Ephemeral Farage
A brief glimpse of the Lesser-Spotted-Since-The-Stuff-About-The-Cash-Came-Out MP
In Parliament on Wednesday we got a rare treat: a live sighting of Nigel Farage. Like the great bustard, Farage was once ubiquitous in Britain, holding constant press conferences to reveal policies that would subsequently be recanted, sometimes at the actual event announcing them. Biologists debated this behaviour: was it a mating signal, or a desire to mark territory? Whatever the reason, the hearty Farage chuckle seemed as much a part of national life as a batting collapse or a Eurovision disappointment.
But in recent weeks, Farage has almost completely disappeared, hunted close to extinction by journalists asking questions like: “hang on, five million quid?” and “define ‘gift’?”. Suddenly the Reform Party leader could only be seen in protected spaces — soft interviews with sympathetic hacks, or his own social media feed — and then only rarely. Even after his party’s local elections triumph, when his usual behaviour would have been a strut through the Sunday morning interview shows showing off his distinctive brightly coloured ties and his cry of “now hang on Laura”, he had vanished. We had to make do instead with Richard Tice, Reform’s answer to the grey pigeon.