Nigel Farage's Big Adventure

"The argument that Nigel Farage is a political dud because he has lost seven parliamentary contests is wrong. He is the most consummate politician since Tony Blair. He commands politics. He taps into what a significant minority of voters think. He predicts, and then moulds, the debate. He was the first to raise the migrant crossings in the Channel. He anticipated the West’s move against China. He campaigned for Brexit for two decades before it happened." 

Freddy Hayward, in The New Statesman this week

"...in the new media and internet age, power stems not from politics or the law. It comes from fame and the ability to draw an audience." Freddy Gray, in The Spectator this week

"They [Ukip, Nigel Farage's former party] make a good fit for Clacton. Somebody has to represent the static caravans and holiday villages, and the people and places that for no fault of their own are not getting where a 21st-century Britain needs to be going.

"...Clacton-on-Sea is a friendly resort trying not to die, inhabited by friendly people trying not to die… 

"I am not arguing that we should be careless of the needs of struggling people and places such as Clacton. But I am arguing — if I am honest — that we should be careless of their opinions."
Matthew Parris, in The Times, September 6 2014

Nigel Farage on, naturally, GB News, announced that he is now Leader of the Reform Party and standing for the ideal seat (I know it well and have a vote there) Clacton-on-Sea.

He said:

"There is a buzz out there, there is something happening, particularly among young people, that’s very interesting.

"But the thing that really got me were the number of people saying ‘but why are you not standing?’ And they look at you and you give a response and they look at you as if to say ‘you’ve let me down’. And I began to feel guilty about it.”

Suddenly, the British election becomes interesting.

He is right. He had let his public and even his country down. And this is his moment. The Conservative Party was about to be annihilated and where was Farage?

Sunak would have had a chance had he withdrawn from the European Convention on Human Rights and the Geneva Convention on Refugees and started removing refugees to Africa before calling the election. But at least two cabinet members would have resigned over ECHR.

Lord Cameron, always a globalist, said it would look bad abroad.

Anti immigration politics (not anti immigrant politics which is very distasteful) will win throughout Europe, but not quickly enough.

I doubt the populists will succeed in stopping the onrush.

They haven’t in Finland or Italy.

Reform should not stand candidates against Tory MPs who share their views.

The Tory Party should encourage local pacts as the Liberal Party backed Labour candidates in 1906 and 1910.

Think what that led to.