fanfare, the wiry Tory candidate Flick Drummond was lying in wait with a posse.

As Farage progressed from the train station, he was surrounded by photographers and camera crews and a couple of burly security guards. Unlike with most politicians, nearly all the cries were of encouragement (his only detractor kept yelling ‘He’s got a German wife!’).