The word “tetchy” is of uncertain origin. It’s possibly derived from the French word “tache”, meaning “flaw” or “blemish”, as on a painting.
Nigel Farage was certainly “tetchy” during a string of broadcast interviews on Tuesday morning.
The Reform UK leader would have been hoping to mark 23 June as the 10th anniversary of the day Britain voted to leave the European Union in 2016. But instead of celebrating Brexit, he was unusually boxed on to the ropes over the issue which has dogged him for two months – the mysterious £5m he received from the cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne in the spring of 2024, just before Farage announced he would become Reform leader again and would fight the election in Clacton.
Questioned by Sally Nugent on BBC Breakfast and Nick Robinson on Radio 4 Today, Farage was far from his usual cheerful, self-confident “Teflon” self who generally manages to laugh off every allegation thrown at him. Nugent was especially persistent and firm in her grilling, and Farage was consistent in his explanations as to what Harborne’s “gift” was for, and what he did with it. “None of your business…none of your business,” he kept saying, with rising exasperation. “Nobody cares,” he repeated, “nobody cares” – perhaps hoping that what works for Donald Trump in America will help him.
Farage might expect a tough ride from BBC presenters, but more telling was the fierce interrogation he got from Nick Ferrari on LBC, and Julia Hartley-Brewer on TalkTV, broadcasters who are sympathetic to Farage’s views, but who clearly think he made a grave error in accepting the Harborne’s millions.
Farage is already being investigated by the parliamentary standards commissioner Daniel Greenberg over whether he broke the rules in not declaring the Harborne “gift” on the Commons register of interests as soon as he became an MP. The rules state that new MPs have to declare anything they’ve received in the 12 months before they are elected.
But Greenberg’s verdict on Harborne is the least of Farage’s problems. Even if he recommends Farage be suspended for more than 10 days, which would prompt a local petition and possibly a by-election in his Clacton seat, Farage would almost certainly win that contest, though it would prolong the questions about Harborne.
More important is that the Harborne money makes it look like Reform’s policies can be bought by wealthy businessmen – the tawdry politics which Farage’s chum and hero Trump has brought to the US.
Since the £5m went into Farage’s bank account two years ago, Reform has introduced policies much more to favour the crypto industry. Last year Farage even met the Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, and reportedly lobbied against proposals for Britain to introduce a state digital currency.
And Reform and Farage, of course, pride themselves on representing people who feel left out, poorly paid voters who’ve not had a real pay rise in decades, whose jobs are increasingly insecure. For them, and almost all voters in Britain, an untaxed £5m “gift” is beyond their wildest fantasies.
No wonder Farage looked so touchy when the broadcasters grilled him this week, and no wonder he’s spent weeks avoiding media questions. He looked as rattled on Tuesday as the toys on babies’ buggies outside a nursery. Astonishingly for such a professional communicator, in visibly looking so annoyed, Farage committed the cardinal PR error of giving away his weakness and sensitivity.
Journalists and rival politicians will inevitably plug away at that raw nerve with questions, election posters, and social media posts. Eventually, as Nick Robinson has suggested, Farage may have to return the £5m to Harborne, not because failing to declare it was against the Commons rules, but because it looks so bad politically, especially among Reform’s core support.
From now on, post-Makerfield, the 25-35 per cent of voters who’ve given Reform a lead in almost every national opinion poll for 14 months now – almost 300 polls in all – will be under siege as never before from rival parties. First, from rejuvenated Labour under Andy Burnham, as skilled a communicator as Farage and much more popular (at least for now); from the Conservatives gradually being restored to life by Kemi Badenoch; and above all from Restore, whose policies are to the right of Reform, and whose leader Rupert Lowe gives his MP’s pay to local charities, not something one can imagine Farage doing.
Restore’s success, aided by online support from Elon Musk, must grate with Farage, when he surely knows the wound is self-inflicted. Farage can only blame himself for the bust-up with Lowe, who was elected a Reform MP in 2024 before the party suspended him over what looked like trumped-up accusations of bullying, and a bizarre raid on Lowe’s home by armed police.
After securing an astonishing 7 per cent vote in Makerfield, Restore has the wind in its sails, and will do huge damage by poaching Reform votes from now on. It’s reported that many who voted Restore in Makerfield did so out of dislike for Farage.
Polling by YouGov conducted last Sunday and Monday is likely to rattle Farage further. Almost twice as many voters (43 per cent to 23 per cent) think Burnham would be a better PM than Farage, the YouGov survey suggests. Worse still, Badenoch beats Farage as preferred PM by more than two to one – 38 per cent to 17 per cent. Only 25 per cent of those polled think Farage would make a good prime minister, compared with 65 per cent who regard him unfavourably – the Reform leader’s equal worst stats since 2024.
Figures like these may be the harbingers of widespread anti-Farage tactical voting at the next election – and recent by-elections have shown how supporters of all other parties are more than happy to switch tactically to back the party best placed to beat Reform.
Because Farage and his party face a lot more people who dislike them than like them, his woes will continue. He can expect no relief from the Greater Manchester by-election on 30 July to elect Burnham’s replacement as mayor.
Earlier this year, when Reform were still riding high, they looked well-placed to win such a by-election. Indeed that was one reason Keir Starmer initially blocked Burnham’s attempts to become an MP – as losing Greater Manchester to Reform would be humiliating for Labour.
It’s not widely noticed, though, that the mayoral by-election is being held under the supplementary vote [SV] system, after Labour last year used its huge Commons majority to pass a law to bring in SV for mayoral elections, instead of the traditional first-past-the-post system used in Westminster contests. Under SV, people mark their first and second choices on the ballot paper, 1 and 2. If no candidate gets more than 50 per cent on the first round, then the two most popular contenders enter a run-off in which all second preferences for the less popular parties are allocated between the top two.
The SV has a similar effect to tactical voting and it means Labour will almost certainly retain the Greater Manchester mayoralty. It may be the first electoral success of Burnham’s premiership – and a reason for Farage to remain tetchy and rattled as he feels ganged up on by all the other parties, aided by persistent and curious broadcasters doing their jobs.
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