HAVING achieved what the party wanted most – a seat in the House of Commons – Nigel Farage has his biggest bullet yet to fire at the doubters who predicted that Ukip would be a flash in the pan and appeal only to a limited number of disaffected right-wingers.

Ukip’s convincing victory in Clacton has confirmed the biggest change in established British politics since the emergence of the SDP as the gang of four’s breakaway from the Labour Party in the early 1980s.

And the fright Ukip gave Labour in the supposedly safe seat of Heywood and Middleton underlines the fact that it is not just the Tories who need fear the Farage factor. Labour MPs nationwide will be sleeping more uneasily and spending more time pondering the question of who should follow the disappointing Ed Miliband should the general election be lost.

The Liberal Democrats – in the wake of yet more humiliation at the polls – must accept that, for the foreseeable future at least, they have lost their traditional place as the masters of by-elections and the choice of the protest voters.

Indeed, there is much for all the main parties to consider as we head for a general election in the midst of the biggest political uncertainty we have seen for decades.

We understand the superficial lure of Mr Farage because it is the product of deep frustration with the state of national politics.

But beyond his simplistic right-wing views on immigration, which have taken a particularly nasty turn with the suggestion that foreigners with HIV should be banned from the UK, do we really know how Ukip plans to take the country forward?

The party has undoubted momentum. It has an undisputed appeal to the disenchanted. But there is precious little substance upon which to cast a vote for it at the general election.