Farage has fluffed his big moment

Whether or not you agree with Nigel Farage’s views on the UK and Europe, there is no doubt that he elaborates his case with a clarity, coherence and fluency, which the leaders of other political parties glaringly lack.

Boris mutters, stutters, falters and prevaricates; Corbyn’s ‘dotty grandad’ act impresses nobody; Jo Swinson’s ‘head girl’ style falls apart under questioning; the Green Party have a great ‘save the planet’ message, but their tunnel vision presentation style could bore the pants off the most ardent climate activist; and finally Nicola Sturgeon of the Scots Nat’s…..surely no comment needed.

The Brexit party won the referendum by one and a half million votes, they stormed to success in the European elections only a few months ago and they have an impressive public speaker as leader. So they could have come to the General Election next week riding the crest of a wave and with high hopes of great success.

But then a few weeks ago Nigel Farage profoundly damaged both himself and his party. He announced that he personally would not be standing to be an MP, and he would be withdrawing all candidates in all Tory held seats, that’s about half his candidates. A bit like a Premier League football manager sending only five players on to the field against a Manchester United eleven, then watching the match on TV at home instead of being at the stadium.

From the moment of those announcements, Nigel Farage has been a diminished political figure and his Brexit party a shadow of its former self. Gone are the town halls filled with cheering supporters, and polling figures are down to between three and seven per cent. The most the Brexit party can hope for now is a few seats in the north of England or Midlands, perhaps to hold some minor influence in a hung Parliament.

Now the only Brexit likely is Boris’s false and fraudulent ‘Brexit in name only’. We lose the good parts of being in the EU; we keep the bad parts and pay 39 billion for nothing. Even a committed Brexiteer could conclude that Remain is better than Boris’s sell out deal.

Nigel Farage suffered many years of physical and verbal abuse for the Brexit cause that he and many others believed in. But when the time came to translate that into reality with success in next week’s General Election, he profoundly messed up. The truth is that Nigel Farage has fluffed his big moment.