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14 September 2011 10:05 AM

David Cameron ignores UKIP at his peril

Nigel Farage MEP, the inimitable leader of the UK Independence Party, upset Chumbawumba when he walked on stage at his party's conference last weekend to the tune of the group's hit song, Tubthumping. But he made his point; however much the established political parties try to knock him - and his party - down, they keep getting back up again to upset the cosy pro-EU consensus. There's a good reason for UKIP's resilience - it's rooted in the reality that Britain's membership of the European Union is an expensive disaster for our country.

As opinion poll after opinion poll demonstrates, a large majority of the British people wants to leave the EU. Only the politicians refuse to listen. They'll give us unwanted referendums on the Alternative Vote system - forgive me as I stifle a yawn - or on dishing out more powers (and more English taxpayers' money) to the Welsh Assembly, but they won't let us vote to regain the freedom and independence they have stolen from us by making the UK a part of the EU Empire.

I attended the UKIP Conference myself. The Freedom Association, of which I'm Director, held a series of packed meetings there, on issues our leaders don't want us to talk about - such as the BBC's TV Licence poll tax, the restoration of the death penalty and the war being waged on smokers, drinkers and anybody eating anything more calorific than a lettuce leaf. Not everyone reading this will agree on any or all of those issues, but the point is that they should be discussed openly and that public opinion - not just politicians' opinions - needs to be taken into account.

The UKIP Conference was the biggest and best I've attended. Lets face it, UKIP has had more than its share of infighting and I'm sure there'll be more to come, but it continues to gain strength. In the elections for the absurd European "Parliament" it's gone from 4th place to 3rd place, to 2nd place. No prizes for guessing where that's headed; my prediction is that Nigel Farage's party will knock the Tories off the top spot to become the largest group of UK MEPs in that Tower of Babel.

David Cameron and his party are in denial. The Prime Minister thinks that if he ignores the growing anger about the EU and routinely insults UKIP and its voters - branding them as fruitcakes and closet racists - they'll simply vanish into the mist. I have a message for Mr. Cameron - UKIP's not going to go away. It's getting bigger and stronger and, if he doesn't listen to what his own party members, voters and MPs are telling him about the EU, he will lose the next General Election. Had he done the deal that UKIP offered last time, he wouldn't now be stuck with the terminally Europhile LibDems.

If Mr. Cameron loses the General Election because he underestimated UKIP, his MPs will be merciless. He'll get knocked down - and, unlike Nigel Farage, hewon't get up again.