Tuesday, Jun 15, 2004
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By Hasan Suroor
LONDON, JUNE 14. The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair's `vision' of putting Britain at the `heart'' of Europe has suffered a setback as a surge in nationwide Euro-scepticism catapulted the rabidly anti-Europe United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) into prominence in elections to the European Parliament, results for which were announced today. The party, which wants Britain to withdraw from the E.U. altogether, came from in the cold to claim 12 seats, mostly at the expense of Labour and Conservatives, both of whom saw their tally reduced to an all-time low. Once regarded as being on the fringes of political mainstream and dismissed as a party of "cranks and extremists'' by the Conservatives, the UKIP had only two seats in the last European Parliament. But, flushed with funds and second-string celebrities such as the former TV chat show host, Robert Kilroy-Silk, and the novelist, Joan Collins, it was able to tap on public fears of a European "super-state'' through a campaign that often verged on racism and xenophobia. Mr. Kilroy-Silk ran a high-profile campaign denouncing the E.U. as `corrupt' and `dictatorial' and vowing to `return' Britain to the British people. "They (the people) want their country back from Brussels, and we are going to get it back for them,'' he declared after being elected an MEP. Both the Conservatives and Labour lost heavily — the former losing eight seats and the latter six.
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