Farage’s by-election gamble is a last ditch attempt to save his dying dream of being prime minister
Nigel Farage’s career has never been short of drama and today he is back where he enjoys being most: the center of the political stage.
In an extraordinary development, the Reform UK leader is jeopardizing everything he has fought to achieve by resigning as an MP and calling a by-election in his Clacton constituency.
For the big political gambler, this appears to be a final throw of the dice, relying on the fact that his party is still high in the polls and his personal vote as a famous politician, to win back the seat he held until recently. “If it worked for Andy Burnham at Makerfield, it can work for me too!” he might be thinking.
In his lengthy speech – mostly a rant claiming the media and “establishment” were out to get him – Mr Farage admitted: Independent On Sunday, he said he was considering stepping away from politics altogether.
He was feeling exhausted after carrying Reformation for almost two years, and recent investigations have seen him suddenly commit a disappearing act and take a break from his weekly press conferences.
Interestingly, he preferred to make his statement via social media, away from the curious questions of journalists. He plans to do a lot more of this style of messaging: it’s something Sir Keir Starmer was considering when he was under siege himself in the weeks before his resignation as prime minister.
But Mr Farage is a man who wants his place in history and would prefer his long and successful political career not end in a whimper. In his opinion, it is better to retreat by fighting.
Yet, as a man with reasonable ambitions of becoming the next prime minister, he is clearly struggling to cope with the level of scrutiny.
He is, by his own admission, a man enraged by the inevitable media coverage of his undeclared multimillion-pound donations from Thai crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne and his questionable friendship with convicted criminal George Cottrell.
Much of this was embellished by the outrage on Sky News and Sunday Times, He allegedly approached a property where the broadcaster’s daughter lived.
But in reality this is a man whose party is falling behind in the polls, who is looking at the prospect of Labor under Andy Burnham overtaking Reform in popularity, and who failed to win a parliamentary by-election due to tactical voting.
His rivals, including former Reform deputy leader Ben Habib and former allies such as former Reform MP Rupert Lowe, are both determined to take revenge after falling out with Mr Farage. Elsewhere, Labor and the Conservative Party are smelling blood.
Although his complaints about the physical abuse he suffered are not exaggerated and should be taken seriously, his self-justifications about undeclared donations will not sit well with many.
But perhaps the real reason for all this drama is that Mr Farage must have known that his chances of getting into Downing Street were almost gone and that this was his last chance to move the dial.
The question will be whether he can retain the seat in which he received 46.2 percent of the votes in the general elections.
If the other parties are smart, they will give the Conservative Party, which came second and previously held the seat, a free shot at beating him. The stakes couldn’t be higher.
