Former editor of The Sun Kelvin MacKenzie writes for GB News about the problem facing Nigel Farage
I got my politics from the football ground. I’m a half-and-half scarfer. One half of me is Tory, the other half is Reform.
So, my political loyalties have been moved around of late by the financial revelations surrounding Farage and Co.
I’m sure that’s not the norm – especially if I’m guided by the abuse I receive on X whenever I don’t accept that he’s the Messiah.
To be truthful, I am very annoyed Farage has put me and others in the position where in the months to come we may be forced to find a new home.
After all, he represents 25 per cent of UK voters. He has a responsibility to us. He has betrayed that.
In this country, it simply isn’t acceptable for a political leader – he will have known that – to secretly trouser £5million from a Thai-based crypto guy and believe that everybody is going to say: 'That’s okay, Nigel, you’re skint and you deserve the money.'
At first, I liked his explanation that the cash was going to be spent on lasting security.
I find it inexcusable that the Home Office only pays 30 per cent towards the cost of keeping him safe, leaving him to fund the rest or not bother.
For him, "not bother" is not an option. Going into a pub for quick glass of red is very dangerous if you’re Nigel Farage.
Then his story changed, and in a really poor interview with Nick Ferrari, he said he could spend the money how he liked as it was a gift, including on a Ferrari if he fancied it.
That’s when he first lost me. I’m not in Farage’s circle, but I do see him in the GB News studio in Westminster, and he’s always in the most splendid of moods.
He goes on air at 7pm, sometimes with his breath indicating a decent lunch was taken, and yet he is faultless, without ever needing to use the autocue.
So, if his political career were to end, he would make more money by broadcasting and doing a Boris – making speeches and pushing books.
We have, coming up next month, the first of his Clacton by-elections.
He wins that and, a couple of months later, Parliament decides – as I’m sure they will – that accepting the £5million was wrong, especially since he was going to change our crypto laws, which would help the donor, and that he will be suspended for quite a long time.
That will trigger another by-election. At that, Farage will have to decide if this is all a good idea or if he would be better off quitting, making money in the United States and then returning as Reform’s leader with nine months to go to the General Election.
My bet is that would work. I could see Reform slumping to 14 to 16 per cent without a Nigel and then bouncing right back to 25 per cent when he returns.
What upsets me is where I am going to be politically over the next couple of years.
Will Kemi raise her game and come up with policies which will guarantee that illegal immigration will end in the UK?
I don’t want to see one more boat of migrants cross the channel. I would lend my vote to any party promising that.
While Farage is on holiday, who would take over? Richard Tice is capable but will have to explain why the mother of Posh George, the fraudster who acts as bagman to Farage, gave him £1million from a source yet to be identified.
The reality is that there is a smell. With the police now sniffing around, the outcomes for Tice are uncertain.
For Farage to survive, he needs to be bold. The by-elections are ridiculous. He should go away for a couple of years and then return by popular demand ahead of a General Election.
