Five things I learnt after going behind the scenes with Ukip

Ukip is fighting its most important and difficult election campaign to date. If the party is victorious in May, there is a chance it will become an established Westminster force — around for many years to come. But if Ukip fails, its chance to crack the Commons will have passed and the party’s peak will be judged as being the Rochester & Strood and Clacton by-elections last year.

In the magazine this week, I go behind the scenes with Ukip to find out how the election campaign is going, and what victory looks like for the party. Here are five things I learnt from my time with the People’s Army in London, Essex and Kent.

1. The party thinks 2015 is only the beginning

Ukip’s poll rating remains around 10-15 per cent but some commentators have suggested the party is stalling. But like the Liberal Democrats, Ukip strategists say its national poll rating does not reflect what is happening on the ground.