Rishi Sunak’s bed of nails just got a lot more uncomfortable. The prime minister’s electoral strategy has focused on consolidating the Conservative base — hence, his ideas for national service and a quadruple lock on state pensions. But as Sunak was campaigning in the Conservative stronghold of Henley, Nigel Farage announced that he is taking over the leadership of the Reform UK party and standing as MP for the fading seaside town of Clacton.

Farage is Sunak’s nightmare made flesh. He is a darkly charismatic figure — a “regular bloke,” with a pint in one hand and a cigarette in the other, who is willing to say what “everyone is thinking.” (In fact, he was educated in an expensive private school, Dulwich College, and arrives at meetings in a chauffeur-driven car.) Farage is a consummate political operator who knows how to make the political weather: Yesterday’s surprise announcement that he is reentering politics is being followed by a noisy launch of his campaign in Clacton at midday today. The right-wing media is infatuated with him (he has his own show on GB News), and the liberal press is infatuated with hating him.

QOSHE - The Return of Nigel Farage Is the UK's Worst Nightmare - Adrian Wooldridge
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The Return of Nigel Farage Is the UK's Worst Nightmare

11 0
04.06.2024

Rishi Sunak’s bed of nails just got a lot more uncomfortable. The prime minister’s electoral strategy has focused on consolidating the Conservative base — hence, his ideas for national service and a quadruple lock on state pensions. But as Sunak was campaigning in the Conservative........

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