Miles Bennington
Editor – Chamber UKBritish politics seems determined to ruin the summer. Can’t we get through one world cup without changing Prime Minister?!
Now Nigel Farage has decided to make it all about him in a desperate attempt to reverse his flagging fortunes. The self styled man-of-the-people leader of Reform UK has spent the last few months either defending or trying not to defend a £5 million personal “gift” from a crypto billionaire and over the weekend the Times released a report into similarly murky dealings between Farage and convicted fraudster, “Posh George” Cottrell.
Yesterday he announced his resignation as an MP (will his time in office outlast Keir Starmer’s premiership?) and intention to stand in a by-election with the intention of regaining his lost legitimacy. He tweeted: “If I lose, they win. If they win, you lose. If you lose, Britain will forever be broken and nothing will change. We will prevail.”
Calm down dear.
Due to the ongoing parliamentary investigation into his donations it’s quite possible that he will be suspended as an MP later this year, leading to a recall petition and another by-election. Not another one!
As such, all major political parties have ruled out standing a candidate against Farage.
LibDem Plan
Due to the arcane rules of the House of Commons, an MP cannot actually resign from their seat directly. An MP who wishes to resign, instead has to be appointed to an “office of profit under the Crown” which disqualifies them from being an MP. They are usually appointed either “Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds” or “Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead”.
These offices are in the gift of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
One option floated by Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Ed Davey, is that the Government could delay appointing Farage to one of these offices until the parliamentary investigation is complete. This would prevent there being two by-elections and save the cost of a second election.
Binface
If the by-election does go ahead it currently seems that the main opposition to Farage will be Count Binface. The perennial joke candidate, who continues to shine an absurd light on British politics, may find the Count a harder opponent than he anticipates.
After all, Farage only won 46% of the vote in Clacton in 2024 and his opponents may be more motivated to give him a reprimand for calling an unnecessary by-election at the height of silly season.
Final Thought
This is where the politics of attention gets you. A multi-millionaire, leader of a political party that is ahead in the polls whining about his supposed victim status, is about to face off against an “independent space warrior” that wears a bin for a helmet.
Perhaps it’s no better than we deserve. In our social-media dominated politics, being able to hold attention is more valuable than being able to govern effectively. Perhaps Farage is right that in making this story all about him and not the donors that fund him, for reasons unclear, then he will regain the attention of the public and control of the narrative.
But just perhaps, this time, voters will give him the bin.
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Photo Credit: ChatGPT and our ongoing political meltdown