NIGEL Farage was looking supremely relaxed in his pound sterling socks.
The self-professed "bloke from the pub who went to Strasbourg" was launching Ukip's English local election campaign in a swish London hotel, with one party colleague gushing how Nige was the "greatest political speaker" on British TV, people loved him; so much so that it would be "football stadiums next".
I was bemused, as on this occasion the anti-EU party could only muster about 30 people for the big launch and these included members of Her Majesty's Press.
Of course, it didn't really matter. Unlike general elections, European elections are almost entirely conducted through the unblinking eye of the media. What matters is what is said on TV, radio, online or to the newspapers. And of course, the Ukip leader is everywhere.
While Mr Farage is hoping for a major breakthrough in the May 22 Europoll, not least in Scotland, he is really looking to this being a launch-pad to the 2015 General Election; because it is at Westminster where Ukip could really shake things up given what could happen in 2017.
"You know, I'm an angler," he told The Herald. "You'd be on the Spey thrashing away for hours and hours. One fish on the bank is a lot more than none. One seat in parliament is a lot more than none. If we get our first seat in parliament, if a by-election goes well, whether it's Newark or whatever, everything will change."
This, of course, is David Cameron's big fear. Having mocked Ukip and then ignored them, the Prime Minister is now desperately trying to woo back Tories flirting with the anti-EU party. On the stump this week,he urged voters to focus on the "politics of the answer, not the politics of anger". Fat chance.
The Euro poll is an opportunity for people to vent their anger and lodge a protest vote at the political Establishment. And they will take it.
Mr Cameron will have to ride the storm after May 22; he already has a reshuffle, or should that be relaunch, pencilled in for the end of the month ahead of the Queen's Speech and the final push towards 2015.
But what was interesting at the Inter-Continental, apart from Mr Farage's socks, was how the emphasis was not placed on taking votes from the Tories but on taking them from working-class Labour.
If the rise of Ukip is sustainable, it will feed into this growing sense of a Disunited Kingdom. A Yes vote in September will, of course, produce an unprecedented political earthquake, but what happens if there is a narrow No vote and six months later the General Election produces a Tory government but with no Scottish Conservative MP; Scotland with an English Secretary of State?
The sense of a Disunited Kingdom will be further underscored if Ukip do, as Angler Farage hopes, land a fish or three on the Westminster riverbank.
Having gone through the divisive debate on Scottish independence, this would come about as the nation is plunged into yet another conflict-ridden referendum campaign - on Britain's membership of Europe.
You have been warned; Mr Farage and his socks might be around for some time yet.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article