Democratic elections have been used by populist leaders and would-be authoritarians throughout the history of the 20th century, and into the 21st. Many have used the mechanisms of democratic government to attempt to prove credibility, escape accountability, and consolidate their own power.
Today in USA, UK and elsewhere, this same process is in train. The story of Trump’s rise and misuse of power is widely known. That of Farage is still unfinished.
As Sussex Bylines has shown recently, within democratic systems there remain checks and balances which can be used to constrain such ambitious but dangerous populists while in the ascendancy. More recently, though, there is a tendency in Reform UK to take short-cuts: to bypass the norms and head straight for the finish line. This may be indicative of impatience but may also be dangerous.
It has become clear that crypto-currency has boosted Farage’s personal and party resources. Not only has he invested in it but he also promotes and accepts it from some who have benefited from its huge and rather obscure growth. Despite holding no official position, he recently approached the governor of the Bank of England to lobby for crypto-currency to be accepted as a reserve currency. Recently, he resigned his elected role as MP for Clacton-on-Sea to call a by-election in which he will stand to remain MP for Clacton.
He has done so claiming victimhood of a witch-hunt over personal and party funding, maintaining that re-election would mean that “the people”, whom he has barely attempted to represent, would have exonerated him for any supposed breaches of “establishment” rules. By appealing directly to voters, he wants to bypass processes established to protect parliamentary democracy.
This is clearly for his own benefit and far removed from the interests and needs of his constituents: a cynical self-promoting tactic.
It suggests that the potential exposure of his questionable financial dealings may be catalysing abuse of the system. His self-ascribed victim status is further applied to his claimed need for greater protection than the standard offer he has rejected. Could this mean he wants the right to hire his own protection? Probably. Would this afford him a private gang of enforcers? All too easily, probably. This has been done before but must not be allowed here and now.
In this by-election, he is campaigning as a Champion of The People versus The Establishment – the institutions which have evolved over centuries to set and apply rules for the governance of this nation which he decries despite having spent almost 30 years as a willing, remunerated MEP, MP and serial political party founder and leader.
Despite accepting large salaries and the duty to represent thousands, his performance has been anything but loyal nor patriotic to the institutions he willingly joined. As MEP he had the worst voting attendance record. As MP for Clacton, he has been most notable for his absence from the people whom he now calls to his aid in the by-election. He is quite correct to see in places like Clacton a substantial class of neglected, forgotten people, left out of the political warfare between Conservatives and Labour, as they both failed to develop meaningful purpose in the 21st century. Too many people in this country are desperate, hopeless, and ignored.
What precisely Reform UK would do for these people, should they become a governing party, is unknown, when xenophobia and attacking the nation’s institutions are its focus. Reform UK seems unable to articulate how it would help those in desperation, whom it uses as mere stepping stones towards authoritarian power and money-making.
This is why Farage’s desperate game in Clacton is dangerous, for them and for the country. He is no people’s champion, whatever he or his acolytes may claim; nor should his contest with Count Binface and others be seen as just amusing.
Farage is too dangerous to be taken lightly or to be nodded through unchecked on his potential passage into power.
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