Let’s be honest, just for a moment. The Rochester and Strood by-election has been a disgrace. It has been a sewer race during which the two leading protagonists have done their best to demonstrate their lack of fitness for office. In this, if nothing else, they have been successful.
I wouldn’t expect anything better from Mark Reckless and Ukip. We know who they are; the type of people they are. So it’s no great surprise that Reckless is happy to allow people to think Ukip’s revolution will lead to the repatriation of immigrants. As usual, Ukip are living down to expectations.
But so, alas, are the Conservatives. Their own candidate, Kelly Tolhurst, is just as repellent as Mr Reckless. She appears to be running a campaign based on the interesting proposition that, gosh, Ukip are right, don’t vote for them. Consider these extracts from her own election leaflets:
“I wanted to bring the prime minister to this constituency to show him that uncontrolled immigration has hurt this area.
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