Nigel Farage: UK hard-right figurehead gambling with snap vote

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - LONDON, Aug 13 — Nigel Farage — bidding Thursday to remain an MP in a bizarre by-election he triggered — is one of Britain’s best-known and most divisive politicians who has risen from fringe Eurosceptic to potential prime minister.

Leader of hard-right Reform UK, the 62-year-old only became a Westminster lawmaker at the eighth attempt, in 2024 — a career high matched perhaps only by his central role in persuading Britons to vote to leave the European Union in 2016.

Widely credited as one of Britain’s most effective political communicators, Farage has shown extraordinary resilience through a topsy-turvy, decades-long political career.

His party, which has focused relentlessly on small-boat migrant Channel crossings, had until recently topped national polls for 18 months, and won local elections in May.

The victory proved pivotal in ousting prime minister Keir Starmer this summer, underlining Farage’s outsized role in British politics.

“Farage is the most influential politician in 21st-century British politics because without Farage, we’d probably still be inside the European Union,” political scientist John Curtice told AFP.

“He’s also got remarkable longevity.”

‘Ability to dominate’

Nigel Paul Farage — a beer-loving, divorced father-of-four who has also split from his second wife — appears confounding, embodying many of the establishment traits he often criticises.

A stockbroker’s son, the privately educated former commodities trader has spent most of his adult life in politics, even though he lambasts “career politicians”.

He also rails against the “global elite” despite having become wealthy while in politics.

Long an Donald Trump advocate, like the US president Farage is loathed by opponents, who characterise him as a hypocrite playing to racists and far-right ideologues.

Last year, The Guardian detailed allegations from dozens of ex-classmates who accused Farage of racist and antisemitic behaviour as a teenager.

He dismissed the claims as “made-up fantasies” and “playground banter”.

But his supporters praise his “straight-talking” style on issues like immigration, said Luke Tryl, who heads non-profit research firm More in Common.

“People often find themselves nodding their head as they listen to him,” said Tryl, who noted Farage can command headlines “in a way few politicians can”.

His personal life has also been eventful, featuring two failed marriages and several brushes with death, including a 1980s cancer scare and a light aircraft crash in 2010.

Journalist Michael Crick, who wrote a 2022 biography of Farage, has suggested his penchant for showmanship stems from his colourful parents.

His father, an alcoholic who left the family home when Farage was five, was a gifted storyteller. His mother posed as a nude model for charity calendars.

‘Breaking point’ furore

Farage’s political career began in 1993 after he quit the Conservative party over growing European integration.

He co-founded the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and six years later was elected a European Parliamentarian (MEP) aged 35. He represented Britain in Brussels for 20 years.

Farage had two stints leading UKIP, pulling off an unprecedented win in the 2014 European elections.

The results heaped pressure on then prime minister David Cameron to call the 2016 referendum on EU membership that sealed his political demise.

Farage was kept out of the official “Leave” campaign because of fears his brand was too divisive.

But he maintained a high profile, hammering the immigration issue and sparking claims of racism with a poster of refugees under the slogan “breaking point”.

After the Brexit victory, Farage stepped down as UKIP leader, becoming a presenter on the brash right-wing TV channel GB News. In 2023 he also appeared on a popular reality TV show.

His former MEP assistant and current girlfriend, Laure Ferrari, told a French news weekly she had encouraged the appearance to improve his “misogynistic, homophobic, racist” image among young people and women.

‘Money-making’

Farage returned to frontline politics, launching the Brexit Party in 2019, which he rebranded later as Reform.

With Farage’s stated aim to replace the centre-right Conservatives, it has enjoyed a meteoric rise.

But growing scrutiny of his personal finances and donations to Reform—which has prompted a police investigation and parliamentary probes—has coincided with a drop in support.

In response, Farage has taken one of his biggest gambles yet, resigning as the MP for Clacton in eastern England to force a vote he has branded “the people of Clacton versus the Establishment”.

But mainstream parties are boycotting Thursday’s poll, leaving him facing off against dozens of fringe opponents.

Although still heavily tipped to retain the right-leaning, seaside-town constituency, he risks looking farcical. — AFP