Dick Puddlecote has been out and about and able to catch up with our shared blog mascot, Philip Davies MP.
DP thought he was worthy because of his straight talking libertarian views. The fact that he speaks up for those who are oppressed or persecuted because they do not accept the enforced view of the EU, the healthist lifestyle bullies, or the climate change terrorists is why I think he deserves to be on a pedestal as an encouragement to other free thinking politicians to come out.
I wish he wasn't a Tory but at least as a member of the half party in power, he will be heard.
In fact UKIP loves him too. Former leader Lord Pearson (is he still leader until a new one is chosen?) would not stand a candidate against him in the general election for fear of losing that strong anti-EU voice.
I hope Nigel Farage gets the leadership back. He'll certainly get my vote because he can bring the wider public along with the party. So many people want to switch their support from the failed old parties but they want that support to go to a party that can take their hopes into Parliament. Forget the BNP. They will never do it. They are in too much disarray and their policies would be worse than Gordon Brown's.
It's a kind of catch 22 situation. UKIP has the capacity to win an election. It can't win an election without the support of the public. The public worries UKIP won't get into Parliament so it votes elsewhere.
Things are changing even if they are not changing fast enough for me. UKIP is the fourth largest party in the UK. It is evolving as new members come on board from old Tory grandees and entrepreneurs, old socialist Labour union members and workers, and those who voted iiLiberal to find the party more than wanting.
It will probably get more support at the next election as people turn away from the IlLiberal Demotwats and BluLabour who have both turned away from their roots.
Look what happened to NuLabour when it betrayed it's core support? The modern ideological battle, in my view, is not between the old "owners" and "workers" but the "libertarians" versus the "authoritarians."
The IlLiberals are simply a mish mash of old Labour and old Liberals and old socialists and they offer nothing new or exciting.
Britain has always been a two party state. It still is but only one is represented. We need a libertarian party in Parliament to balance out the three authoritarians that have morphed into one with three different names.