South West England can sometimes be a strange place. And I say that as a proud Devonian. The undeclared cultural war between Devon and Cornwall over how to have a cream tea attests to that (While we’re on the topic, it’s cream first). This strangeness often seeps into local politics.
Though a Tory heartland, not everything is Blue. Mebyon Kernow does very well for a small ‘nationalist’ party, with four councillors on Cornwall Council. Recently, there’s a lot of Purple. UKIP nabbed second place in the popular vote during the 2013 Local Elections for Devon County Council. Though this only translated to four councillors, the party took a whopping 23% of the vote. How did this happen?
Since the 2013 local elections, several explanations have been offered for this apparent sea change in British politics. From disaffection with established politics, resentment towards immigration, to the charismatic leadership of stockbroker-turned-man-of-the-people Nigel Farage, many of these arguments are highly persuasive. Another factor is the help that UKIP has received from business. Publicity has focussed on UKIP Treasurer and gambling tycoon Stewart Wheeler, whose donations are hugely important to the party (Though his comments about women less so). The Independent showed during the Tory Party Conference how funders were deserting the Conservatives for UKIP.
Support that businesses can give to the growing party is not just financial however, and with this we return to the South West, and the curious case of Trago Mills. Our own miniature UKIP-Land.
Trago Mills is somewhat of an institution in Devon and Cornwall. Very much part of the furniture, it’s pretty hard to describe to grockles (Outsiders). With stores in Falmouth, Liskeard and Newton Abbot, they operate as all-purpose retail centres, but the latter outlet also features rides for kids to play on and petting zoos. A typical experience is to go on a Sunday, buy a new strimmer and then pet a llama.
Growing up in Exeter, occasionally my parents would take me to Trago in Newton Abbot and, I’ll be honest, it was a blast. What kid wouldn’t love the miniature train rides or the duck boats? But it was as I grew a bit older, and duck boat rides become less acceptable, that I began to discover another side to Trago Mills.
When I was about 17 I had a friend whose mother boycotted Trago because of the owner’s political views. This occurred at a time when I was first becoming interested or even aware of politics so this took me by surprise. Why would you boycott a place where you get potted plants for such bargain prices? Doesn’t everyone need affordable potted plants?
It was explained to me that Bruce Robertson (The owner of Trago Mills) supported UKIP (back in those days a veritable political minnow) and generally voiced unpalatable opinions, about immigrants mostly.
After this, I did my own research and it turned out said friend’s mother was correct. Mr. Robertson was indeed quite a character. This is something he seems to have inherited from his father, the founder of the Trago Empire, whose battles with local councillors over planning permission gained him particular notoriety. Robertson Sr. even built some satirical statues of the councillors who opposed him, with hilarious inscriptions, and placed them in his Liskeard store for all to see.
Bruce Robertson and Nigel Farage hanging out
Most denizens of the fair counties of Devon and Cornwall will be subjected to this political side of Trago through newspaper advertisements. These feature in most local papers on a regular basis and usually take the form of a full page spread of the latest offers and then in the corner a little op-ed boxout by David Chalice, a member of UKIP. ‘Speakers Corner’, as it’s known, is an interesting read if you want an concise insight into the UKIP mindset. All the cliches are here, from the ‘Loony Left’, BBC bias and all the rest of it. Here’s a link to some people on Mumsnet getting justifiably angry about a piece on women.
These adverts are completely legitimate to both the Advertising Standards Agency and the Electoral Commission. I checked this with both after I spied a particularly nasty one about gay marriage while eating my Coco Pops one morning (Look, I was ‘in-between jobs’). Essentially, Trago as a business can act as an explicit mouthpiece for the party in its advertisements. Quite the money saver for UKIP.
A typical ‘Speaker’s Corner’ op-ed on a Trago Mills ad
What’s more interesting though is if you actually go inside Trago Mills, as I did on a recent trip with my parents to look at an arbour for the garden (SURPRISING COMMERCIAL PLUG DESPITE GENERAL TREND OF BLOG POST: TRAGO MILLS HAVE AN EXCELLENT SELECTION OF ARBOURS). On the approach there are some ‘Vote UKIP’ and ‘Get Britain OUT of Europe’ banners.
Inside are further sights. On a non-political note there’s a new outdoor bit (Where you can find the arbours. Y’know, if you want a high quality arbour at an affordable price) which is styled on the grandiose Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli. What better way to oppose a creeping foreign European Empire than to have a carbon copy garden from the greatest historical foreign European Empire there ever was!
Tivoli-inspired shopping for the garden
Back on a political note, it is when we go to pay for our goods (Decided the arbour was nice but it wouldn’t fit in the car so just a few chocolate bars for us thank you) that I spy a little box on the end of the checkout that reads ‘Metric Martyrs Defence Fund’. Not feeling the desire to donate money to such a worthy cause, we move on. (I mean, c’mon guys that was like 43 years ago that changed. The Boomtown Rats had Number 1s then. We’re talking about a time when Bob Geldof was in the charts).
On the way out I notice a little table with a load of UKIP paraphernalia on it – leaflets, pamphlets and such. This is just by the side of one of the main exits so a lot of people go by it. I stuff my pockets, thankfully to some weird looks, and then we’re off. Safely at home I’m enlightened about the ‘madness’ of wind farms and how everyone should pay the same level of income tax.
It seems unbelievable that all these sub-strands of Little Englandism can weave together with outlet retail in the way they do in Trago Mills. Especially in such bizarre and entertaining ways. Well, entertaining until the day that Nigel Farage returns triumphantly to Trago on the back of becoming PM for a victory lap on the Go-Karts.
That is, thankfully, an unlikely set of events. UKIP isn’t the voice of the South West, despite recent advances. It seems come 2015 the Tories will probably remain dominant in the area, with Labour holding on to its pockets of red in the few cities there are. Rather than seeing Trago as a microcosm of things to come, it should be seen as a big fat warning about the weird views of the party it supports.
Andrew Seaton
TheManMadeMouth 
