Sometimes an oddball figure dominates our politics for
a period and then fades away. Historic examples would be Robert Lowe, who led the Liberal opposition to parliamentary reform
(the so-called “Adullamites”) in 1866, brilliantly frustrating the plans of
Russell and Gladstone, though opening the door to Disraeli’s 1867 Reform Act.
Lowe was an albino in poor health yet a man of intellect and eloquence
dominating politics in 1866. Similar dominance could be attributed to Tony Benn, the archetypical “Loony
Leftist” who rallied Labour’s more extreme elements to espouse many a wild lost
cause and was a loquacious thorn in the flesh of every Labour leader from 1980
– 1997. He was dubbed The Bertie Wooster
of Marxism. Into this colourful company I introduce Nigel Farage, erstwhile leader of UKIP, whose barn-storming
populism did so much to persuade the British electorate to embrace the Brexit
cause, making 23 June 2016 his great day of triumph and apotheosis.
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| Robert Lowe |
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| Tony Benn |
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| Nigel Farage |
Nigel
Farage, born in 1964, comes from a solidly prosperous
middle-class background. His father was an allegedly alcoholic City stockbroker
who left his family when Nigel was 5 but he entered the fine public (i.e.
private) school Dulwich College which has many famous alumni. He may have been
inspired in his argumentative talent by the lawyers Hartley Shawcross and the
Silkins, Sam and John; his humour perhaps derives from matchless P G Wodehouse
or more broadly from comedian Bob Monkhouse (expelled!). In politics he was
influenced by school visits from soberly thoughtful Keith Joseph and above all
by incisive and driven Enoch Powell.
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| Maverick Tory and inspirational intellectual Enoch Powell |
Nigel chose not to go to university but entered the
City in 1983 as a commodity trader with 4 employers up to 2004. Initially a
Conservative, Nigel could not support the UK signing the Maastricht Treaty of
1992 which created the EU, planned the introduction of the Euro, pushing for
“ever closer” European integration. He
became a founder member of UKIP, committed to the restoration of UK
independence from the EU and after many
failed UK electoral campaigns he became leader of UKIP for almost all of
2006-16, being elected as a member of the European Parliament from 1999 to the
present day. Steadily support for UKIP has grown with many local councillors
but only 2 MPs, (via by-elections): the first-past-the-post electoral system in
the UK heavily penalises small parties – UKIP still garnered 3m votes in the
2015 general election, even though the party is fractious and disorganised.
Farage has changed the tone of political debate in the
UK, often in a manner offensive to the squeamish. He makes no secret of his
contempt for senior Eurocrats greeting the luckless Herman van Rompuy in 2010
with “You have the charisma of a damp rag
and the appearance of a low grade bank clerk!” and enquired “Who are you, nobody in Europe has ever heard
of you?” This was a little hard on erstwhile Belgian Prime Minister van
Rompuy, then newly appointed and unelected President of the Council, a
civilised, if unprepossessing, old cove fond of composing poetry in the
Japanese Haiku fashion. Farage was
fined 10 day’s expenses when he declined to apologise – he insisted his words
were basically true. My neighbours and TV viewers in Greece were thrilled by
Farage – at last someone was mocking European pretensions.
Farage’s views on immigrants are equally direct. He
echoes many widely-held but seldom-expressed fears when he states that the
refugee influx admitted “a fifth column
of Islamic extremists” – recent terrible events in France, Belgium and
Germany give credence to such opinions. Much stricter control of immigration
seems simple common sense but the bien-pensant
elite calls it Fascism, which is nonsense. Farage offends some others when he
says the NHS should concentrate on tending to UK citizens, rather than “caring for recent immigrants with HIV”, an unnecessarily extreme example perhaps.
Some in UKIP and in the Tory party are undoubtedly racist but the worst I heard
from Farage himself is his would-be horror “if
a group of Romanians moved next door.” Impoverished East Europeans are a
growing migrant problem – Farage can hardly be called prejudiced as his
(second) wife is a German from Hamburg.
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| Farage as Man of the People |
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| Farage after the Referendum |
He agitated for a referendum on EU membership which
was conceded by an overconfident David Cameron – believing a Remain verdict was
easily achievable. Farage had already shown his debating mettle when he
demolished Europhile Nick Clegg in a debate during the 2015 election. The
Tories split with Boris Johnson and Michael Gove leading the Leave faction but
Farage was left on the sidelines, cold-shouldered from sharing a platform with
them. But his passionate barn-storming struck a chord with the provincial, the
under-privileged and the marginalised and the 52%-48% victory would never have
been achieved without Farage. His blokeish beer-drinking image, practised
oratory and patriotic appeal were irresistible.
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| Nigel with his pal Donald |
Without a visible power base and no longer UKIP
leader, Farage is looking for a new role. An earlier generation would have made
him at least a Viscount for his services to the nation but our current
Establishment is not generous to its antagonists and he is woefully
undervalued. He has clearly much in common with Donald Trump – a fake tan and
the adulation of the underprivileged to name two – and he wowed his audience at
a Trump rally in Jackson, Miss. His
ambition at least to help along a trade deal between the US and UK should be
warmly embraced. I say, Bravo Nigel – you are the Hero of 2016!
SMD,
19.12.16
Text copyright © Sidney Donald 2016
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