This is one time there’s no “sadly”, as already the contest itself is a win.
Reform is just a reactionary party; all they can do is attack. e.g. Farage’s 20-something minute grievance speech about why he was holding this by-election contained zero seconds of what he would do for the people of Clacton.
So Reform, and the channels and newspapers that run their messaging, have had no choice but to try to attack Count Binface, and it’s comedy gold. We’re going to have several weeks of this
(Go to 0:33 if the time offset doesn’t work in the link)
After Boris resigned the investigation continued. They concluded that he would have been suspended for 90 days if he was still an MP. The only punishment they could give him was a refusal of a Parliament Pass, which means he’s not allowed in Parliament without an invite. Not a huge burn, but it probably stung him a little bit.
I think you may be underestimating the British love of a good piss-take. Anyone in Clacton who isn’t a Farage fan is going to RUN to the polls for this. Even people who don’t normally bother to vote may feel it’s worth the trip.
Bear in mind that the turnout was 58.7%, so only about 27% of eligible voters actively chose Farage. If the current media attention leads to a higher turnout, Binface could win very convincingly.
Plus, as I mentioned in one of the other threads, a decent chunk of Farage’s base is probably the troll vote, and Binface has that in the bag. So Farage could actually lose support.
Yes my view on this is shifting a bit.
Previously I thought that Binface winning would be a mixed bag, because, as humiliating as it would be, it would basically end the investigations against Farage.
However, it occurred to me that if Farage has struggled to grift on the US talk circuit up to now, it’s going to be 1000x harder after he’s been made a laughing stock.
Indeed, what could he do after that? Both his political and pundit careers will be basically over.
So…
Make your vote Count! Bin your ballot! Refuse your vote!
Its not a viable strategy to stay as an MP unless it convinces any voters, but Farage doesn’t really want to be an MP. He’s not a politician, he’s an agitator. He’s shown no interest in actually doing the job of an MP; he barely shows up at Westminster and spends half his time in the US.
Despite the fact that he’s a very posh guy who clearly doesn’t care about the UK in the slightest, his shtick has been trying to frame himself as a rebel outsider, the voice of the silent majority who have been left behind by a corrupt self-serving government, so if he’s The Victim of The Establishment, that’s OK. He can then blame said Establishment for losing his seat as an MP and it gives him a nice round of talking points for him to use in right-wing media, how the people supported him but the establishment made up lies to force him out. He can rouse some fresh rabble (possibly under a different party name), get a lot of attention and donations and have absolutely no responsibility to do anything even slightly useful for anyone not named Nigel Farage.
I can’t even remember how many political parties he’s been heavily involved in so far- most of them have sunk with barely a trace, but he just keeps on bobbing back up again.
Slight hijack: Why the hell do so many of the “silent majority” fall for this? The posh rich guy who has been coddled his whole life is NOT your friend. He sees you as an asset to be looted, a mark to be swindled or a peon whose role is to work to keep him, the posh guy, in his comfortable position. I get it, if you are among the downtrodden, you long for a champion, but one of the downtrodders is not going to be that savior. Why is that so hard to see?
Edit: This isn’t just applicable to the UK, obviously…
It’s that “temporarily embarrassed millionaire” syndrome. It’s like they’re living vicariously through him in hopes that they will someday be him. His wealth is just proof that he knows what he’s doing! But he clearly does not. It’s delusional.
It’s a bit different to that in the UK; although they are trying out that line with Farage’s recent grifting.
In the UK, it’s tied up with class. So the actual wealthy elites can cosplay as the common man just by speaking and dressing a certain way.
Farage is a master of this. He’s taken as basically the man next door to many of his supporters while they spurn politicians who worked their way out of a middle class or lower upbringing because they sound posh or academic.
The other thing, and I guess this is the same as the US, is that the rich get to write the narrative. So e.g. The Daily Mail will tell its readers that the reason for falling public services and high cost of living is all those migrants – which as we know are simultaneously useless hungry mouths and job-stealers.
What they won’t mention is that the owner of the daily mail is the 4th Viscount Rothermere, who inherited ownership from his father, the 3rd Viscount Rothermere. And of course he pays basically no tax as he is legally domiciled in France. They aren’t going to run any stories about how billionaires shouldn’t be able to dodge taxes.
That was one part that I particularly appreciated in the talk-show clip linked above: The host asked Binface about the possibility of an alliance with the Monster Raving Loony party, and Binface replied that Farage was of course free to pursue any alliances he chose.
Right wing media is going for two talking points on this, my thoughts…
First is that the main parties “closed ranks” to “block” Farage.
– Sorry, but giving Farage a clear run is the literal opposite of blocking him. In fact this talking point gives the game away: that this is a stunt, aimed at grandstanding and rhetorical purposes only, and the parties have spoiled things by not letting him have his moment.
The second is that binface is some kind of establishment plant
– Aside from the hilarity of them trying to claim this with a straight face, this wouldn’t even make sense if Binface was a normal candidate with actual policies. He’s been around almost a decade, never anywhere near getting a significant number of votes, and no-one could have known Farage would pull this stunt.
This wouldn’t be 4D chess, this would be 6D Calabi–Yau quintic manifold chess (quintuple check and mate!)
