BIRMINGHAM, England – With just a few days to go until voting on July 4th, Nigel Farage’s Reform Party held a massive, Trump-style rally at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in England’s midlands. The 5000-strong crowd was one of the largest and most vocal political rally audiences there has been in contemporary British politics, with most party leaders – including the Prime Minister – struggling to turn out even a few dozen for such occasions.
But not Farage, and not Reform, who hosted speakers Paul Oakden (party chairman), Richard Tice (former leader), Anne Widdecombe (former Member of Parliament), and Zia Yusuf (a massive Reform Party donor who happens to be a patriotic, British Muslim).
Of course, the greatest spectacle was reserved for the man himself, with Farage walking out to pyrotechnics and a reverberating chant of “Nigel! Nigel! Nigel!” It was both the most British and least British political scene one could ever witness, with audience members having traveled from all across the country to see Farage in the flesh and get that little confidence boost they need before election day.
For Farage, the rally came just at the right time. A plethora of negative and nasty stories have plagued Reform over the past week, with both Channel 4 and BBC News (both state-funded broadcasters) piling in to try and squeeze every vote away from the Reform Party. Clearly, the memo has gone out: Farage cannot be allowed a Marine Le Pen-style victory in the British Parliament, despite the will and tenor of the British general public.
Whether renewed Russiagate charges or secret video of “party activists” (yet to be proved) saying ghastly, racially motivated things, the fix is, once again, attempting to wriggle its way in.
But much like the Trump train, Farage’s followers march on. With only 72 hours until polls open, the focus is all on Clacton-on-Sea, where Farage hopes to be returned as a Member of Parliament in order to form the unofficial opposition to the inevitable far-left Labour government in Britain’s House of Commons.
Whether he makes it over the line is still anyone’s guess, though the local sentiment eclipses the national mood. Clacton was a Brexit-heavy district in 2016 and has played its part in multiple moments of anti-establishment fervor over the past decade. If Farage and his party can return even a handful of MPs, British politics may never be the same.
Images from @IncMonocle and used with permission.
