The United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) and the British press: integration, immigration and integrity

This chapter examines the emergence of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), paying particular attention to developments in its campaigning, communication and media strategies. The party was founded in 1993 as a single issue political organisation determined to secure British withdrawal from the European Union. Euro-scepticism remains at the core of the party’s identity, but more recently UKIP has extended the range and breadth of its policy portfolio, introducing a distinctive, if not entirely coherent libertarian populism into the British political mainstream. Despite an unpromising start to its electoral career, the party has developed considerable political momentum and now increasingly provokes caution and even fear as opposed to ridicule on the part of its rivals