Where’s Nigel?

The wheels on the Reform bus are definitely lose and in danger of coming off as the net closes on Farage. Even his senior people are driving the narrative in different directions and Bull saying he should take a break.

Interesting how Farage spoke to Julia Hartley-Brewer on Talk TV last week claimed he never once said he wanted to destroy the Tory Party. Zia Yusuf has tweeted that “Reform was built to destroy the Tory Party and that it is a necessary precondition for Britain to flourish”.

I seem to recall that Reform was “built” to campaign against Covid lockdowns and to reform aspects of the establishment such as the BBC and the House of Lords. But then, Yusuf who only came on board in 2024, has a habit of rewriting the past. According to him, senior figures in Reform barely knew Nathan Gill despite him having worked closely with Farage for years in the EU and was leader of Reform in Wales. Nothing to see here.

Yusuf seems bent on a suicidal mission were Reform ever to win a substantial number of Parliamentary seats but not enough for majority government. Who would want to work with them other than the Tories? Their only consistent ally is Jim Shannon of the DUP.

And now Yusuf has admitted that even his own party don’t deem him suitable to stand for a Westminster seat despite his position as “Shadow” Home Secretary. My guess is he wanted to stand in the first by-election to take place post-GE, in Runcorn and Helsby in May 2025. Farage chose Sarah Pochin instead who won by a whisker. A month later Yusuf resigned, the day after Pochin called, at PMQs, for the burqa to be banned, a question he described as dumb and not Reform policy.

Christopher Harborne, who gave the £5 million gift to Farage owns a company that makes money out of Russian oil according to the Times newspaper. Further links to Russia.

That link has been mentioned before on this post. Also mentioned that Farage held a secret meeting with the Bank of England lobbying the governor o drop the UK cryptocurrency plan which would have an adverse impact on Harborne.

This infers £5million cash for favours- not allowed and corrupt.

I was listening to a Prospect podcast this morning. I don't care for podcasts but this one looked interesting as it was about corruption pervading public life'

The guest was Robert Barrington, a former Executive Director of Transparency International and now a professor of anti corruption practice at Sussex Uni.

Barrington contends that there is more corruption in UK public life than we are willing to credit..

He suggested there are four questions to ask when trying to establish if an individual is corrupt or not

1) Was a power or position entrusted to someone?

Corruption involves someone who has been entrusted with power, authority, or responsibility, whether in the public or private sector.

2) Was that power abused?

The person used their position improperly, contrary to the purpose for which it was entrusted.

^4) Was the abuse for private gain?

The gain might be financial, political, reputational, or benefit family, friends, or associates. It need not be money.

4) Did the abuse cause harm, or undermine the public interest?

Corruption typically results in unfairness, loss of trust, distorted decision-making, or other harm to society or an organisation.

If the answer to all those questions is 'yes' it is a good indication of the subject being corrupt.

My reason for posting this on a thread about Farage are, of course, obvious.

I'm interested in what conclusions others might come to after considering those questions...

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/podcasts/prospect-podcast/73989/a-barrel-of-rotting-apples-political-corruption-in-modern-britain?

The link works for me, but I have a subscription to Prospect. It may not work for anyone else...

Barrington has a written a book about corruption due to be published in a few day's time.

Apologies for failure to correct all errors...

Interesting snippet on last night’s midnight news - Farage receives £22,500 per hour as ambassador for gold bullion.

I havent read comments on this thread for a while.

But I think Farage is a gonner.
And he knows it.

He hasnt declared things he ought to have done. It seems to me.

It’s certainly not getting any better for him this week.
www.aol.com/articles/farage-facing-questions-only-two-195939000.html

I do wish they'd stop saying that his constituency home is in Clacton. It isn't, it's in Frinton which is an altogether different place. Upmarket as opposed to downmarket...

I think Farage is pulling a fast one… he simply can’t afford to step away from his money generating businesses to become prime minister. In the unlikely event that he wins the election….

I think and hope you are correct ronib.

He wouldn't have to step away. would he, ronib? There's no law preventing a PM from making money on the side.

He'd probably take his lead from Trump, who has made $billions out of his presidency.

After all, I believe he made a tidy profit from Brexit by pretending that Leave had lost the referendum just before the result was announced. It only needed a very short time to influence the markets

I think the reputational damage is more the issue. Declaring his full income, his properties which he hasn’t declared, and all his outside interests plus gifts will show him in a different light to the public.

And another report of wrongdoing reported to the Standards watchdog for investigation. Lobbying the Bank of England is the accusation with this one.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/02/nigel-farage-reported-standards-watchdog-alleged-crypto-lobbying

The momentum against him appears to be growing and his poll ratings falling.

I think the investigation findings will lead to a suspension and a by election- which Farage must fear. I could be wrong but I would lay bets.

He has had his day I think. Whilst Starmer was in power he thrived but he is not such an attractive proposition now. I think maybe the Conservatives will once more become the main opposition party by the time of the GE. Perhaps they will join forces, who knows ? Rupert Lowe isn’t helping,either. The whole lot of them make me heave.

Why are you heaving nanna8? You don’t live in the UK!!

ronib

Why are you heaving nanna8? You don’t live in the UK!!

President Trump makes a lot on here heave , and I know that they do no live in the USA 🤷‍♀️

GrannyGravy13

ronib

Why are you heaving nanna8? You don’t live in the UK!!

President Trump makes a lot on here heave , and I know that they do no live in the USA 🤷‍♀️

There is a world of difference between one man who is demonstrably evil and corrupt and ‘the whole lot of them’. Or do you think that the label ‘politician’ is sufficient to engender revulsion for anyone who it might apply to whether or not their actions directly affect you?

We are all allowed our opinions of political matters and politicians across the world as far as I know…

GrannyGravy13

ronib

Why are you heaving nanna8? You don’t live in the UK!!

President Trump makes a lot on here heave , and I know that they do no live in the USA 🤷‍♀️

I have many cousins and a brother in law in the UK. I also heave for my USA contacts though they aren’t family as the UK ones are. My grandchildren are travelling round over there just now with their new uk passports. Do you really want Lowe or Farage as PM? I don’t think I would.

I don’t feel welcome here by many these days and I think it might be coming to an end. Obviously my comments are annoying because ai don’t live there. Sorry for that and I hadn’t intended to offend anyone. You can feel free to criticise the miserable lot over here if you like, I really would be quite interested.

I agree with Casdon and Catswhiskas. I think Farage. really wanted to win Makerfiled by -election. Perhaps he thought a local plumber successfully won G and D- Kenyon may continue the trend. He told the media he was "throwing everything at Makerfield' to win and I doubt he would have said that if he truly wanted to lose. Reform campaigned hard in the locality- unlikely to do that I would have thought if he wanted to lose.

LemonJam

I agree with Casdon and Catswhiskas. I think Farage. really wanted to win Makerfiled by -election. Perhaps he thought a local plumber successfully won G and D- Kenyon may continue the trend. He told the media he was "throwing everything at Makerfield' to win and I doubt he would have said that if he truly wanted to lose. Reform campaigned hard in the locality- unlikely to do that I would have thought if he wanted to lose.

Just because he said it doesn’t make it true does it. Imo he never wanted to win, he’s on the ropes, he’s never wanted the hard work that being PM would entail and getting rid of Starmer was his parting shot. He would much rather have been part of Trumps term of office but even Trump had more sense than to have him in his team.

I entirely agree MayBee70 that Farage cant be relied upon to tell the truth!

I also agree he doesn't like the hard work and effort public service politics required. I also agree that Trump had. more sense than to put Farage in his team. Think we have an agreement hat trick on those statements 😊