Not so long ago, Nigel Farage was riding high. The press hung on his every word. Broadcasters attended his every press conference. He was reliably introduced as the man set to be the next prime minister.
Now, things are different. He seems smaller somehow, quieter. He looks silly, increasingly irrelevant, a crybaby. It is becoming harder and harder to take him seriously.
He’s spending the summer campaigning against a bin in Clacton. He is beset by reports about gifts and donations. And he is struggling to secure any attention as Andy Burnham claims all the headlines.
The new Prime Minister didn’t even bother inviting Farage to his cross-party talks with the Tories and Lib Dems on the future of social care. Once upon a time, this would have been a difficult decision to make. Reform was topping the polls by a wide margin, for months on end. Its relevance was impossible to deny. It would have looked absurd to block them from talks when they were the bookies’ favourite to form the next government.
Things are different now. The weekly More in Common tracker poll showed Labour overtaking Reform for the first time in a year, 28 per cent to 24 per cent. Survation put Labour on 26 per cent and Reform two points behind on 24 per cent. YouGov had the two parties level, with Reform’s polling plunging and Labour’s rising.
Pollster Michael Ashcroft started picking up signs of discontent in Farage’s constituency, which has previously stuck loyally by him. “He wanted the people of Clacton to re-elect him and prove a point,” one constituent said. “So basically, he’s been using people as pawns in his little game to prove a point to the Government, that he is liked, or whatever.”
Reform’s approach to the social care issue is so hysterical and partisan that there’s little point in including them in talks. The party has gone all-out to attack Burnham’s plans for social care before he has even developed them, which suggests that there is no viable plan they would accept.
“As a thank you for electing him, Burnham is considering imposing a universal death tax, in a move that would cost his average constituent a whopping £50,000, just as they are grieving at the loss of a loved one,” Reform Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick said, barely able to control his excitement. “Andy Burnham has no mandate whatsoever to raid people’s precious savings.”
It might be effective if that actually was Burnham’s policy, but it is absurd when we have no idea what Burnham’s policy is. These are not the words of a political party which is capable of behaving in a responsible or adult way. They’re the words of a party which has no interest in solving real-world problems and is concerned only with attacking its opponents.
Farage, of course, interpreted the talks as a conspiracy, because that is how he sees everything. It was the “uniparty in action”, he insisted. “It’s now clear that Burnham is conspiring behind closed doors with the failed political establishment to foist further tax rises on the country.”
Once upon a time, this would have been the angle on the story which most reporters adopted. Over the last 18 months, Reform exercised huge control over the narrative. But those days are over. Instead, Farage’s complaints were reduced to an afterthought, background bleating by the perennially discontented.
Those talks might actually have helped Reform. They could have looked responsible, trustworthy, moderate – able to grapple with policy. Instead, they just look like what they always look like: Angry, useless, tribal, drunk on hatred and self-pity.
Farage’s other attempt to win some attention rests on the social media activity of Zack Polanski, which in itself indicates how far he’s fallen. The Green Party of England and Wales leader shared an image of a man on social media with a T-shirt showing a guillotine and the words: “We’re only making plans for Nigel”.
It was proper amateur hour. A party leader should not be sharing images on social media without checking them. And they certainly shouldn’t then go on BBC Newsnight, as he did last night, say it was a mistake and then refuse to apologise. It simply made no sense. Either it was a mistake and you apologise or it isn’t and you don’t. There is no point trying to claim the centre ground of error.
But despite all that, it is perfectly obvious that Polanski did not mean to share that image and did not believe Farage should be targeted by violence. It was one of several images he shared. He deleted it almost instantly. His crime was foolishness, not malevolence.
Farage’s response was absent of any restraint or good sense. He reported the Green leader to the police and said: “If I was to post anything as inciteful then I would expect to be arrested and so should Polanski.”
This is the man who went to Washington and told the House Judiciary Committee chamber that Britain was slipping into a “really awful authoritarian situation”. It’s the man who pledged in his last manifesto to pass a “comprehensive free speech bill”. And yet he now apparently believes that people should be arrested for accidentally posting an image of someone else wearing a stupid T-shirt.
He is also the man, in case we forget, who just weeks ago used a murder to demand “pure, cold rage”, shortly before race riots in Southampton. The only thing greater than his wickedness is his hypocrisy.
Not so long ago, we had to live with this venal mendacity on a daily basis. Now it all feels much quieter, as if you were overhearing someone talking in a nearby house. Farage’s relevance is dwindling. In everything he does, he looks ridiculous or dangerous. For the time being at least, he seems to be fading away. His fading relevance is an absolute pleasure to behold.
Hence then, the article about farage looks drunk on hatred and self pity was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Farage looks drunk on hatred and self-pity )
Also on site :