Nigel Farage is the best British political communicator of my lifetime, according to Sebastian Murphy, Comment Editor. His reputation has been built on weighing in on the big issues of the day on precisely the right side of the argument, from the small boats crisis to Net Zero zealotry and free speech. However, there are now worrying signs that Reform UK is losing the plot when it comes to the press and free speech.
Farage's conduct under scrutiny
Colleagues in the media have noted how thin-skinned Farage was when he barked at journalists before calling the Clacton by-election, alleging that reporters had gone too far with approaches to his family. His ill-tempered throwing down of the gauntlet, culminating in a showdown with Count Binface, struck some as a departure from the media-savvy, affable charmer adept at giving an interview over a pint of ale.
During the Clacton campaign, Farage unleashed at media malpractice on the popular Triggernometry podcast. Given that this was in the wake of Ann Widdecombe's murder and given the number of death threats Farage himself has received, perhaps it's too much to expect that in the throes of grief and stress he maintain a measured stance on free speech. Perhaps it would be too far to condemn him for outbursts under such circumstances, silly to draw any conclusions about his wider attitudes toward the press that he might hold in quieter, calmer moments.
Ofcom investigation into Sky News
But it might soon be difficult to conclude that Reform UK cares about a free press and the free speech that underpins the fourth estate. Ofcom is now investigating Sky News on behalf of Farage, who alleges the broadcaster harassed his daughter by sending reporters to her house while his £5million donation from crypto magnate Christopher Harborne dominated headlines. Of course, action should be taken if any wrongdoing is found. If it isn't, then this looks like a politician trying to muzzle the press from a perfectly standard operating procedure; door-knocking a relative in the hope of securing a conversation with the actual subject of a story.
I've knocked on countless doors as a journalist – and it's not always ended well. Hostility is a natural response to a reporter knocking on your door with questions. At the very least, it's irritating. And yet it's entirely necessary if we want to live in a country whose politicians and institutions are kept in check, knowing that they'll be held to account for wrongdoing. It's one of the necessary evils of living in a free and open democracy. If Farage's gamble faulters and no wrongdoing is found, then this affair will look like nothing more than a politician attempting to secure the right to operate in darkness.
Badenoch emerges as defender of free press
For the past 10 years, the Right in both the US and UK has found itself the standard bearer of freedom, especially regarding speech, from which the press is inextricable. This situation largely came about because of left-wing cancel culture, but also because of Blairite laws such as the Communications Act of 2003 criminalising speech. I worry that swathes of this support for free speech on the Right wasn't routed in a principled stance, but in the desire to define themselves by opposition to whatever the Left happened to be doing.
Luckily, there's someone on the Right who very much seems to get this. Kemi Badenoch has spoken in recent days of attacks upon the free press and emerged as a defender of my profession. How ironic it will be if Nigel Farage, who has built his reputation on being right about the biggest of questions, finds himself outdone on this most important issues by the party he's spent so long trying to destroy.
