Hidden amongst the headlines today were some very interesting figures on the true level of interest in our ‘new politics’.

The Institute of Public Policy Research showed that racial hatred has little or nothing to do with support for the BNP. This doesn’t mean Griffin and his muscle-heads aren’t racist of course – but it does prove beyond reasonable doubt that most of the BNP’s support is based on the elite not listening to those who are falling behind in society. As the majority of German Nazi supporters weren’t anti-Semitic either (many were disgusted by Hitler’s descriptions of the Jews) this makes sense. It will be ignored by the Establishment as always – but it makes sense.

Age UK also reports that 78% of over 60s feel ignored by society, and I can vouch for that. I’d add that I feel ignored by the media, marketing, politicians, the police, social services and a plethora of other wasters taking the Brown shilling, but that’s neither here nor there: four out of every five oldies feeling alienated is no different to the poor voting BNP.

Research last month demonstrated that among under 25s as a whole, only one in three will vote. In my day it was nine out of ten: but then we didn’t have Eastenders and the X-Factor.

ICM tells us further that only 44% of Asians here will vote. Given that 34% of them who are under 35 want to overthrow the State anyway, this is hardly surprising; but the majority of Asians still bring enormous entrepreneurial and professional abilities to our economy. Three in five thinking it’s not worth voting is, again, a sign that this majority feels left outside by our culture…as indeed they are – although that problem is a two-way street.

ICM’s estimate has for some time been that overall UK turnout will be a mere 55% this time. This is more turn-off than turnout – it will be interesting to see what effect Clegg’s surgeathon has on this overall level. However, I draw two points from these studies – and I think they are crucial to an understanding of what’s really going on in Britain.

First, after going through these studies, one is left wondering precisely who Parliament is actually representing at the end of the day. And the answer appears to be middle-class white people aged 30-55. Or in short, people like them.

Second – and this has to be a crushing indictment of ‘New’ Labour’s wasted opportunity since 1997 – you will note that all the alienated are the very folks for whom the Labour Party has always traditionally stood: the poor, the old, the put-upon minorities. And the group it has always inspired with this sense of fairness – those under 25 – is the least engaged of the lot.

One of the reasons I’m no longer Left-of-centre is that the Left has been gradually infiltrated by brainless Oxbridge silks since the 1960s. I’ve been collecting lots of other reasons over time to drift slowly towards disciplined individualism, but the very first was the invasion of the soul-snatchers after 1970 – Benn, Foot, Longford, Harman, Blair, Hoon, Dromey, Mandelson, Gould, Campbell and all the rest of the elite who ripped the common-sense out of the Labour Party.

These research numbers show exactly what damage has been wrought by £23,000 watches, media lies, wars in search of legacies, affirmative action, hard-Left intellectuals, lawyers, bigoted feminism and pedantic pc: viz, the people supposed to benefit from all these ‘modernisers’ are worse off (and more isolated) than they ever were.

This is where Labour’s core support has gone: back behind closed doors, down towards dependency, into the arms of extremists, and – in more cases than we yet understand – to the bottom of a bottle.

I don’t see Nick Clegg changing this. He himself has, let’s face it, plenty of equally committed social democrats in what used to be the real Liberal Party; and he seems very keen to deal with those who have brought Labour (and the country) to its knees.

The one hope we had in Clegg was his ‘commitment’ to proper proportional representation – because this really would give minority opinion true representation in the Mother of all Parliaments. Instead, Nick is obviously manoeuvring to facilitate the mother and father of all sell-outs.

Power – as ever – currupts. And the scent of it diminishes the Liberal Democrats.