PARIS, France – On his eighth time trying, Brexit leader Nigel Farage finally won a seat in Britain’s House of Commons, where he will now sit as the Member of Parliament for Clacton, one of the most right-leaning districts in the United Kingdom.
On Thursday, Farage spent his day knocking up his vote, traveling ward-by-ward, street-by-street, personally finding voters and directing them to the polling stations. In other words, while the vibes were good going into election day, no one could ever be certain of his victory. This was a natural result of such a snap election being called by Sunak, effectively rendering any data gathering exercises impossible.
RETAIL POLITICS.
Instead, Farage was forced to do things the old-fashioned way: in the streets, in the pubs, in the town halls, and on the road. And let us face it: if you’re going to force anyone to campaign like that, the last person you want to force the hand on is Nigel Farage. A retail politician par excellence, former prime minister Rishi Sunak’s gamble failed to pay off, with his party reduced to 121 seats in Parliament and the far-left Labour Party taking a whopping 412.
Yes, it is hard to celebrate an election like this when you know the next five years for the United Kingdom will include:
- Record government spending;
- Record mass migration;
- Record funding for foreign wars;
- Fresh attacks on the political right and free speech, and so much more.
But there are upsides to this election, namely the smashing of the center-left “Conservative” Party, and the introduction of the rightist “Reform” Party into the House of Commons.
And the election will spark new questions about the equity and representative nature of British democracy.
Think about this: with 14 percent of the national vote share, the Reform Party got less than one percent of the seats in the British Parliament. With 12 percent of the national vote share, the Liberal Democrats (another left-wing party) got 11 percent of the seats in the British parliament. And with 34 percent of the vote, the Labour Party will have 63 percent of the seats in the Commons.
It’s a status quo that clearly cannot continue, and bringing attention to this will undergird everything Farage and his four other colleagues who got elected on Thursday will do with their newfound platforms.
The Electoral Reform Society says this was the most disproportional election in British history. pic.twitter.com/cmWFHSDi04
— Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) July 6, 2024
SWEET VICTORY.
Thursday night was extraordinary to behold, especially for those of us who have worked with and known Farage for over a decade now. He has personally been doing this for over 31 years, going from a boisterous city trader to a newly-minted grandfather in that time, with all the bruises to show for it.
Farage was in a car crash when he was younger, a plane crash during the 2010 election, and has been through two divorces, had four kids, smoked about half a million cigarettes, and consumed an ocean’s worth of gin along the way – all of which has made him tough as nails.
But even a man like Farage couldn’t hide his emotions at his after-party in the early hours of Friday morning. The National Pulse was the only news outlet in the world to be allowed in, and it witnessed scenes of equal parts jubilation, relief, and gratitude.
Farage is rightly effusive about his immediate team behind the scenes, with much reason to be. Without delving into the cast of characters specifically (the corporate media tries to do that just about every few days), it is clear Farage finally has a well-oiled machine around him. The party apparatus writ large, however, will need some work, especially because now it has to service five Members of Parliament and over four million voters, and a situation that could see the party form the real opposition over the course of this next parliament.
EXCLUSIVE: Nigel Farage's first interview – with @RealAmVoice and @TheNatPulse – following his historic parliamentary victory in Clacton-on-Sea and the insurgency of his @reformparty_uk.
🎥 @BenBergquam
✅ @Nigel_Farage pic.twitter.com/7991jvOpRm— Raheem. (@RaheemKassam) July 5, 2024
AN ESTABLISHMENT IN PANIC.
On Friday morning, on no sleep, Farage and three of his new MPs, along with all their staff, rushed from their districts into London for an early afternoon press conference to address their breakthrough. Naturally, The National Pulse followed, on equal amounts of sleep.
What they found waiting for them in London was a befuddled media, unsure of how to deal with Reform’s newfound legitimacy and plans for the future. Questions in the room defaulted to allegations of racism and nitpicking over a handful of parliamentary candidates who stood for Reform, who were found to be unsavory characters. More on that another time.
But what stood out (and stood up) in the press conference were six protesters, clearly tipped off by the media, who proceeded to shout generic “anti-racist” slogans and other forms of aggressive abuse that would end you in prison in England if you aimed the comments at a “protected class” of people.
But Farage and Reform are no protected class. In fact, they will be a hunted class in Westminster, and the staged protests were a sign of what they can expect in and around the halls of Westminster as they pursue a growth strategy that should, if successful, set Farage up as the chief opponent to incoming Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in five years.
Farage even acknowledged the heckles during the press conference, joking, “Well, this is good preparation for the House of Commons, I suppose, isn’t it?”
He’s not wrong. Except if the historic dirty tactics of the political establishment are anything to go by, heckles in the chamber will be the least of his concerns.
Images by @incmonocle and used with permission
