Farage Fights Back

Much has been written about Nigel Farage - a fair proportion of it in these pages. According to my critics, the jury’s still out on my assessment of the man. Half of them appear to believe I’m a Farage fanboy, the other half that my criticism of him makes me a traitor to Britain. This leads me to suspect I might be approaching something like objectivity.

Farage has his weaknesses, and I’m not talking about the booze and the fags. He’s shown himself repeatedly to be soft on Islam; no small matter if (as some believe) he is the last hope for Britain. That aside, there is just enough evidence to suggest he is the one man capable and willing to not only halt the country’s decline, but to set her back on track. He may be looking a little frayed around the edges of late, but “Our Nige” has been fighting the Establishment for the last quarter of a century. He’s also been remarkably consistent in his message. Because of this, the Establishment is understandably worried.

With the Reform leader still odds-on to be the next elected Prime Minister, and having led in 306 consecutive opinion polls, it was only a matter of time before the full machinery of Whitehall swung into action. Dominic Cummings predicted as much earlier in the year:

“Whitehall will break the law to prevent Reform UK winning power. They’ll leak medical records, tax records. They’ll bug his phone and leak that. They’ll do anything that they need to.”

The attacks have certainly come thick and fast. The media milked last year’s rumours of a 40-year-old Sieg Heil, enacted on the playing fields of Dulwich College for all they were worth. I was at Dulwich myself, and if anyone thinks this kind of behaviour is remarkable for an all boy’s school, they haven’t lived. The Russian smears also got another outing, courtesy of former UKIP MEP Nathan Gill, which led many parliamentarians to conclude “Farage’s party is riddled with Russian influence.”

Then came the financial scrutiny. While Farage seems occasionally unsure how many houses he owns (a step up, one must agree, from Boris Johnson struggling to remember the names - or even the number - of his own children), the argument that this makes him uniquely venal in a Parliament stuffed with buy-to-let millionaires appears far-fetched. His holdings are modest compared to the rumoured empires of Tony Blair or Lady Nugee. And yes, he reportedly earns £22,500 an hour promoting gold bullion, alongside trousering the odd five-million quid from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne - but this was before he decided to run as an MP. Nice work if you can get it.

Next up there’s the guilt-by-association attack on “Posh George” Cottrell - Farage’s long-time ally and colourful character. Cottrell was caught in an FBI sting back in 2016, agreeing to launder millions in drug money. He reportedly provided undeclared staff, security, drivers, and even a swanky London townhouse for Farage. The papers have had a field day painting it as some dark, sleazy arrangement, complete with the toe-curling detail that George apparently calls him “Daddy”. In reality, it looks more like an old-school personal friendship and practical support than a grand conspiracy, but it’s easy to see why it’s being played up.

You might have thought the demise of Keir Starmer, the inability of the legacy parties to muster 40% between them, and the failure of the Lib Dems to capitalise would have been newsworthy. But no. Instead, the man most in trouble of late is chart-topper Farage. Rumours abound that he is “tired”, “refusing to give interviews”, “lost the fire”, or is simply preparing to quit. It’s all so predictable, so desperate, and so very Westminster.

On the last point however, they were partially correct. Our Nige, it seems, has had enough. He came out swinging earlier today, announcing his resignation as MP for Clacton and triggering a by-election - even offering to pay for it himself. This is a smart move: turning the tables on his adversaries and forcing them to react on his terms. He pitched it perfectly to his supporters as a straight battle of the Establishment versus the people: “If I lose, they win. If they win, you lose.” It’s also fair to say, the speech had more conviction than the entire Starmer premiership.

The problem for the Establishment is that these attacks are more likely to backfire than succeed. Here’s why:

1. The British public increasingly values authenticity over polish. They don’t necessarily want a saint - Starmer tried that routine, and you can see how well it went. They want someone real who says what he thinks, even if the flaws are on full display.

2. The attacks look like what they are: a conglomeration of smears, cheapened by the fact that they all arose at the same time, from identical sources. I suspect the Clacton by-election will not only see Farage re-elected, he may well increase his 8,000 majority in the process.

3. The half-century old schoolboy tales are lame in the extreme. Red Wall voters are likely to hear far worse down the local boozer of an evening, and indeed likely to find it funny. If it’s good enough for Monty Python and Fawlty Towers, Nazi jokes should be good enough for public schoolboys.

4. I seriously doubt whether the British electorate is overly concerned that Farage earns good money. Why shouldn’t he? What I suspect they would object to, is those lining their pockets at the public expense, and let’s face it Westminster is hardly the last place you’d expect to find such behaviour.

5. It’s fair to say, “Posh George” might not be the ideal right-hand man. But again, Westminster is not immune from outside influence, whether it comes in the form of the IRA, Jeffrey Epstein, China, or the more customary “cash for questions”. Cottrell has served his time, and having no further convictions in almost a decade, he appears on the surface to be a reformed character.

The fact is, however much he may reject the phrasing, Farage is the British Trump. Not like Trump in appearance or personality certainly, but he remains our equivalent: the outsider who terrifies the Establishment. The real problem for his political enemies is that Reform UK voters are the most loyal in the country. To lose their support, Farage would probably need to get done for drink-driving, embezzlement of public funds, and chicken molestation - preferably all on the same afternoon! After 25 years of media scrutiny, that’s just not going to happen.

Flawed Farage may be. Weak on certain issues, unquestionably. But he remains the last do-or-die charge across no-man’s-land Britain has. Just like Brexit, the public gets it - even if the Establishment never will.

Frank Haviland is the Editor of The New Conservative, and the author of Banalysis: The Lie Destroying the West.

If you enjoy my work, please consider buying me a coffee - it would really help to keep me going. Thank you!