Might Nigel Farage actually be the subsequent UK Prime Minister? It’s a query that, a mere 5 years in the past, would have sounded reasonably like asking if we’d ever see Piers Morgan run the Ministry of Manners.
And but right here we’re, with Farage’s Reform UK occasion reportedly garnering a surge in new members—apparently outrunning the Conservatives within the membership stakes, and boasting a youthful, extra dynamic assist base by a margin of a minimum of 15 years. The Tory previous guard, presumably, is ingesting one more cup of lukewarm tea in some draughty neighborhood corridor, whereas the brand new children on the block queue up for kombucha pictures at a Reform UK rally. “The times,” as Bob Dylan assured us many years in the past, “they are a-changin’.”
In fact, if we’re to imagine the rumours, Reform UK additionally has potential monetary backing from the world’s richest man himself, Elon Musk. Sure, that Elon Musk: the rocket-launching, Twitter-purchasing, multi-billionaire entrepreneur who chucks Teslas and satellites into house for sport. The identical man who began off revolutionising the electrical automotive business and wound up with a curious hankering to purchase up social media platforms for enjoyable. Musk, thoughts you, is just not precisely recognized for his shy and retiring strategy to politics—or anything. The notion that Musk may see in Farage a kindred spirit for disruptive politicking and a worldwide platform for his or her shared model of contrarian mischief is just not solely outlandish. In spite of everything, you can argue they’re each showmen of types, every boasting that brash, unstoppable self-confidence that might whip up a worldwide storm in a teacup quicker than you’ll be able to say “Brexit 2.0.”
The really staggering factor on this situation, although, is that peculiar Britons—battle-scarred after years of Brexit sagas, pandemic bungles, and fractious management contests—may really be ready to again Farage as he as soon as once more units out his stall. Keep in mind, that is the person who promised to “get Brexit done” earlier than it was even Johnson’s catchphrase, and whose dogged efforts have, arguably, formed the complete political trajectory of the UK within the final decade. Love him or detest him, there’s little question that Farage has altered the nationwide dialog—and the nationwide id. He’s the unstoppable political cameo who marches out and in of the limelight, brandishing a pint and a seemingly limitless array of soundbites that enrage one half of the inhabitants and endear him to the opposite half.
However this notion of him returning, phoenix-like, from the ashes of UKIP and Brexit Get together stints, and taking up the highest job at Quantity 10? It’s a fantasy that may have some Tory MPs waking in a chilly sweat. Image the scene: you’ve slogged your method by years of Conservative membership, handing out leaflets within the rain, solely to have Nigel Farage waft in, grinning ear to ear, flanked by Elon Musk’s retinue of robotic canine prototypes, Twitter flame wars, and rocket tattoos. The chance that the Conservatives—conventional stalwarts of British politics—might be overtaken by a celebration that’s not solely youthful however probably richer (as soon as Musk opens his digital chequebook) is sufficient to ship a shiver up even the sternest suiting of the Westminster corridors.
Critics, in fact, will rightly question whether or not Farage is even electable within the mainstream sense. Positive, he’s a family title. However is he a family title within the method that conjures confidence and belief, or is he simply that bloke who reminds you of final orders on the native pub? And the way far can a brash, anti-establishment determine go in really main a authorities, reasonably than merely pointing fingers from the surface? We should do not forget that a part of Farage’s entire schtick is his means to lob grenades from the sidelines, stirring the pot and gleefully undermining whichever politician will get in his crosshairs. It’s a world away from navigating the unglamorous labyrinths of public coverage, well being crises, and international diplomacy.
Then once more, one might need mentioned the identical about Donald Trump earlier than 2016—and look how that turned out. The populist wave that swept by the Western world within the mid-2010s has quietened considerably, but it surely hasn’t vanished. There are many folks—particularly youthful voters—feeling deeply disillusioned with the established order. The Conservatives, it appears, are left attempting to persuade potential new supporters that “fiscally prudent” doesn’t need to imply “grey and dull.” In the meantime, Labour does its greatest to say the progressive mantle, however the ghost of Corbyn nonetheless rattles round for some, whereas the shadow of Blair’s New Labour is hardly the trendiest search for Gen Z. If Farage and Reform UK handle to seize a mix of rebellious power, financial promise, and a touch of Musk’s futuristic bravado, we is perhaps in for fairly the trip.
What’s really fascinating is how Brexit has, in some ways, reshaped British politics to permit for a determine like Farage to maintain bouncing again. It was that after a politician declared themselves finished, that was it: the diaries have been revealed, the after-dinner circuit was booked, and the shadow of retirement loomed. Farage, then again, appears blessed with an indefatigable thirst for the highlight, all the time returning with a brand new banner, a brand new set of pledges, and a brand new motive to exclaim how dreadfully incompetent everybody else is. A cynic may say we’ve been right here earlier than, and it’s simply one other of Nigel’s vainness tasks. But when the rumours of that Musk cash are true, nicely, that’s the type of finances that may shift the electoral dial in methods hardly ever seen in our inexperienced and nice land.
Might Nigel Farage actually be the subsequent UK Prime Minister? Stranger issues have occurred, although in all probability not a lot of them within the staid, centuries-old tapestry of British politics. For now, we are able to do nothing however watch with horrified fascination because the Reform UK membership balloons (if their claims are to be believed), sipping on that proverbial pint alongside Nigel—although presumably, in Musk’s presence, it is perhaps a zero-G pint served aboard a SpaceX capsule. In the meantime, the Conservatives appear like they’re caught in a recreation of musical chairs, with half their seats wobbling precariously, unsure who’ll be left standing when the music stops.
So sure, it might occur—simply don’t place your total life financial savings on it but. We Brits have realized to not low cost something in politics, particularly the place Mr Farage is worried. If he does one way or the other assume the mantle at Quantity 10, one can solely think about the flamboyant cupboard picks and the doable prime ministerial statements through tweet (or X, or no matter Elon calls it by then). It is perhaps outlandish, it is perhaps catastrophic, however nobody can deny it could be entertaining. And, if nothing else, it could verify what many have lengthy suspected: that in trendy British politics, completely something goes.
