The Thinking ‘Kat: The Establishment vs… a Bin
The other day, Reform MP Nigel Farage announced he was resigning as MP for Clacton-on-Sea. He made this declaration because of questions that have dogged him around large and undeclared donations, donations which have led to a Parliamentary enquiry. However, Farage is not planning to go anywhere. His resignation will trigger a by-election, and he intends to take part in it, in order to beat the ‘establishment’. At present though, none of the major political parties intend to dispute his reelection.
This is because Farage’s gesture is performative. He wants to beat the big parties to show he has public support and that he is a ‘man of the people’. He claims to be an alternative to the ‘establishment’. Never mind that he has had the benefit of private education and has ties to various businesses, much like most politicians. Never mind that his Reform Party have many former Tory MPs on their books. Never mind that in the end, Farage is as establishment as they get. All of this is about sticking a finger up at the pecking order, except in reality it’s no such thing.
It also won’t help him. The investigation into his donations has been paused due to his resignation, but if he were to win the by-election, the investigation would resume. If he has nothing to worry about, the investigation should not concern him, but Farage, the man worth millions who claims to be on the side of the average Brit, is afraid of scrutiny, hence his performative gesture.
What makes this more interesting is that so far, there is one candidate prepared to challenge him. Count Binface.
Yes, we have a politician called Count Binface here. He even has a party named after him.
Satirical political parties are nothing new in the UK, but the prospect of Count Binface being the only person to take on Farage underscores how Farage is not taken seriously in this moment in time. What’s worse, whilst it seems highly unlikely Count Binface would win the by-election, if he did, it would destroy Farage’s credibility.
What Farage now faces is a rock and a hard place. He will either win a virtually uncontested by-election, which won’t prove anything as to whether or not he can stick it to the man, and then face a renewed investigation into his donations, or he can lose to Count Binface, and look like a complete laughing stock. Personally, considering how much damage Farage has done via Brexit, I can’t think of two better outcomes. He is reaping what he has sown, and all the foot-stomping in the world won’t change that.
With a bit of luck, the ultimate establishment crony will see his political career in ruins, very soon, one way or the other.
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