WESTMINSTER, England – The predictable dirty tricks campaign by the British political establishment back indeed backfired on them, with a Channel 4 “sting” on Nigel Farage’s Reform Party failing to land and the ‘Russia collusion’ narrative fading faster than it was confected.
Last weekend, the entirety of the British media, as well as almost every politician in the country, attempted to round on Farage for his long-standing assertion that the Ukraine war was in part precipitated by European Union/NATO expansionism. While it seemed to cause somewhat of a slowdown in the party’s otherwise rapid growth, the feeling on the ground in districts like Clacton remains unchanged. Nationally, the party has scarcely shrunk down in its average polling numbers, and up to 17 other UK Parliamentary seats could be in play come July 4, polling day.
I wrote earlier this week: “The party could simply have reached their natural plateau, at between 15 and 18 percent,” but “natural plateaus” are not definitive ceilings, as President Trump will likely show this coming week after Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance. If anything, a natural ceiling is your foundation for future growth based on expansion strategies. Once you lock in your base, you open up new fronts, and that’s something Farage – who further elevated his fame using reality TV last year – is increasingly adept at.
Furthermore, people are beginning to question just who the “racist activist” Channel 4 “caught on camera” really is. An actor by profession and a life-long Conservative Party supporter, Andrew Parker may just as easily have been a Tory plant instructed to embarrass Farage and Reform for a convenient media hit. Think about it: the far-left news network sends an undercover reporter with a hidden camera to a place where thousands of activists descend, and they conveniently found the needle in a haystack of a random former Tory voter willing to call Prime Minister Rishi Sunak a “paki” on video. Hmm.
If anything, especially given the disintermediation of traditional media, such old-school dirty tricks will galvanize the Reform vote and may even convince others to cross the floor come polling day. With July 4 rushing up on everyone, be on the lookout for more chicanery.
