Originally Posted by
Skroe
I think there is a precedent, granted in a different electorate.
In 2010 the Tea Party in the US was ascendant. In many ways, it is a kind of UKIP in the US. It was a far right, basically know-nothing political fundamentalist group.
In 2012, it peaked with a series of truly awful candidates across the country, and lost big in many places.
By 2014 it was completely in decline. The Republican Party mobilized against Tea Party figures. The Republican electorate at the state and local level (where the Tea Party was most prevelent) had enough with their sort of nonsense. Republicans won big in 2014, on the back of non-Tea Party members.
In 2016, some of the prominent figures of old Tea Party had joined with Trump's campaign, but Tea Party darlings Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz were utterly routed in their national campaign. At the state and local level, the Tea Party is basically defunct.
Voters may do crazy for an election or two. But that's it. We've seen that elsewhere in Europe. I think we'll see it in the UK too.