Matthew Parris, Smug Self-Satisfaction Personified

I used to regularly comment to the Matthew Parris column in The Times before it disappeared behind the Murdoch pay wall, I took to adding such comments to the posts on this blog, they may be found by typing that name into the blog search bar at the head of the home page. The following link is to the first such, linked here.

I enjoyed the writing and the often unusual viewpoints offered by Mr Parris, albeit often disagreeing with some of the conclusions being drawn. I considered them the last remains of decent British journalism in the spirit of the likes of W.T. Stead and Bernard Levin! So what then  has apparently poisoned the mind of Mr Parris, to write as he did in The Spectator this week, linked here, regarding the ordinary voters now turning towards the UK Independence Party?

The airwaves and media are full of the latest dirty dealings of a Conservative MP, this time Patrick Mercer, read that of The Independent from here, fittingly on the dateline for that sour article from Matthew Parris.

Just where I wonder, given the characters and pasts of most of the leading members of the Cameron clique, should ordinary voters look for decent representation amongst those politicians who seek to rule them on behalf of avaricious foreigners? Where would Matthew Parris direct them? Was that not why we formed Veritas?  A fresh party,which was ignored by the media and mocked for selecting a known media figure, whose voting record had shown more whip defiance than any other Labour MP!

UKIP has had a difficult past, as must any party trying to break through Britain's first past the post voting system. It has attracted oddballs in its early days but also a wide range of sincere ordinary individuals seeking a better standard of politics and MORE importantly a restoration of the power of our sadly corrupted Parliament.

The sneering of Matthew Parris at such decent ordinary voters does him, and all his future comments, no credit at all!