Nigel Farage has exerted a far greater influence than most Cabinet Ministers. (Image: PA)
Nigel Farage has never held high office, yet he has exerted a far greater influence over the course of Britain’s destiny than most Cabinet Ministers. It was his vision, perseverance and charisma that turned the distant dream of British independence from the Brussels empire into a practical reality.
But Farage, now leader of the Reform Party, believes he could be on the verge of an ever bigger triumph. Speaking this week at the annual political awards ceremony hosted by the centre-right Spectator magazine, which ironically named him Newcomer of the Year, he told his Tory-inclined audience: “We are about to witness a political revolution the likes of which we have not seem since Labour after the First World War,” a reference to Labour’s displacement of the Liberals in the early 1920s as the main opposition to the .
But is Farage indulging in a flight of fancy? After all, Reform currently has only five MPs and a limited constituency structure, whereas Labour a century ago was part of a mass movement backed by the muscle of the trade unions.
On the other hand, disillusion with the political process is at an all-time high, trust in the two main parties is at a record low. Voters yearn for a Government that puts the national interest first, but today the incompetence of our rulers seems to be matched by their entitlement, dishonesty and warped priorities.
We pay ever higher taxes while our public services worsen. The calibre of the two front benches has never been less impressive. Too many Labour and Conservative politicians appear more determined to uphold fashionable dogma rather than tackle issues that really matter, such as housing, crime or living standards. Where Ministers boast of Britain’s global leadership on clean energy, exasperated citizens have to endure the highest power prices in the world.
The chasm between the rulers and the ruled is at its widest over immigration. Without any mandate from voters, politicians from both sides have presided over the transformation of our society on an epic scale.
Only this week it was revealed that net migration in the year to June 2023 reached an incredible 906,000. The politicians claim that the migrant influx is vital for economic prosperity, yet their own statistics show that over the last five years only 15% of the new arrivals from outside the EU came here to work.
British citizens are instructed to “celebrate diversity”, yet what they experience through the breakdown of border controls are intolerable strains on the civic infrastructure, sectarian violence, gang warfare, institutionalised misogyny, and the loss of social solidarity.
The sense of betrayal is palpable. Amid accelerating decline and dislocation, exasperated Britons now feel like aliens in their own land, yet are forced to pay the colossal bills of illegal and workless migrants. Indignation at this injustice is the rocket fuel that could propel Farage towards power. While Labour and the flounder, Reform has the momentum.
The party is soaring in the opinion polls, especially in the East Midlands and Wales, while surging membership is poised to overtake that of the . This week the distinguished campaigner Tim Montgomerie, a former adviser to , announced that he has defected to Reform after 33 years in the ranks. His move follows a similar defection the week before by the ex-Minister Andrea Jenkyns.
There are also rumours that , the billionaire entrepreneur and Trump ally, is ready to give Reform £100million, which would be by far the biggest political donation in British history. Such a sum could make the party a formidable force over the airwaves and on the ground, though there would be a danger of a backlash from voters anxious that British democracy was being bought.
Yet the very fact that such a step is under discussion illustrates how Reform is already shaking up British politics. For all the abuse he has endured, Farage is the man to strike fear into failing two-party duopoly.