Have Reform’s ‘pitiful performers’ made things worse for Nigel Farage?

Read time: 4 mins

In brief…

• No major political party will run a candidate in a Clacton by-election, leaving Nigel Farage to stand against only independent candidate Count Binface. This hasn’t been taken well by Reform UK and its MPs.
• Richard Tice, Robert Jenrick and Laila Cunningham are among the Reform MPs to speak to the media since the by-election was called, and The News Agents describe their appearances as “rattled”, and offering no answers.
• Farage hopes the by-election will distract from scrutiny on his finances, and a Parliamentary inquiry, but has he already realised that a campaign will only focus the spotlight on him further?

What’s the story?

By-election or a "desperate" "fake" "circus" "stunt"?

Nigel Farage will run his campaign to retain his Clacton seat against no major political parties, with only independent candidate Count Binface standing against him.

The Clacton by-election has been shunned by Reform UK's rivals, who have claimed it is a charade planned simply to distract from a Parliamentary Standards inquiry into who funds Farage, after he failed to declare a £5m gift from a crypto billionaire.

Farage is just kicking the can down the road, because the inquiry will restart if he wins the by-election, which Reform is claiming will be a race between the people, and the establishment.

"When your principal opponent is a bin, it is quite hard to prosecute the idea that you were taking on the establishment," says Lewis Goodall.

"Every other party is saying that this is a stunt, this is a gimmick, and they're not going to play Farage's game.

"All Reform is able to do is say these people are cowards."

Richard Tice has been seen in several TV interviews responding to questions about the by-election by making chicken noises.

These sort of tactics, Lewis adds, is because Reform can already see the downside of Farage’s political gamble; more scrutiny on his finances, and that Parliamentary inquiry.

“They are sounding very, very rattled.”

Reform's 'rattled' defence of Farage's finances

Nigel Farage hasn't faced questions on his finances since a recent angry round of TV interviews in which he claimed "no one cares" about the £5 million donation from a crypto billionaire, and that he could spend the money on Ferraris if he chose to.

But Reform MPs have done the rounds to support their leader – albeit with limited success.

The argument made repeatedly by Robert Jenrick is that the Clacton voters will be the ultimate judge of Farage’s financial activities – but by holding the by-election before the results of the inquiry, they are not in “full possession of the facts” when they go to the polling station.

Emily Maitlis describes Jenrick, an ‘establishment’ Tory MP for 10 years, as “one of Reform's more pitiful media performers.”

She says it’s uncertain what platform Farage will be standing on. Is it "pro-sleaze"? "Anti-transparency"? No one seems quite certain.

"This is not a position on which you can legitimately fight a political argument," Maitlis says.

"The whole thing is now a sham, because we have seen this concerted effort by the main parties.

"We haven't seen that sort of consolidation among the main parties for a long time, and I think it has spooked, not just Farage, but the people around Farage."

Like Jenrick, Westminster councillor Laila Cunningham flailed while trying to defend Farage during an LBC interview.

The News Agents say this is highly reminiscent of Donald Trump sending out his MAGA “minions” such as JD Vance and Marco Rubio to defend every indefensible move he makes, with little or no evidence to back up their claims.

Lewis says Reform MPs must now act as “swivel-eyed as possible” while they defend Farage, but at the same time with the knowledge his role as leader of the party has never been less certain, and that a leadership challenge may be around the corner.

Is Farage fuming about how this is going?

No opponents means no big triumph – and standing in the spotlight (almost) solo means Farage is set to face the one thing he wants to avoid right now: Questions about his money.

"The worst thing you could possibly do is call a by-election, where you will be required to repeatedly answer questions about your finances,” Lewis says.

"What has become clear in the last 24 hours since the by-election was called is that Reform still doesn't have good answers."

He says Farage is "clearly aggrieved" that no matter what stunt he pulls, the questions keep coming.

"He believes he should be allowed to be a de-facto leader of the opposition, which is how he's styled himself, but also be allowed to sell gold bullion and have side hustles and be a brand ambassador," Lewis adds.

"He's chosen to play this card at precisely the moment he didn't wish attention to be on him.”

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