The Brexit Party

Oh varian

“The damage that could be done ....” ❗️
Depends which experts we listen to.

And all the talk about ‘unicorns’ is so repetitive now!

www.nytimes.com/2019/05/28/opinion/nigel-farage-brexit.html

Apologies for doing a dreaded link but it won't let me copy and past the article. I would appreciate it if Farage supporters would take the time to read it and would tell me what they think....

I can do it in sections for those that don't like links...but it could take some time....LONDON — Nigel Farage is the British crisis in human form. His party, the unambiguously named Brexit Party, which is hardly a party and didn’t exist six months ago, won nearly a third of the British vote in the recent European Parliament elections, putting it in first place and driving the shattered Conservative Party into fifth. Long underestimated, Mr. Farage has done more than any politician in a generation to yank British politics to the hard, nationalist right. He is one of the most effective and dangerous demagogues Britain has ever seen.
With his last political vehicle, the U.K. Independence Party, or UKIP, Mr. Farage took an assortment of Tory retirees and a smattering of ex-fascists and other right-wing cranks, and welded them into a devastating political weapon: a significant national party. That weapon tore such chunks out of the Conservatives’ share of the vote that the party leadership felt compelled to call a referendum on Europe — which it then lost. Mr. Farage declared victory and went into semiretirement as a pundit.
Now, almost three years after the Brexit vote, he’s back. His timing could hardly be better. After a “lost decade” of declining living standards and flat wage growth, trust in Parliament and the news media is at rock bottom. The Conservatives are disintegrating; Prime Minister Theresa May is on her way out of office, having failed to secure a parliamentary majority for her Brexit deal. She failed because, rather than seeking cross-party consensus, she tried to placate her own hard right and prevent voters from abandoning the party — again. Unable to do so, she has simply hardened public opinion.
A poll in April found that given a choice between remaining in the European Union, and leaving with no deal, 44 percent of Britons support “no deal.” The vast majority of these voters previously supported the Conservatives. But since they are the party of business, they can’t seriously contemplate leaving without a deal. Nor can Parliament.

The resulting stalemate, combined with an election in which the main parties barely campaign, presented Mr. Farage with an easy target. And thanks to his success, there is enormous pressure on the Conservatives to deliver Brexit in October, deal or no deal. Boris Johnson, likely to replace Mrs. May as prime minister, is now pledging to do just that.
The Brexit Party’s campaign was a one-man show. While it has a sophisticated digital strategy, the party has no members and no manifesto, and none of its candidates were democratically selected. It offered only one policy: a “No Deal” Brexit. Its rallies focus on star performances by Mr. Farage, introduced with thundering motivational music. He is a gifted communicator, verbally dexterous, with a sense of humor.
Like many English reactionaries — including Mr. Johnson — he speaks in a nostalgic, “old world” register. He doesn’t talk about taxes or privatization. He talks about unfairness and loss, about the sovereignty supposedly ceded to Europe, immigration and elite cosmopolitans. And he names a placebo solution within reach: Brexit. The great escape. It’s a powerful antidepressant.
It is ironic that Mr. Farage appeals to people who are besieged by precisely the kind of volatile financial capitalism that he champions. He is, like President Trump, that paradoxical figure: the capitalist populist. He made his money as a City trader during the boom years of the 1980s, reveling in its adrenaline-fueled, heavy-drinking culture. He is the Gordon Gekko of British politics. It’s striking, to those who care to look, just how much his agenda is about class interest: He opposes extended maternity leave, raising the minimum wage and reducing the retirement age — anything that inconveniences his nouveau riche confederates. If he had his way, many of his supporters would be working harder, longer, for less money, with less protection. That, indeed, is his Brexit dream: Singapore on the Thames.
Even his racism is class-bound. Mr. Farage’s problem is not just with immigrants, it seems, but with poor immigrants especially: those from Eastern Europe, or Muslim countries, or those with H.I.V. He has said he would be uncomfortable with Romanians as neighbors, but he married a woman from Germany. He hates the European Union because its moderate social legislation and free movement defy what he thinks is a Darwinian cultural ecology through which some rise and others fall.

It is a mistake to overstate his “white working-class” base — UKIP included plenty of professionals and managers — but he has wooed many older, white workers, remote from the center of financial power where he built his career. Some were ex-Labour voters in manual jobs. His offer to them is that, in a society of dog-eat-dog competition, they will not have to compete with foreign workers. This is why the liberal press’s muckraking about his racism and far-right connections, by itself, generally doesn’t work. Far from impeding Mr. Farage, racism is his ticket to success. It puts him on the same side as his poorest voters.
With Parliament deadlocked and the Conservatives nearing their death throes, Mr. Farage has spotted an opportunity: a new political model, inspired by the Five Star Movement in Italy. A “digital platform” that harnesses the free labor of its “users,” allowing them “participation” through content-sharing and online polls, rather than rights. Parliamentary democracy is slow at the best of times, and these are not the best of times. Such platforms, however, introduce volatility to the system. Dropping UKIP, a traditional membership party, he launched something like a venture capitalist start-up, with crowdfunders rather than members, and a chief executive rather than a leader.
Hence, the Brexit Party. Unlike older party models, it doesn’t invest in lasting infrastructure. It is nimble-footed, expert at gaming social media — the stock market of attention. It won the battle for clicks, and made a killing in this election. Such online frenzies are akin to destabilizing flows of hot money, forcing legacy parties to adapt or die. But when Parliament is so weak, its legitimacy so tenuous, they can look like democratic upsurge.
That may be Mr. Farage’s ultimate triumph. The quintessential City trader and apostle of cutthroat competition, he is exploiting our democratic crisis to remake politics in his own image.
Richard Seymour, an editor at Salvage magazine, is the author of the forthcoming “The Twittering Machine.”
The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: [email protected].

I do hope that those who support Farage read this and come back with a sensible debate and not just soundbites, which get us nowhere.

labaik thank you

Farage is the Pied Piper playing the popsong 'NationalismOK" and luring away the abandoned children

Thanks Labaik for this.

It’s a long piece but it’s good of you to cut & paste. I promise I will read it later and get back to you later today - we are going out now.

However, this is is an illustration of why I like NF and why, I’m my opinion, he is so popular. He can certainly think on his feet because he knows the workings of the EU ....

He was in Merthyr Tydfil, canvassing pre the EU elections. A German television reporter asks whether a vote for the Brexit Party will jeopardise the millions of pounds invested by the EU in towns like Merthyr Tydfil. Farage shoots back: “Whose money?” The reporter: “The European Union’s.” Farage replies: “Oh does it grow on trees? It is our money.”

Mr Farage is the personification in the UK of a phenomenon being witnessed right across Europe. It is described as populism but is more a reflection of frustration and anger with the way things have been done up to now and a demand that they should be done differently.

You can’t 
tell people 108 times that we are 
going to leave on March 29, as Mrs May did, and then fail to deliver. The Brexit Party say they will make a contract with the British people – and honour it.

I read that first thing this morning and hoped others would read it too.

My personal opinion is that Farage feeds off the discontent which is a result of years of austerity but intends to use it for his own [and his backers] good; not the people that he promises so much too. I agree that the people of Wales are only getting their own money back but it's because the EU distribute that money amongst those that need it; something that this Conservative government fails to do. Farages main backer deals a lot in insurance and Farage has made it clear he feels the NHS should be replaced by a system of insurance. Bit of a coincidence imo. He just reminds me of a very good [but corrupt] salesperson who always has an answer to everything and it's only when you think on what they've said afterwards that you realise you were being duped. Mrs May had no right to promise people something that was undeliverable; you can't just go ahead with something that will cripple the whole country just to save face. I mean, she messed up the election also and only survived by bribing the DUP.

labaik thank you for that. A most frightening read. I wish more would read it.

Another survey to show how we are walking over a cliff. From the Independent

Brexit fallout sees New York overtake London as top financial centre, according to survey
'Full-blown crisis' over EU exit means Britain is losing its top spot, report suggests
London is losing its status as the world’s most important financial centre to New York because of the Brexit crisis, according to a global survey of executives.
The British capital fell 17 per cent on last year when bosses were asked to name the world's top financial centre, with New York rising 10 per cent.
For the research, consultants Duff & Phelps asked 180 senior figures in asset management, private equity, hedge funds, banking and brokerage.
Some 52 per cent said New York, up 10 per cent from last year, while 36 per cent said London, down 17 per cent from 2018. European centres including Dublin, Frankfurt and Luxembourg also saw higher rankings in this year’s Global Regulatory Outlook survey.
Looking ahead five years, only 21 per cent of respondents expected London to be the world’s financial centre, with 44 per cent predicting it would be New York. Some 12 per cent said Hong Kong, up from 3 per cent last year.

In a statement, Duff & Phelps said: “Last year, Brexit cast a shadow of uncertainty over the United Kingdom’s economy; it has now escalated to a full-blown crisis.
“Looking ahead, however, globalisation’s diffusion of influence begins to be apparent: 12 per cent of respondents expect Hong Kong to be the world’s preeminent financial centre five years from now.”
The survey questioned financial executives in countries including Britain, the United States, Hong Kong, Ireland, Singapore and Luxembourg.
Brexit has already been delayed from its expected date of 29 March, with a new deadline of 31 October. Continued uncertainty over future trading arrangements has prompted some banks, asset managers and insurers to trigger contingency plans.

Labaik that about sums it up. Unfortunately we seem to live in a society which reads headlines and not the implications.

Just the kind of comment Alexa to woo us Leavers round to your way of thinking eh?
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Decided not to go out for a walk - it’s very hot! Mad dogs and all that.... so will sit here in the shade and read that article Labaik

Oh dear Labiak your post is just more musings by a remainer who 'knows' why (or thinks they do).
Its no good Remainers calling foul over Farage and the Brexit party. Its the Remainers who created this phenomenon by disregarding democracy.

So you disagree with what the article says then, I assume? I don't think the New York Times is a remainer rag; just a publication that shows us how others see our country.

For heavens sake joelsnan read it. Or are you frightened of the truth?

Gill57 this is what we see time and time again. No discussion or debate, no recognition of anything a remainer posts being correct. Everything is wrong but of course it can't be both sides probably have valid points but the leavers won't tell us what they are and keep complaining that we ask.

Shame Joelsnan that you won't tell us what you 'know'

I don't really want to start another Brexit thread so will put this here. Just seen this on Twitter:

Sky News Breaking
@SkyNewsBreak
A district judge has ruled Boris Johnson will be summonsed to court to face accusations of misconduct in public office for comments made in the run-up to the EU referendum

An interesting read Labaik and I can appreciate some of the rhetoric.

But almost 3 years after the referendum, Westminster has still not come to terms with the grievances that drove the result.

And I’m really sorry but I like Nigel Farage! He is charming, urbane, knowledgable and understands the anger and frustration in this country. Yes, okay he is tapping into it and I dare say he’ll do well financially out of it. He is one of the elites - so don’t they all come up smelling of roses? Remember DC and his ‘call me Dave’ with his ‘we’re all in this (austerity) together line’? We’re not daft. We didn’t believe him but then he promised an EU referendum. We liked the opportunity of that, so we voted him in.

Now?

We just want out. And Nigel vows to deliver it.

Make no mistake, the European parliamentary elections were a huge victory for ordinary Britons and, boy, did we enjoy it.

Millions of us, perhaps for the first time, set aside traditional loyalties and voted for the Brexit Party because we would not – could not – stand by as parliamentarians put their own prejudices above the preferences of the people. How dare they dice with democracy like that!

You can draw a line from the toe of Cornwall to the tip of Northumberland and you won’t ever enter Remain territory.

Outside London, a vast majority of constituencies in England and Wales, both Labour and Conservative, are Leave, while the majority of their MPs are Remain.

Well, not for much longer. On Sunday, the map of our country turned turquoise overnight. Farage played a blinder. Only a fool would think it will go back to red and blue if the referendum result isn’t delivered.
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Umston I cannot agree with "parliamentarians put their own prejudices above the preferences of the people" because I think that gives them more credit than they deserve! I think they are scared of the democracy of asking the electorate whether to accept the 'deal' or stay as we are. If they did that each one of them would have to state their preference and that is why they (imo) are scared. They don't want to put their jobs on the line by choosing a 'side'. Me cynical? Oh yes.

Yes I see you point Nonnie - imagine a politician having to nail their colours to a mast, to make a stand!

Which, by the way, is why I like the Brexit Party!
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I do actually think that the majority of politicians do want what's best for the country; and that includes Conservative ones that I have never [and never will] vote for. For that reason I still don't think that Brexit is going to happen. What we have had in this country for too long is lack of a strong opposition party; even parties in power prefer to have strong opposition. The LibDems have been sadly missing because, prior to the catastrophic coaltion with the Conservatives, they had always been the jiminy crickets of British politics; I think that role has now gone to the Scottish Nationalists. The far right seem to have somehow joined with the far left. British politics is in a sorry state. But there is no way that a charlatan like Farage is going to make this country better. I despair.