Nigel Raises the Level of Nastiness in UK Politics

 

Well, I was surprised. Nigel Farage (NF) had said that he wasn't standing for Parliament, then he announced that he was changing his mind and became the Reform UK candidate for Clacton. He is perfectly entitled to do this, of course, but, at the same time, I wondered if the nasty election campaign that I predicted on May 23rd would turn out to become even nastier. Well, it looks as if I was right to expect things to turn more unpleasant. What I did not expect was the fact that some of the nastiness would be directed at NF himself. As the picture above shows, he has been the target for violent attacks, and could well be the victim of more.

As we know, on June 4th, NF had a milkshake thrown over him after leaving the Clacton branch of Wetherspoons. As the BBC reported:  

"The Reform UK leader was leaving a pub after carrying out media interviews when a woman appeared to hurl a McDonald's banana milkshake over his face and suit jacket. Essex Police said a 25-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of assault".

And, while visiting Barnsley yesterday, someone threw cement at NF while he toured the town on his battlebus. The BBC again: 

"Police said Josh Greally, 28, had been charged with using threatening, abusive, insulting words and behaviour with intent to cause fear. He has been released on bail to appear before Barnsley Magistrates' Court on 26 June".

Farage, as might be expected, has received a good deal of sympathy for these attacks from the right-wing press - the Daily Express in particular. This less-than-impartial organ gave NF a lengthy interview yesterday:

"The Brexit champion said physical attacks are the next stage of a “cancel culture” by a “violent left wing mob” hoping to silence him...“This was just an attempt to shut me down... If I give in to these people, who the hell else is going to stand up? I’m sometimes brave to the point of total stupidity. I’m very worried about it... But I’m not going to stop. My modus operandi may have to change... You might agree with me or disagree with me, that’s fine. I don’t mind if someone shouts something rude at me in the street, I will probably shout it back. But when it comes to violence, that actually poses a threat to the entire democratic process".

Well, I hate to agree with "The Brexit Champion" about anything, but violence against politicians is deplorable. In recent years, we have seen two MPs murdered and abuse, threats and the possibility of violent assault against politicians of all parties has increased over the years. This situation is so bad that some MPs have resigned over fears for their, and their families', safety. One example is that of Mike Freer, who announced in February that he will be standing down after the next election. The BBC reports:

 

"A minister says he will stand down at the next general election after a series of death threats and an arson attack on his constituency office. Mike Freer, a justice minister and also north London MP, said he avoided being murdered "by the skin of my teeth" by Ali Harbi Ali, who went on to kill Southend West MP Sir David Amess. Mr Freer has represented Finchley and Golders Green since 2010. He said he could no longer put his family through the worry of his safety".

Having said this, and while I condemn all such violence, I have to reflect upon the fact that, back in 2016, as The Mirror reported:  

"Nigel Farage has claimed he has won Brexit “without a single bullet being fired”. The Ukip leader’s highly inflammatory comments at a Leave.EU victory party in London come just a week after Remain-backing Labour MP Jo Cox was shot dead".

Those words of NF should haunt him now, especially when he is the object of political violence himself. We should also remember that NF was the last politician to express condolences for the death of Jo Cox - when he did, it was almost as an afterthought. 

Besides this, it is galling to learn that NF thinks that he is some kind of martyr for free speech. He told the Express: 

"The whole point of democracy is you can have very, very vigorous disagreements. But there has to be a line. The last couple of days have crossed that line.”

NF's hypocrisy on the issue of free speech is appalling. As Hope not Hate has pointed out:

"...there are multiple examples in which we see his hypocrisy and his misinterpretation of free speech, and where he supports speech that would be categorised as hateful".

One example given is that of the toppling of a statue:  

 In response to the toppling of the statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol, Farage produced a video in which he claimed that the toppling of the statue by BLM protestors was abhorrent and that he has put himself on the line speaking out against this behaviour, saying for “Those of us who have tried to speak out…free speech is under threat”. Again ignoring the disparity in whose speech is attended to, Farage made no mention of the longstanding campaign in Bristol prior to these events to remove the statue and other uses of Colston’s name".

And, in a nutshell: 

"Emblematic of the populist radical right, Nigel Farage seems to follow a “free speech” tradition that allows for the amplifying of right wing voices – which are supposedly of ‘the people’ – and the silencing those voices with whom they disagree – i.e. the ‘elite’ and, just as often, marginalised groups".

Drawing to a conclusion, we must note that NF has contributed to the growing nastiness of this general election campaign by launching an apparently curious attack on Rishi Sunak for leaving the D-Day commemoration events early. The Daily Mail reports:

"Mr Farage told the BBC Mr Sunak 'should have known in his heart, that it was right to be there'. He claimed the Tory leader 'doesn't really care about our history, he doesn't really care – frankly – about our culture'. Challenged over the comments, he insisted he had been talking about Mr Sunak's 'class' rather than his heritage as the son of first-generation immigrants. Mr Farage denied any racial element, saying that '40 per cent of our contribution' in the two world wars 'came from the Commonwealth".

Please note: NF denied any racial element. Anyone familiar with NF's political history will know this to be complete rubbish. This is a man  who said, in 2014, that parts of Britain were “unrecognisable” and “like a foreign land”. He had also claimed he felt “awkward” when he heard people speaking other languages on the train. NF is also an admirer of Enoch Powell and claimed in 2008 that “While his (Powell's) language may seem out of date now, his principles remain good and true”. And he has other friends on the extreme Right. including Marine le Pen in France and Beatrix von Storch of the Alternative for Germany party. NF's claims to making a non-racist comment on Sunak are completely absurd. 

I believe NF's true aim to have several facets. Firstly, he is seeking to appeal to the avowedly racist voters, who will doubtless applaud his attack on Sunak out of sheer hatred of coloured people. NF knows he cannot do this directly, so he delivered his mealy-mouthed cop-out about the Commonwealth in WW2. He does not say whether they understood "our" culture or not, when they were fighting on our side. He also wants to encourage the elements in the Tory party who are doubtless working behind the scenes to ditch Sunak should he lose the election, which seems very likely. Now, a Tory debacle could well see the Conservatives move further to the Right. Should that happen, NF will be waiting in the wings. In a Telegraph article on Tuesday, one Alison Pearson declared: 

"You know, I think Nigel Farage is already the leader of the Conservatives. He certainly makes a better, more convincing Tory than Rishi Sunak. The polls bear that out. According to the latest findings from strategic consultancy Redfield & Wilton, Reform is in second place (behind Labour) with voters aged 45-54 and 55-64 (that’s the age group of the Tory “base”) and is even second among 18-24s. The Conservatives are in a miserable fifth place with that younger age bracket".

I know that some people say we should not take NF and Reform UK too seriously. After all, they say, NF has never been an MP and Reform UK have only one MP in Parliament. But it is a mistake to underestimate them; people did that with the NSDAP in Germany in the 1920s. Reform UK party has surged ahead in the latest polls, and are, as of now, just one point behind the Conservatives. 

So what do we do? Well, we oppose them with argument, exposes and non-violent action. Let's hope Nigel Farage lives to see his electoral dreams turn to ash.