'Desperate' Farage Does A Trump
As the established media turns against Nigel Farage, the Byline Times Podcast talks to our Political Editor Adam Bienkov about what is really behind the Reform leader's by-election stunt
The latest Byline Times Podcast offers two takes on Nigel Farage’s decision to resign from parliament in order to engineer a by-election in his own Clacton seat.
Podcast editor Adrian Goldberg says that the Reform leader, “is reaching for the paradoxical authoritarian/victim playbook” beloved of US President Donald Trump.
“How so? Well Farage is facing a parliamentary standards enquiry and an electoral commission enquiry over £5 million he received from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne before entered parliament. Farage denies any wrongdoing, arguing the money was a gift for security costs, not a political donation; but if found guilty he could be suspended from the Commons and that might in itself trigger a by election.
“By forcing a poll before the outcome of the case, it seems to me that Farage wants to put himself in a position where he can say that the people are the ultimate arbiters of his fate not – as he would have it – the out of touch establishment. Just like Trump after he lost the election in 2020, he wants to make out that he’s been wronged by the system, and that the will of the electorate is being frustrated. In other words, don’t trust due process, don’t trust the conventional way of doing things; don’t believe what you’re being told.
“As we saw with the January 6 insurrection in Washington DC, in contexts like this, such talk can have dangerous consequences…”
Byline Times political editor Adam Bienkov believes Farage’s attempt to mimic Trump will backfire, however.
“We’ve never had before had a politician who’s run an election on what is explicitly a pro-sleaze, anti-transparency ticket” he insists and argues that his decision was taken from a position of terminal weakness, rather than strength.
Listen to the full episode below, and read Bienkov’s full article on Farage’s gambit here.
The Byline Times Podcast is produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg and Harvey White.