'Farage Just Wouldn't Do That'

Events in the United States Show How Dangerous it is Not to Take Populist Politicians Seriously

Last week, I had a conversation with someone who, in their own words, ‘quite liked Farage’. This wasn’t on my LBC show - where I routinely exchange opinions with members of the public whose views are opposed to mine – I encountered this person socially.

When I gave several examples of things Farage had said which I found egregious, they countered that he ‘just says whatever is most advantageous depending on what audience he is in front of. You can’t take anything he says seriously’. It didn’t seem to occur to this person that a) this might be reason enough for a person not to be Prime Minister or b) people said exactly the same thing about Donald Trump.

I changed tack and said perhaps we should then follow the money. An investigation found 2/3rds of Reform UK’s funding comes from individuals and corporate interests tied to the fossil fuel industry. This is, presumably, why they so furiously oppose Net Zero. It also explains why deputy-leader Richard Tice recently threw a hissy fit and terminated the interview when one of Bloomberg’s podcast hosts attempted to draw his attention to peer-reviewed evidence from the more than 99% of actively publishing climate scientists who agree that man-made climate change is a) real and b) urgent.

I pointed out that it recently came to light that Farage personally trousered £5 million from a Thailand-based crypto billionaire and that several pro-crypto policies subsequently appeared in the Reform UK manifesto.

I also spoke about the ADF (Alliance Defending Freedom) - an anti-abortion lobby group who were instrumental in overturning Roe-vs-Wade in the US. An investigation by the New York Times found the ADF has been courting Reform UK behind closed doors. This might explain why Farage appeared to suddenly discover he had pungent opinions about abortion limits in 2025, or why they’ve selected a candidate in the forthcoming Makerfield bi-election who has said he believes abortion is sought by ‘cowardly’ women.

In conclusion, I said, it very much looks like Farage can be bought. And the people with the most money in the world are anti-worker, anti-women and pro-AI/tech/crypto. Ordinary people will likely suffer under a Reform UK government, precisely because all indicators suggest that it will serve the interests of wealthy so-called ‘elites’.

‘The things is’ this person responded ‘I just don’t think Farage would do that’.

‘What do you mean?’ I asked.

‘I just don’t think he would’ came the response.

I couldn’t argue with that because, as my colleague James O’Brien regularly observes ‘you cannot reason a person out of a position they haven’t been reasoned into’.

I do wonder, however, what this person (who was not stupid, or noticeably racist or misogynistic) thinks of Farage after this week.

In contrast to all the available evidence and in opposition to the explicit wishes of his family, this week Farage gave an ‘emergency address’ in which he called for ‘cold, hard rage’ in response to the murder of Henry Nowak. Inevitably, what followed was far-right rioting in the area where the murder took place, during which 11 police officers and a police dog were injured. Farage later refused to condemn this violence in parliament. (As a matter of interest, he has been absent for the past 77 parliamentary votes – and absent generally from the media circuit since a spotlight was shone on the £5 million ‘gift’ – but he decided to show up to ask a question about Nowak and to suggest his death was a result of ‘two tier policing’).

A few things to point out, here – Black men are seven times more likely to die following restraint in police custody. Black people are also four times more likely to be stopped and searched (that goes up to 48 times more likely in the wealthiest areas of London). The Casey Review of 2023 found the MET police - the UK’s largest force - continues to have issues with systemic racism. In Southampton, where Nowak was murdered, white officers make up 96.9% of the local force. Whilst the video footage of Nowak’s arrest just prior to his death is heartbreaking and an investigation into police conduct is warranted, there is not a shred of credible evidence which would suggest that Nowak would have been treated more favourably had he not been white.

Furthermore, it wasn’t so long ago that Farage was stoking prejudice against Eastern European people by claiming (again, without proof) that they steal and eat swans from national parks, or saying that he wouldn’t want to live next door to them. As author Dan Kaszeta put it on Bluesky ‘the same people who tell me I can’t ever be British because of my name are saying a guy named Nowak is British, just for a few days while they hold riots’.

‘Whiteness’ isn’t just about skin tone – after all Jewish, Irish and Italian people have all been considered ‘not white’ at various points in history. It is an ever-shifting concept whose definition depends on whatever is most advantageous to racists at the time.

Anyway, back to Farage and what he would or would not do…. The only explanation I can think of as to why he would disgrace himself so publicly is that Reform UK is currently haemorrhaging support to Restore Britain, an even further-right party headed by MP for Great Yarmouth Rupert Lowe. Farage has always been skilled at dog-whistling to bigots whilst avoiding being explicit to give himself a veneer of respectability. As Reform’s core supporters lurch further and further into racist territory, so Farage will have to follow if he wants to have any chance of retaining them.

And so the question becomes – Will this inexorable slide into fascism be enough to put off non-core supporters (disenfranchised centre-right Tories or people sick of the status quo) amongst the estimated 27% of the electorate currently minded to vote for Reform? Or will they, like boiled frogs, be taken along for the ride, convincing themselves that, when it comes down to it, ‘Farage just wouldn’t do that’?