Ukipists are in no position to criticise Russell Brand

Reading this slapdown of Ukip education policy from Conservative Home I get a strange sense of déjà vu. I must have said this a thousand times on this blog - that once Ukip started releasing policy we would not see any consistent vision running throughout and the scattergun nature of them would betray the lack any meaningful reform agenda. They're rolling with whatever sounds good, most of which is boilerplate quasi-rightwing populism - and then have the audacity to claim they represent something different in politics. It looks exactly the same as the old politics to me.

Course Ukipists would be the first to denounce the source of this article, and would be somewhat justified in doing so, but that simply will not do when Ukip professes to be something different. As it happens the series ConHome is running on Ukip is quite cursory deconstruction, and if I could be bothered I would go much further, but if Ukip policy doesn't stand up to a casual fisking, then what is the point?

What it demonstrates is that no serious thinking has gone into what the party stands for, and will contradict themselves at every turn because they don't know either. Rather than addressing this, the Ukip tribalists will crawl out of the woodwork with some impressive mental gymnastics to create a rationale for whatever Farage blurts out on the spot. In more ways than one, Ukip is the exact mirror image of Russell Brand's empty posturing. It's contradictory, without rationale or vision and is largely thoughtless emoting.

This is a direct consequence of Farage's leadership because he is slovenly, arrogant and extraordinarily crass - even for a politician. There was a time when this might have been raised with him, but it will find no listening ear now as Farage has surrounded himself with yes men and lackeys who will not dare to question him.

Meanwhile I'm getting pleas on Twitter to stop "attacking my own side". Sorry folks, Ukip is not on my side. I want to leave the EU and I don't see how a grubby populist party represented by anti-intellectual yobs cheered on by aggressive mouth-foamers, reactionaries and racists (oh yes, they are racist) is constructive to that end.