A Single-Issue Party without an Issue? UKIP and British 2017 General Election

Monika Brusenbauch Meislová
https://doi.org/10.14712/1803-8220/12_2018
A Single-Issue Party without an Issue? UKIP and British 2017 General Election

The article researches an interesting phenomenon of the fall of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) – the most successful populist right-wing party in British history. After soaring relatively high in British politics, in 2017 general election UKIP suffered a sharp drop from its electoral peaks. The inquiry explores UKIP’s 2017 electoral results and demographics of its support (or lack thereof) and examines some of the reasons behind Party’s collapse. More specifically, it focuses on three aspects of UKIP’s 2017 performance: 1) party’s message; 2) party’s leadership and 3) party’s election campaign. The article also discusses which British political party(ies) has/have benefited most from UKIP’s spectacular defeat and reflects on Party’s future prospects.