I write this article on the 23rd of June 2023 – 7 years to the day since that fateful EU referendum which caused the UK to crash out of the European Union. Many blame Brexit on then-Prime Minister David Cameron for calling the vote in the first place, or the stereotypical group of coffin dodgers who voted to leave.
One man, however, often seems to go under the radar of criticism, despite being a major orchestrator in shaping the public mind.
As UKIP (United Kingdom Independence Party) leader, Nigel Farage sang his heart out against immigration until the cows came home. One of his posters was even reported to the police for racial hatred because it depicted vast queues of non-white people beside the tagline: ‘Breaking point: the EU has failed us all’. And – lo and behold – a post-referendum poll showed that 33% of people voted for Brexit because of its promise to cut immigration. As such, Farage’s campaign against immigration was more than just political – it was deeply psychological.
I don’t want this article to bring back up the doom and gloom of Brexit, so we’ll stop there. Sadly, for contextual reasons, that brief lecture about the ‘B’ word was an unfortunate necessity.
Rather, what I feel is more concerning is Farage eyeing up the opportunity to repeat history and to, yet again, become the cat amongst the Westminster pigeons in the 2024 general election. As it stands, this is a mere rumour – and I’m confident that’s how it will stay. Of course, Farage’s own polling claims he could receive up to 5 million votes in 2024. But that’s like me saying that my own data suggests I’m tipped to be the next Prime Minister. In the words of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the chain-smoking lunatic has got more chance of ‘being decapitated by a flying frisbee’ than being elected as an MP.
So, Nigel Farage’s political revival has as much hope as a toad under a steamroller. Despite this startling conclusion, let’s tease out exactly why it is that Farage is a lost cause.
The first reason is simple - Brexit isn’t working (promising not to mention Brexit again went well, didn’t it?). Only a fool makes political promises that they can’t deliver on. As soon as people discovered that the £350 million a week to the NHS was a load of balderdash, and that illegal immigration has actually increased dramatically since Brexit, it was obvious they would call Nigel’s bluff. How long did he think these lies could stand before he opened his front door to an army of angry villagers brandishing pitchforks?
The most amusing part of all this is that the whole immigration rhetoric has made everything worse, too. Not only has Brexit failed to reduce illegal immigration, but it has cut legal immigration. In simple terms, Brexit has failed to stop the small boats – as intended – but it has stopped many actual EU workers from entering the UK. So, we’re still paying for all the illegal immigrants to stay in hotels and asylums in grotty Folkestone, but we aren’t getting the migrant lorry drivers, NHS nurses and fruit pickers that we actually need.
A brief note on the above. I say that this is amusing - it isn’t.
This is the reason why the NHS is more overloaded than ever and why the economy seems to be crumbling to its knobbly knees. But – for the purposes of this article exposing Nigel Farage’s idiocy – it is quite funny to think he would even consider showing his face in public again. For Remainers and the dwindling number of Leavers alike, he is fast becoming the Antichrist.
Regardless of the woes of Brexit, the other main reason why Farage has absolutely no chance of making a comeback is that the votes he predicts to gain do not equate to any sort of influence. In our first-past-the-post electoral system, unless Farage can convince everyone in a constituency to vote UKIP or Brexit or whatever strange-minded idea he comes up with next, his 5 million votes won’t be concentrated enough to win any seats. He will have no impact on the 2024 Westminster composition, other than taking votes away from actual parties with a (somewhat) actual plan for this country.
Of course, this would be a very different story were we to introduce a proportional representation system – then his 5 million votes would count for quite a lot. Perhaps this should be a warning to the raving lefties of the Labour Party that electoral reform is not a foregone conclusion. Unless, that is, you want extreme racists suddenly gaining traction in the House of Commons.
Electoral reform rant over, hopefully by now it is clear that Farage has no chance of making a comeback in 2024. The best thing he can do now is climb aboard a small boat to Timbuktu and make himself scarce. His grand idea to get rid of so-called illegal intruders has failed catastrophically.
And it all started with the biggest intruder of them all – the man himself, Nigel Farage, from the very moment he stepped into the British political limelight.
Image: Gage Skidmore
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