Nigel Farage has announced he is resigning from the House of Commons to fight a by-election in Clacton. In a 16-minute live statement from Milbank Tower, the Reform leader gave his response to various charges that have been levelled against him in recent days. He criticised the Times for publishing details of his daughter’s house and repeatedly stressed the threats to his security. But it was the final minute that proved the most noteworthy. ‘The people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions,’ he said. ‘This will be a people vs the establishment by-election. It’s a chance to stick two fingers up to the entire establishment. I will fight to win; I will fight to continue the political revolution that Reform has started.’
It is a classic of the Farage genre: an emergency press statement, the list of grievances against the political class and then the rabbit out of the hat. After weeks of being under attack over his £5 million gift from Christopher Harborne and the support given by his friend George Cottrell, Farage is attempting jiu-jitsu politics, using his opponents’ strengths against them. Opponents wanted to drag him through the standards process; now he will beat them to the punch. Rather than meekly take the blows, he has always preferred to seize the initiative and go on the attack. The campaign trail is where he has always felt most comfortable: he will have judged it better to be out on the doors rather than in Westminster, ducking hostile media questions.
Of course, this does not put the questions about him to bed. He was happy to talk about his security, less so administrative support provided prior to the 2024 election. Journalists will doubtless keep on asking questions, regardless of his irritation at them doing so. There is also the standards commissioner, Daniel Greenberg. Under the existing rules, an investigation can be suspended and then restarted again. Farage could therefore trigger, fight and win a contest, only to find further sanction upon his return. Yet he is gambling that the Commissioner will not realistically force him to fight two by-elections in swift succession. In a way it is the inverse of Boris Johnson’s dilemma in 2023, when the ex-PM chose not to fight a contest after being suspended for 90 days.
This was the equivalent of Richard Nixon’s ‘Checkers’ speech in 1952. The-then congressman was fighting for his political life, preferring to talk to voters about a little dog he received rather than a slew of other donations. Farage’s address was not dissimilar: a way of taking on his critics by reminding them of the threat he faces everyday from his enemies, rather than more awkward inquiries. It worked for Nixon: will it work for Farage?
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