Riding high in the polls, Nigel Farage is depicting himself as the man of the moment. Yet Farage has spoken admiringly of Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Andrew Tate – and Brexit has hardly been a rip-roaring success. What on earth is going on?
OK, Labour is beginning, albeit tentatively and very belatedly, to have a go at Farage. I say tentatively because certain subjects remain off-limits. One is Farage’s enduring friendship with Trump (which he is feebly trying to qualify now). At the time I began writing this article, before the current trade war broke out, Farage was headed for Florida, where he was appearing at a VIP reception at a Trump fundraising dinner. The VIP package (for 10 people) cost $25,000, and yes, you could even get your picture taken with the man himself.
The other, of course, is Brexit, which has weakened Britain economically and politically. Labour’s silence on these themes makes their condemnation of the pound-shop populist more than somewhat half-hearted.
Brexit is inextricably linked with everything Farage says or does, so it is absurd to criticise his views on Putin and Russia whilst at the same time avoiding the subject. Indeed, it is just the same in the case of Boris Johnson and far too many of the ‘Eurosceptic’ Tories, whose links with Russia are undeniable. That both Farage and Johnson are Trump supporters should be the nail in the coffin – why isn’t it?
Not set in stone
Putin’s social media bots were very busy in 2016 – back then, Russian bot farms were not only working overtime planting outrageous lies supporting Trump and vilifying Hilary Clinton; they were also pulling out all the stops to further the Brexit cause. How is it that this blatant truth is still hiding in plain sight?
I think we know why: Theresa May just ignored it for the sake of party unity and Keir Starmer doesn’t want to “reopen old wounds” (whatever that means).
In his manifesto, Starmer made it clear that Brexit was completely off-limits. It was too hot a topic, or was it yesterday’s news? Whatever it was, it was then, and remains now, inconvenient. Who knows what he and his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, really think?
However, let’s remind ourselves of the links between Brexiters and Russia – and by that token, Trump – because I believe that this country can only ‘move on’ when this has happened. Let us not forget that we are a democracy. Johnson’s appalling Brexit deal is not set in tablets of stone just because talking about it is ‘divisive’ or ‘boring’ and we have to ‘move on’. At the moment, Labour seems to think it can confront Britain’s problems whilst ignoring Brexit and what caused it.
How wrong they are. Brexit happened because the far right in Britain engaged in a power grab with the support of dubious ‘think tanks’ in the UK and the USA, the British right-wing media and – significantly – the Kremlin. Some of these parties were linked.
Russian Interference
The Russian factor is significant because it makes a total mockery of Brexiters’ claim to be patriotic. Of course, most of the 52% of leave voters would not wish to have done Putin’s bidding.
Peter Jukes has written in the Byline Times about the links between Farage and the leading Brexiters and Russia – and none of them have sued him. Carole Cadwalladr has also written extensively about this, and ended up in court, having made certain mistakes when speaking about Arron Banks. For details of the British government’s determination not to look into the link between Putin and Brexit, check out Carole Cadwalladr and Peter Juke’s brilliant Sergei and the Westminster Spy Ring podcast, which ought to be all over the national broadcasting networks. Of course, it isn’t.
The court case against Cadwalladr didn’t change the fact that Banks the arch-Brexiter had links with the embassy of a country which is bent on destabilising Britain and the EU, and – and this really is mind-boggling – which has engaged in hostile acts on British soil. I’ve got to pose the question. Would you feel comfortable socialising with the representatives of a hostile power? Farage claimed he had never met the Russian ambassador, but this was revealed to be a lie. Why did he lie, and why was he allowed to get away with lying?
Apologetics for Russian aggression
“If you poke the Russian bear with a stick, don’t be surprised if he responds.” (Nigel Farage)
Have you noticed how they try to excuse Putin’s Russia? From Farage’s words it is easy to infer that the West, particularly the EU, provoked Russia into invading Ukraine. Furthermore, one infers that the “special military operation” is a completely reasonable move on the part of those blameless Russians when, in reality, Putin wanted this war for his own selfish and deluded reasons.
These apologetics for Russian actions also seem to assume quite absurdly that Europe – which had cut its defence spending – was a threat to Russia. And there is another key point: shouldn’t the Kremlin be addressing Russia’s real problems of endemic poverty, inequality, and corruption? The average net monthly salary in Manchester is almost £2,300; in Volgograd it is less than £400 and the gulf between the average Russian and the oligarchs is even more shocking.
Yet despite, or maybe because of, the poverty and inequality, Russia is beset by absurd delusions of imperial grandeur which are exploited and encouraged by a tiny oligarch class and a leader who thinks nothing of having his opponents jailed or thrown out fifth floor windows. And let us not forget the lives he has sacrificed in Ukraine. Well in excess of 100,000 Russian soldiers have been killed.
Yet the British and American far right seem to admire him as a canny operator who wants the best for his country.
How has Farage been allowed to get away with this?
In a word, Brexit. The grand projet of the non-domiciled and foreign-owned media and much of the British right wing has ended up as more than a common or garden British botch job, like squandering North Sea oil revenues, selling off council houses, or privatising the water industry.
As Starmer wants us to see it, it’s bad but we’ve just got to sort of live with it. It’s what people wanted so we have to respect it.
That is ridiculous: Brexit is, in reality, the most disastrous geopolitical mistake since Suez and, significantly, a major foreign policy achievement of Putin, whom Trump and Farage both admire.
Yet because it is the “will of the people” (and the non-dom media) it seems to be the word that may not be spoken. And it’s Brexit that allows Farage to get away with what he does.
Hegemonic masculinity
Farage and Trump have much in common besides admiring Putin. The virulently misogynistic Andrew Tate was welcomed back to the USA before returning to Romania for a court appearance last month. I suppose he’s a role model for young MAGA men. Let’s recall what Farage has had to say about him, and it’s pretty terrible:
“Tate was a very important voice for an emasculated… you three guys, you are all 25, you are all kind of being told you can’t be blokes, you can’t do laddish, fun, bloke things… That’s almost what you’re being told. That masculinity is something we should look down upon, something we should frown upon. It’s like the men are becoming feminine and the women are becoming masculine and it’s a bit difficult to tell these days who’s what.”
Of course, he tried to qualify this (there’s always a certain ‘That isn’t quite what I said’ with Nige) with the reservation that some of the things he said were ‘over the top’. That can, of course, be inferred by the gullible as meaning ‘but basically he was right’.
Farage’s message of toxic hegemonic masculinity is positively Trumpian, targeting frustrated white males and offering them easy scapegoats. In Trump’s world, it is not gross economic inequality that holds them back, but rather DEI policies and “mass migration”.
Blame women, gay people, and ethnic minorities, not the system: ‘You’d have that well-paid position were it not for government policy to favour some trans person or black woman over you – and you deserve that jo’.
Implicit in this take, of course, is the notion that ‘the best and the brightest’ are all white men!
Farage targets exactly the same people because Brexit is all about stirring up angst, anger, and victimhood and then blaming foreigners. Starmer finds it completely impossible to address this and his own brand of austerity won’t help him tackle it.
Until Starmer develops a strategy to take on populism there can be no hope for Britain, and that is going to mean speaking honestly about Brexit and much else. Given the dominance of the right on social and mainstream media this won’t be easy. We live in an attention economy and at the moment Farage is the one getting the attention – and no pushback.
Starmer needs to start pushing back. And soon.
We want to hear your views. Please send any comments to editor@westenglandbylines.co.uk
CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO OUR CROWDFUNDER
HELP US BECOME STRONGER SO THAT WE CAN CONTINUE TO DELIVER POWERFUL CITIZEN JOURNALISM!
