We’ve all seen the thousands of pictures, the cheeky chappy, man of the people, boy done good, one of our own, anti-establishment, diamond geezer; stood in the pub supping a pint of ale before disappearing to the car park to chug on another fag. Despite leading a party that’s been dogged by claims of racism ever since it’s inception Nigel Farage has somehow managed to detach himself from it all to the point where even many people who eschew UKIPs hateful rhetoric confess to finding a refreshing charm in the party leader’s down-to-earth honesty. The media lapped up Farage who played on his persona as someone who unlike David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg hadn’t spent most of his adult life gearing towards a political career and actually had some real world experience that involved more than being part of a think tank or policy researching team. Like his party Farage was on the outside looking in and as the country struggled to connect with a bunch of posh cyborgs who thought Aldi and Lidl were ski resorts the UKIP leader at the very least looked like a more human alternative.
Farage became almost a co-host of BBC’s Question Time such was his regularity, was always good box office for an otherwise dull political interview programme and unlike his rivals was willing to speak without running his thoughts past a media team.
Even when UKIP was embroiled in claims of racism and sexism, Farage often seemed to avoid any fallout, blaming it on individuals within the party, something that due to his charisma often seemed to ring true regardless of how many ‘individuals’ actually carried views that belonged in the dustbin of history. It wasn’t all plain sailing, there were times when even Farage’s ‘cheeky chappy’ image didn’t sit well in the wake of the latest UKIP scandal but by and large he came across to many as the voice of reason in an ever increasingly bland political correctness gone mad world.
The 2014 European elections helped Farage and UKIP move from the fringes towards becoming real contenders as they carried the popular vote – just a year from the General Election, it seemed as though they were about to become a voice in Westminster not just Strasbourg and Brussels. A by election in Heywood and Middleton saw UKIP miss out on the seat by a mere 600 votes, while Douglas Carswell’s defection from the Tories led to a victory in Clacton giving the party it’s first sitting MP. It all seemed perfect timing for Farage and his merry band of ‘were not’ racists, with Labour under the leadership of someone who connected to the voters about as much as Tyson Fury connects with intellectuals while Cameron and Clegg’s cuts made them increasingly unpopular. 2015 promised to be something of an annus mirablis for Farage and UKIP -there were even whispers of becoming part of a coalition government with the Tories, something Cameron vehemently dismissed at every opportunity but no one expected a Con/Lib Dem alliance in 2010 so you never knew. Farage contested the South Thanet seat declaring that if he lost he would step down as UKIP leader. Despite gaining more than a 25% swing Farage lost the election to the Tory candidate Craig Mackinlay – a former UKIP deputy leader, just to add a bit of salt to the wound. It’s here where things started to unravel for Farage and they’ve never been the same since.
First of all came Farage’s ‘resignation’ a leader of UKIP as he’d promised if he failed to become an MP, however, things took a turn for the predictable when his resignation was rejected. This led to a bit of infighting as Farage was accused of turning UKIP into a personality cult by party member Sean O’Flynn, as many expected though our Nigel prevailed and stayed as leader. Not quite the refreshing honesty that had once been Farage’s calling card. Then came Oldham, a seat made available by the death of the long serving Labour MP Michael Meacher. UKIP sensed blood, with Jeremy Corbyn making Ed Miliband’s reign regarded fondly it seemed the constituency was there for the taking.
But things didn’t work out that way, rather than the electorate leaving Labour in their droves, the people of Oldham showed that it’s still a Red town and gave Jim McMahon a huge majority. In retrospect it wasn’t that much of a surprise, McMahon – an Oldham council leader- knows the town far better than Farage or John Bickley the UKIP candidate. Labour and McMahon campaigned hard, bringing in supporters from all over the North West to help canvass and connect with the voters. UKIP on the other hand simply focused on Corbyn bashing which badly misjudged the mood. Yes Corbyn isn’t exactly popular but with cuts still hurting many people in Oldham and more around the corner, the average man/woman on the street was more concerned with seeing services being hit yet again than they were about any security threat UKIP claimed Corbyn’s leadership encouraged.
When the ballots were counted and it was obvious Labour had won by a landslide, Farage did what he’s often done, he went on the offensive, although this time, just like UKIP’s Oldham campaigned- it backfired badly. Farage claimed that postal votes were ‘bent’ ignoring the fact that even if that was true- despite little evidence that it actually is- then Labour would still have won comfortably without a single postal vote. Then Farage did what many UKIP opponents were expecting- he blamed the brown people. Speaking on the BBC on the morning following the election Farage claimed it wasn’t just postal votes that were the problem but “people who can’t speak English voting Labour” before adding: “There’s a very large ethnic vote in this country, in our inner cities that vote Labour” as though that’s something that shouldn’t be allowed. Farage failed to see the obvious point that many ethnic minorities still view UKIP as too right wing and even racist and when they see the possibility of a UKIP MP representing them, then they’re galvanised to vote – for another party. Farage also misses another salient point, now more than ever political parties need to connect with the Asian community and get them voting again, get them trusting the system and engaging with the process- it’s a good thing that many of Oldham’s Asians took to the polls, it’s just not a good thing for Farage and UKIP.
Now that the dust has settled somewhat it’s clear that Farage blaming voters, for voting as the reason his party lost the election unfairly is idiotic and embarrassing. The Oldham reaction simply highlights many of the hypocrisies of Farage’s media persona- he says he’s anti establishment yet for many years was a member of the Tory party, he says he’s honest yet went back on his word to stand down as leader, he says he’s against the system yet was more than happy to be part of it when he was making millions as a city trader, or watching another Tory switch parties to give UKIP their first MP, he says he’s not racist but blames the ethnics for costing him an election.
The Oldham by-election of 2015 may be remembered for three things when looked back upon years from now: the constituency saw a worthy candidate replace a long serving worthy one, Corbyn’s leadership wasn’t destabilised and Nigel Farage’s mask of decency finally began to slip.
