After weeks of growing scrutiny over the £5m gift received from the Thailand-based billionaire Christopher Harborne, Nigel Farage resigned his Clacton seat in order to be elected again. In true populist fashion, he framed it as a battle between “the people” and “the establishment”. Many voters buy in to this rhetoric. While Farage’s general approval rating has somewhat suffered due to this scandal, a survey earlier this year showed that nearly 40 per cent of those in routine and manual occupations and 36 per cent of small employers and the self-employed now support Reform. Even trade union members are reportedly as likely to back Reform as Labour.
How is it, then, that the claim of a privately educated, ex-City trader who received a multimillion-pound gift from the sixth richest Briton alive to be the champion of “ordinary people” still have any traction? It’s because his notion of “the people” is deliberately vague – it includes “patriotic” trade union members, sole traders “who actually keep the country running”, as well as landlords with over a dozen properties. Depending on his audience, Farage simultaneously presents Reform as “the true party of the workers” and also the party that would deliver “the most pro-business government this country has seen in modern times”.
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