Nigel Farage, once the hunter, is now the hunted and haunted. The bad-tempered Reform UK leader is a desperate man on the run, pursued by questions about a secret £5 million personal payment from a Reform Party donor tycoon in Thailand. Farage could be forgiven for wondering where it all went wrong.
Greedily pocketing a fortune is one answer. Another is Andy Burnham, Labour’s Prime Minister-in-waiting, who has explained how he would economically “rewire” Britain after thrashing the Hard-Right leader in Makerfield and removing one of Reform’s strongest cards: Keir Starmer. Farage urged voters to get rid of doomed Starmer, and they did—by voting Labour, not Reform. Be careful what you wish for next time, Nige. A third answer is Kemi Badenoch doing better, presenting herself as an official Conservative alternative to the Tory tribute act Reform.
Burnham's Labour Leapfrogs Reform in Polls
It’s only one poll, but the first arrived predicting that Labour headed by Burnham would leapfrog Farage at a general election, signalling the possible end of Reform dominance stretching back to April last year. Labour was also ahead of Reform in a poll on the contest to elect Burnham’s replacement as Greater Manchester Mayor. Reform loses in Greater Manchester and slips behind in national polls. Some in Labour, and a few in Reform too, wonder if Farage might throw in the towel and take his £5 million to Trumpland while he might still be welcome.
Farage Faces Inquiry and Possible By-Election
The notion isn’t dismissed as fanciful when tetchy Farage has quit before and returned with the expressed goal of No10. He’s spooked by the official inquiry into that undeclared £5 million. Suspension from the Commons and a Clacton by-election are genuine possibilities. Vengeful Far-Right rival Rupert Lowe and his Restore Britain mob—a fourth answer to why it’s going wrong for Farage—are already salivating over the prospect of going chin-to-chin with Farage in his own backyard.
Peak Farage is history; Reform’s punctured balloon is visibly deflating. Burnham is up for the fight. Is Farage still? People are beginning to ask, and that’s a bad sign for Reform’s leader and encouragement for his emboldened band of increasingly hopeful enemies.
