One person for whom such tactics are likely to be unnecessary is LSE academic Alan Sked, leader of the UK Independence Party. Somewhat upstaged by the Jimmy-come-latelies of the Referendum Party, the UKIP is still contesting 194 seats - about half as many again as the number of votes Sked got in Bath in 1992. This time he is facing a notional Tory majority of over 20,000 in Romsey.