Farage Evasions and a Trojan Horse

 I was hoping not to write about Nigel Farage (NF) and Reform UK again during this election campaign. After my last three postings, I began to think that was enough. However, NF's appearance on the BBC Question Time Leaders Special on June 27th has changed my mind for me. As everyone knows, NF was asked the highly relevant question:

"What is it about you and your party that attracts racists and extremists, whether you say you want them or not?"

The relevance stems from the undercover Channel 4 report from Clacton which saw a certain Reform Campaigner, Andrew Parker, make some highly offensive statements. As the Independent said, quoting Parker: 

"... army recruits should use migrants arriving by small boats in Kent as “target practice”, and labelling Islam a “disgusting cult” in widely condemned comments.
Referring to Mr Sunak, who is of Indian descent, he said: “I’ve always been a Tory voter. But what annoys me is that f****** p*** we’ve got in. What good is he? You tell me, you know. He’s just wet. F****** useless.”

As is known, Parker has been "outed" as an actor, and NF seized on this point. The BBC said: 

"Mr Farage argued that he had done more to drive out the far-right than any living person in British politics.
"I took on the BNP just over a decade ago. I said to their voters, if this is a protest vote but you don't support their racist agenda, don't vote for them, vote for me, destroyed them."

He repeated claims made earlier the same day that Mr Parker was an actor with an alter ego and suggested it was "a political setup of astonishing proportions". Quoted by the BBC again, NF lamented:

"This was designed to hurt us, and sadly some people believe it."

NF's claims about the destruction of the BNP are highly questionable, but we can look at them later. What is of interest here is the fact that no-one in the media has noticed: Farage did not answer the question. He was not asked about Andrew Parker, he was asked why racists and extremists like joining Reform UK. Instead of trying to answer this, he threw down a dead cat, and got everyone talking about a political set-up.

As well he might. Hope not Hate has published "Far Right Rally behind Farage and Reform" , which details how all the far-Right groups in the UK have lent their support to the Reform UK electoral campaign. Starting with Tommy Robinson:

" Stephen Lennon (AKA Tommy Robinson), has said “Nigel Farage’s winning over the people and he’s putting across our arguments to the nation very skilfully and in a great way. There is only one option at this election and that is Reform UK.”

Paul Golding of Britain First agrees with this:

“In the General Election on July the fourth vote Reform because they are taking a sledgehammer to the two party system."

By far the most interesting contribution, though, comes from Mark Collett, leader of the openly neo-Nazi Patriotic Alternative party. Bearing in mind Farage's claim to have destroyed the BNP, Hope not Hate reports: 

"Collet goes on to explain how the British National Party’s (BNP) old election leaflets “were actually markedly tamer than Farage’s current rhetoric,” arguing that, “the same man who boasts about destroying the BNP is now standing on a platform that is more explicitly about demographics than the BNP did at its height.”

Collet has been working on leaflets for the English Democrats (a tiny bunch of extremists) in which he, like NF, advocates the stopping of refugee boats and leaving the ECHR. With no doubt a huge smirk Collett is quoted as saying: 

"I’ve spent the last few weeks working on election leaflets for a number of nationalist candidates. […] These leaflets read ‘Deport All Illegal Immigrants’. It’s almost like Nigel has been aware of this and, to put it politely, is copying our homework. If one was to be less polite they might say he stole our policy.”

Despite this apparent plagiarism, Collett goes on to tell people in constituencies where no ED candidates are standing: “I suggest you vote Reform and help them to complete the wipeout of the Conservative Party.” 

Clearly, there is a great deal to attract right-wing extremists to Reform UK. Were NF to be confronted with this, however, he would probably attribute it to a sting by the establishment press. 

Another matter not noticed is that while NF focussed on the apparent setup with Andrew Parker, nobody pointed out that he wasn't the only Reform UK member in the Channel 4 report to express objectionable views. There was a certain Mr Jones, who told the undercover reporter why Clacton had been chosen for NF: 

“Have a look around. Proper England. You know what I mean? Proper English. Not like in London when you’re a foreigner in your own country, and if you say ‘hello’ to someone they look like they’re about to f****** knife you in the face”.

Mr Jones expressed this violently homophobic view when a police car passed by: 

"You see that f****** degenerate flag on the front bonnet? What are the old bill doing promoting that crap? They should be out catching nonces not promoting the f******.”

NF did not mention this man, nor did anyone quiz him about the man's homophobic outbursts. NF got off lightly.

Nor does NF seem to have been tackled about his claim that he destroyed the British National Party, which is patently absurd. James O'Brien, in "How They Broke Britain", compared NF to the BNP leader, Nick Griffin. Griffin tried to make the BNP more electable by moderating the party line. As Wikipedia says:  

"The BNP replaced Tyndall's policy of compulsory deportation of non-whites to a voluntary system whereby non-whites would be given financial incentives to emigrate. It downplayed biological racism and stressed the cultural incompatibility of different racial groups."

Interestingly, Griffin appeared on Question Time in 2009 and made a similar claim to Farage's claim made on Thursday, again on Question Time, that he had striven hard to keep right-wing extremists from dominating his party. James O'Brien says that Griffin wasn't quite "class" enough to carry this off, and NF is setting out to succeed where Griffin failed, with broadly similar policies, but more polished presentation. The BNP collapsed through internal dissension, not because of any words of Farage. As Wikipedia says:

"  By 2010, there was discontent among the party's grassroots, a result of the change to its white-only membership policy and rumours of financial corruption among its leadership. Some defected to the National Front".  Or, perhaps, UKIP?

   But it could be that NF and Griffin have more in common than similar policies. Griffin recently claimed on X that Farage was once a member of the National Front. Farage has not tried to refute this, despite being challenged by Searchlight magazine. NF was in the NF? It's not beyond the bounds of possibility. 

My own view on Reform UK is that it functions as a Trojan Horse for the extreme Right. The Reform UK leadership might deny this, but it is a fact that extremists are only expelled when they are exposed in the press, or by anti-fascist groups. It's my belief that the numbers expelled are only the tip of the iceberg. There will be more and some will be in deep cover, seeking to get into positions where they can influence policy and strategy. The less discreet ones will be expelled when they step publicly out of line - and only then. This has happened on the Left as well. In the 1930s, until the early 60s, the Communist Party in Liverpool infiltrated the local Labour Party, sometimes even becoming local councillors. "Entryism", as it came to be called, was practised by Militant in the 70s, again targeting the Labour Party. We are seeing it again with Reform UK, and I do not believe, like the Tories say, that a vote for Reform UK is a vote for Labour. Rather, it is a vote for the extreme Right, no matter how many election candidates Reform UK disown.

Lastly, I would like to say that I believe my words of 12th November to have been accurate. Since NF re-entered the political scene, the campaign has got nastier. As Rishi Sunak said of the Channel 4 report:

"My two daughters have to see and hear Reform people who campaign for Nigel Farage calling me an effing 'P***'. It hurts and it makes me angry and I think he has some questions to answer.
And I don't repeat those words lightly"

I am no Tory, but I sympathise completely with the Prime Minister and his family. It is hurtful and disgusting and is probably being used again by racists towards people of South Asian origin. When Farage was asked on Question Time, he refused to make any apologies. NF remains NF in spirit. And political life has got nastier.

I wonder if the man who snapped is now a Reform UK member? It could have been Nigel Farage. I found this photo on Facebook. It might have been published in 2016, but it rings true today.