He rails against the elites. He denounces the establishment. He goes to the lavatory … on Tuesday he does Buck House, and has buttered scones for tea … but, as Clive James might have said, I digress. The image being relentlessly pushed by the Brexit Party of its leader Nigel “Thirsty” Farage is that he is a man of the people, in tune with all those ordinary folk that the other political parties have allegedly ignored.
Squeaky you've been rumbled finger up the bum time
But, as Captain Blackadder might have observed, there was only one thing wrong with this idea - it was bollocks. Nigel Farage comes from a privileged background, he’s a former City trader and insider, and he’s elite through and through. All that this week’s events have done is to show that to the world - well, those who are watching.
That Mr Thirsty was not the mere proletarian he likes his fans to imagine was already well known, thanks to people like Lily Allen, who snapped Nige at a garden party hosted by Evening Standard owner Evgeny Lebedev. The Great Man, resplendent in comedy striped jacket and ridiculous Union Flag shoes, was pictured chatting to Lebedev … and Rupert Murdoch, another member of the establishment who pretends otherwise.
Also “breaking bread”, as Ms Allen put it, was Liam Fox, disgraced Tory politician of no known principle. No man of the people, no outsider, and it was the same this week. After Nige showed what a humourless soul he is after getting the milkshake treatment in Newcastle-on-Tyne on Monday lunchtime, news emerged of another elite event.
As BuzzFeed News has now told, Farage was at the Ritz Hotel last month - not quite your bargain B&B - and “privately sought money and help for his new Brexit Party from fringe right-wing figures including a millionaire Putin cheerleader and a self-proclaimed ‘influencer’ who has posted a string of anti-Islam remarks online”. There was more.
Nige's kind of venue
“Farage was among the guests at the event, which was described by the organisers as a ‘tea party’ and not a Brexit Party fundraiser. But in a five-minute speech, he asked the small group for ‘any help, any support, whether it’s verbal, whether it’s getting your friends involved, whether it’s giving us money, whatever it is, we need all the help we can get’”. It’s all £25 donations, is it? Electoral Commission, take note.
And then, just to put the lid on it, came news that Mr Thirsty was taking yesterday afternoon off - as he had a prior appointment. A Royal prior appointment, no less. As ITV political editor Robert Peston observed, “@Nigel_Farage has taken time off campaigning to attend HM the Queen’s garden party at Buckingham Palace. What PR people call ‘the optics’ interesting for him and the home team”. Now there’s a thing.
Of course, the diehard Faragistas will ignore such diversions. They don’t care. They have imbibed so much Kool-Aid that, whatever their hero does, it’s all right by them. But hopefully others will begin to realise that Nigel Farage isn’t a man of the people. He’s a humourless establishment grifter, a spiv, an unprincipled opportunist.
If he were to be given power - and responsibility - he’d shit himself and run away. Under the upmarket presentation and silly outfits, he’s no different to the rest of the far right.
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In the last few days my son has received two election leaflets through the post. One from the Brexit Party and the other from UKIP. He does not get any other unsolicited mail. He is not active on social media or political in any way. I can only assume that they have got his name and address from the electoral roll which he went onto last year.
ReplyDeleteJust seems too much of a coincidence that both Farage linked parties have targeted him.
All fake news as usual
ReplyDelete@2
ReplyDeleteNigel, stop commenting and get out from the bus
@Bob 11:11
ReplyDelete"Why am I receiving leaflets from parties I have never given my name and address to?
Following the Cambridge Analytica scandal and concern over data usage in the EU referendum, there are heightened sensitivities about the use of personal data during this election campaign. People have questioned how parties are able to send them personally addressed mail.
However, during a campaign, every party standing for election is entitled by law to have full access to the unredacted electoral roll and send one freepost mail-out. If you are registered to vote, parties are allowed to send you personally addressed mail.
Not all parties choose to make the leaflets personally addressed. It is significantly cheaper to print one leaflet per household than one leaflet per voter. Parties sometimes send one leaflet per household without a named addressee, or send a leaflet addressed to just one of the voters in a household." - The Guardian 20 May 2019.
In reply to Letter of the Law...
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info. Still seems too much of a coincidence that out of everyone at the address, my son was the only one singled out - twice!
Hi Bob
ReplyDeleteIs your son the first person on the electoral roll for your address? It's an easy task to restrict postings to first named on a computer database.
Thanks Letter of the Law, as he is the first named that may explain why he has been singled out. However the coincidence of both Brexit and Ukip being the only ones to contact him still seems suspicious. He has made a request to both for the information they hold and source. Let's see what/if they reply.
ReplyDeleteHi Bob,
ReplyDeleteThe other Parties, excluding the Tory Party who didn't take part, printed leaflets with no names and addresses and instructed Royal Mail to post them to all residential properties.