Farage does like a party… – Ellie Hewes
Nigel Farage has been campaigning for years against UK participation in the EU. His new “Brexit Party”, is currently fighting for seats in the General Election. Despite spending his working hours as a member of the European Parliament, he ironically is adopting the seasonal, festive phrase of “turkeys voting for Christmas”, as he may well be campaigning himself out of his job if the UK leaves the European Union.
He is a colourful character, has often split opinion and has flirted with controversy with some “direct” speeches in the European Parliament. In February 2010, he publicly insulted the new EU President, telling him he had “the charisma of a damp rag”. He also received accusations of excessive expenses, where it is claimed that he spent up to £15,000 a day from the European Parliament for bodyguards. Both of these instances occurred whilst he was leader of the UK Independence Party, otherwise called UKIP. The UKIP Party had been created due to the anger generated towards the terms that the UK government had signed up to at Maastricht in the early 1990s. They argued that the Treaty was the first of a number of measures to create a “European Super-State”. Despite running in six General Elections, Nigel Farage failed on every circumstance to be elected as a UK MP. However, it was UKIP’s share of the vote in the 2015 General Election, that scared David Cameron into calling the European Referendum, for which we all know the result! On the following day, Nigel Farage famously called the 23rd June 2016 as the “UK’s Independence Day”.
He continues to generate support due to his impressive oratory and despite only creating the Brexit Party in March 2019, the organisation attracted 115,000 registered supporters in its first few months of its existence and won the most seats in the European Parliament at recent European Elections. Current polls suggest that the Brexit Party will not gain any MPs in the UK General Election, but due to his considerable support, it is likely that he will continue to have influence over government policy; especially if a Conservative majority is obtained. Commentators are suspicious of his motives for removing Brexit candidates in constituencies that are currently held by Conservative MPs; whereby they suggest that he has agreed a deal of some sort over the future of Brexit arrangements. Key manifesto pledges are unsurprisingly aligned to wanting a hard Brexit with caps on immigration, with spending plans aligned to their perceived savings from leaving the EU. No doubt he will be pushing for those commitments in any future negotiation.
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