Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, has come out fighting in response to the intense scrutiny and revelations about his personal finances. He says he will resign his seat to fight a ‘people versus establishment’ by-election in Clacton and believes members of his constituency ‘should be the judges of my actions’. It is a clever move – perhaps the only move he could make – which gives him a chance to retake control of the political narrative. It also carries with it the obvious risk that the voters of Clacton may decide they’ve had enough of the circus surrounding their MP.
In a much-trailed statement on his future in public life, Farage adopted a number of personas, sometimes defiant, threatening hellfire on his critics, and at other times playing the victim card. At one point, Farage portrayed himself as a victim of ‘the establishment’ which was out to get him because it could not beat him fairly and so is doing it ‘by foul means’.
Then, in defiant mode, he claimed to have done nothing wrong, adding that he had not broken the law in relation to parliamentary rules and expenses. He pointed out that the code of conduct by which he was being judged only regulates what people do in their public life; it does not cover what they do in their private life. The Reform UK leader went on to dismiss the fuss about his finances by claiming there was ‘nothing wrong with making money’ and that he was proud of the fact he has done so. He went on to explain that he gave up a lot of money when he devoted his life to politics and that, after the Brexit referendum, he had little money. Since then, he explained, he has done well and had the equivalent of a ‘lottery win’. This was a novel and roundabout way of describing the controversial £5 million donation he received from the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne. Farage is being investigated by the parliamentary standards watchdog over the gift. Farage also took a sly dig at Labour ministers who, he claimed, ‘don’t have experience of making money’. And he went on to rubbish Labour’s restrictions on donations from people living abroad as the kind of thing that happened in a ‘communist country’.
He also aimed fire at the media. He attacked the Sunday Times team behind the reports into donations from his longtime ally and convicted fraudster, George Cottrell. The newspaper reported that Cottrell provided funding for housing, staffing and security. Farage insisted he followed the rules over the support he received. Farage also made a point of raising the impact on his family. He accused the Times of threatening his daughter’s security by publishing a picture of where she lived. He said his daughter is now facing harassment from the media, before adding: ‘I’ve never been angrier in my life’. He also criticised the police, complaining that he was the most attacked politician in Britain but they ignored the numerous death threats he faces.
What happens now is hard to predict. In giving the voters of Clacton the final say on his future in political life, Farage has put his fate in their hands. If he wins, he will be the first to proclaim that ordinary people have given a big thumbs down to the dark forces of the political establishment intent on destroying him. If he loses, well, that’s that.
A spokesman for Andy Burnham, the prime minister-in-waiting, has dismissed the by-election triggered by Farage as a gimmick designed to distract from the serious allegations he faces. The latest and most public response to the growing swirl of rumours and allegations about his finances revealed little new or substantial, except that Farage is determined to go down fighting. Over to the voters of Clacton.
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