Labour MP Clive Lewis has issued a stark analysis of Nigel Farage's political resurgence, arguing the Reform UK figure is thriving because people feel the system is stacked against them, not because Britain has become more racist.
The 'Common Sense' Slogan Masking a Cruel Agenda
Writing for The Mirror on Saturday 18th January 2026, Lewis, who chairs the all-party Parliamentary group on race and communities, dissected Farage's recent comments on employers' rights. He contends that when Farage suggests employers should be allowed to discriminate, it is not a gaffe but a calculated move.
Lewis argues this is part of a long-term strategy to normalise regressive ideas. "The trick is simple," he writes. "You don't describe discrimination as cruelty. You sell it as 'common sense'." Protections for workers are framed as bureaucratic overreach, and rolling back rights is presented as a grim necessity.
Farage's Political Playbook: Nudge, Hint, and Dodge
The piece highlights Farage's preferred method of communication. He rarely makes blunt declarations, instead opting to nudge, hint, and avoid direct responsibility. He positions himself as merely asking questions or voicing uncomfortable truths.
When backlash follows, Lewis notes, Farage adeptly casts himself as the silenced truth-teller, attacked by out-of-touch elites. This cycle, the MP warns, means outrage alone often plays into his hands.
The Real-World Impact of Weakening Rights
Lewis stresses the concrete consequences of such policies. Allowing employers to discriminate would not create a fairer or better Britain. Instead, it would make working life colder and more insecure, handing more power to bosses and stripping protections from employees.
"Rights don't disappear neatly for one group of people," he asserts. "Once you weaken them, everyone feels it." The vast majority of the public, he believes, want clear, fair rules that apply to all, ensuring hard work is rewarded fairly—a principle he calls basic decency, not political correctness.
Labour's Path to Countering Farage's Nihilism
The core of Lewis's argument is that Farage's appeal is rooted in a profound sense of economic and social injustice. With rents soaring, secure jobs vanishing, and public services crumbling, people feel abandoned.
To cut the ground from under Farage, Lewis insists Labour must be unmistakably on the side of workers, small business owners, and sole traders—the majority who experience the system's failures firsthand. This means taking on vested interests, not accommodating them.
He lists key battles: confronting privatised water companies polluting rivers, challenging developers hoarding land, and tackling big corporations dodging tax. "Who a government chooses to pick fights with tells people who it is really governing for," he writes.
Ultimately, Lewis concludes that defeating this brand of politics requires governing differently. It means proving there is an alternative to a politics that shrugs at injustice and calling it realism, and demonstrating through daily life that Britain can be far fairer than Nigel Farage wants it to be.
