Britain’s Version of Tea Party Rocks Political System Across the Pond

Photo Credit: Reuters

Photo Credit: Reuters

The often stale British political system is being rocked by its very own Tea Party.

The UK Independence Party (UKIP), formed in 1993 opposing Britain’s entry into the European Union, failed to make an electoral dent for a long time. However UKIP has built up steam in recent years and is spearheading a seismic shift in the British political spectrum.

In this year’s local elections – the British version of midterms — UKIP took a stunning 23 percent of the vote, up from the 3.1 percent they won in the 2010 national election. Their leader, Nigel Farage, is buoyed by their recent success.

“We want to take back our country, we want to take back our government, and we want to take back our birthright,” Farage told FoxNews.com in forthright language rarely seen in British politics.

Farage has good reason to be confident of UKIP’s potential. Since he took the party’s helm for a second time in 2010, the party has been revitalized, capitalizing on dissatisfaction with the Conservative Party’s shift to the center under current Prime Minister David Cameron.

Read more from this story about Britain’s version of the tea party HERE.