#Fingergate is proving to be an opportunity lost for Farage/UKIP
Tim Montgomerie got this right: A humourous response was required
Soubry v Farage shaping up as most entertaining political feud de nos jours. UKIP overreaction to #fingergate makes it funnier still
— James Chapman (Mail) (@jameschappers) December 22, 2013
@jameschappers he should have responded with humour, not anger
— Tim Montgomerie (@TimMontgomerie) December 22, 2013
Of course, Anna Soubry’s comments on the Marr about Nigel Farage show were wrong but the interesting thing, as is being noted in the Tweets above, has been the UKIP/Farage response.
Rather than find a smart way to laugh it off Farage is coming over badly. A short quip would have done the trick.
Here’s a day that the UKIP leader hadn’t planned to be making the news but thanks to less than wise comments by a Tory minister he is. To treat it in the manner he has does not reflect well on him.
Remember how Danny Alexander dealt with Harriet Harman’s silly “ginger rodent” remark three years ago. He came out saying “rodents do valuable work cleaning up mess others leave behind“.
In terms of political skills Farage is showing that he’s not in the same league as Alexander.