SOME political analysts believe Reform party leader Nigel Farage might have passed his sell by date.
Does that mean Farage is finished?
I would have thought not, but former Spectator editor Fraser Nelson wrote a piece in the Times, headlined: “Is Nigel Farage becoming a liability for Reform? Leader is increasingly tetchy when asked about source of his money and unhappy with the party’s move further right.”
The Sunday Times (5) front page story published the very next day would have brought down most politicians: “Revealed: Nigel Farage secretly funded by convicted criminal. George Cottrell provided staff, security and housing. The benefits were not declared to Commons. Crypto gambler Cottrell is seeking pardon from Trump.”
For die-hard Farage loyalists, who believe he will make Britain white again, he can do no wrong. When it comes to money, Farage would be much more credible if he was straight with voters: “I would like to make other people rich – just like me. Look, I love money. I love having rich friends who give me lots of money. And if I become prime minister, my government will have policies that will ensure my rich friends become even richer.”
The line he has been taking is that the millions he received were before he became an MP and therefore in not declaring the money, he has done nothing wrong. He has been twisting and turning, and giving different answers to the same question. He has also not satisfactorily explained how he and his partner bought a house in Clacton. Farage is now the subject of a parliamentary investigation. If the result goes against him, his fans will see it as further proof that the deep state is out to get him.
In his Times article, Nelson said: “Ever since news of the (£5m) gift from the Thailandbased Christopher Harborne was revealed, Farage has struggled to explain it. It was a ‘reward’ for Brexit; no, it was for personal security; no, it’s a lump sum he hasn’t touched. It’s all unclear. This newspaper has now revealed that he has built a five-house property empire in the past six years, most of it bought for cash. How did a man who declared himself ‘skint’ after the Brexit vote come by this fortune?
“He seems to be avoiding interviews, and the awkward questions they now bring.
“Farage’s critics see him as a brilliant man with a blind spot when it comes to money. They wonder what he will do if forced to choose between politics or self-enrichment. His loyalties, they suspect, lie with Farage Inc, not with Reform UK. So it may be time to start thinking about Reform without Farage.
“He has always been underestimated and may yet talk his way through this, as he has talked his way through everything else. But the great escape artist now finds himself in a trap of his own making: money he cannot explain, questions he cannot swat away – and a party that is no longer the one-man band it once was.”
The Sunday Times article, a result of an investigation by its “Insight” investigation team, carries a wealth of detail and likely to prove very damaging. But possibly not fatal.
Its report began: “Nigel Farage failed to disclose that a convicted criminal and cryptogambler funded his operation in the year before his election to parliament. The Reform leader appears to have broken parliamentary rules by accepting security, drivers, staff and accommodation paid for by George Cottrell, who was jailed for participating in a US money laundering capacity.”
The online version of the story runs to 5,400 words. It has not blocked Farage’s path to 10, Downing Street, but made it much harder. He could do it in a coalition with Kemi Badenoch’s Conservative party. But does that mean that the Tory relationship with British Asians, in general, and British Indians, in particular, has now ended?
By resigning as the MP for Clacton, which he rarely visits, Farage is trying to dodge financial accountability.
