I watched too much television news last night.
There was much coverage of Badenoch's sacking of Jenrick.
And then there was the Reform show as Jenrick, re-emerged late, in a hastily arranged Farage news conference.
Jenrick came out of this looking a lot less clever than he likes to think he is.
Badenoch was the clear winner of the day: rarely can an opposition leader as weak as she is have done so well.
But Farage interested me most. He looked uncomfortable, annoyed, and simply out of sorts with himself as a news agenda over which it turned out he had little control developed around him, and that matters.
Leadership of anything is about being able to react to events as much as it is about being able to stage them. We all know Farage can stage events. The stunt, the news conference, the appearance of being the "cheeky upstart"; all of these are things Farage has fine-tuned to the point where the novelty must have well and truly worn off, even for the most ardent fan. But what really matters is how you manage the unexpected, and Farage gave us a rare insight into that yesterday.
He was annoyed that Jenrick was late, apparently because he got lost in Millbank Tower (which, in fairness, is not hard: the lifts are perverse in the floors they serve, as I recall, and I have been there many times), and it showed. But more than that, he looked bored, indecisve and maybe just a little resentful as Jenrick spoke.
Let's be honest, I suspect 20 minutes on Jenrick's political philosophy was boring. Forgetting to mention the glory of his new leader for that length of time was probably not wise. As already noted, Jenrick is not nearly as clever as he would like to think he is. But that being said, Farage revealed three things.
The first was that he does not like not being in charge, and political leaders have to realise that events sometimes run them, and vice versa. Yesterday did not run according to his agenda. It could have done: he could have delayed things, but he did not. He could have kept control, but he did not. In that case, what he revealed is that he might not have the aptitude to be a political leader at all. When out of control, he looked very out of sorts.
Second, he does not like being upstaged, and he had been and very obviously resented it.
Thirdly, he made it clear why he finds it so hard to preserve the loyalty of those who supposedly support him, as we have seen with the steady attrition of MPs elected as Reform members who have already departed the party. Unless feigning loyalty is offered, I very strongly suspect that withering contempt flows in the other direction, and very quickly. Jenrick will, I suspect, be on the end of that by this morning, being soundly put in his place by another leader who does not see him as their heir apparent.
This was not a jolly jape for Jenrick.
This told us a lot about Farage.
What it said was that Reform is becoming a refuge for failed and toxic Tories whose sole remaining qualification for office is their arrogance in the face of their own indifference, not least towards their own lack of ability. But it also said something more than that. It said Farage lacks a decisive bite. He failed to run this. He did not make Jenrick wait to show him who is in charge, and paid a heavy price for that. He did not lay down the rules, as a leader should have done. And he then very obviously showed he realised he had made a mistake, and that was not clever.
Was this a one-off mistake or the revelation of something deeper? I cannot be sure, of course, but I tend towards the second view. There has been little to upset the Farage stage management. This did, and he failed badly. This man would make a very bad prime minister.
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Well noted.
I am sure that once Reform were elected, Farage would just leave, wanting ‘his life back’ (ah, so much personal sacrifice) and leave us with the consequences just as he did over BREXIT. Disruption is the game for him, not leadership – it has too much responsibility and accountability and as a former trader, he won’t have much in the way of the those two attributes.
Agreed. Appropriately added.
Fintan O’ Toole’s excellent ‘Heroic Failure: BREXIT & The Politics of Pain’ (2019) provides the ammunition to bring down Farage – a trader who – after nonchalantly losing others people’s money – would toddle off to a long (liquid) lunch and still have his job when he got back – totally unaccountable for his actions and pretty secure and wealthy enough to weather the consequences unlike most of those in the suckers-sphere who find him a viable answer to their problems/satisfy their prejudices.
I expect that he’ll hand over the reins to one of his lieutenants (after making them fight for it) in exchange for a silly robe and silly title, and an “advisory” role in the party. That gives him all the power with none of the hard work or responsibility, and ensures he can maintain his multiple strands of income without the duties of high office interfering.
Interesting observations….. I wonder, can anyone think of another leader that exhibits similar characteristics?
That comparison is, surely, the key to demolishing Farage and Reform.
Labour have a massive majority, they could bring in electoral reform legislation before the next UK General election. This legislation could ban companies from standing for election, only political parties being eligible to stand, thus forcing Reform to become a political party. In addition, political parties to be all funded by the state, as is the case for Canada, New Zealand, Germany, Sweden, Norway and many others. No donations at all, to party or politician, with the full force of the law being brought down on donor and recipient if anyone tries it.
The question is, would the people who own Kier Starmer let him do that.
“We all know Farage can stage events. The stunt, the news conference, the appearance of being the “cheeky upstart”
I assume that you are referring to Fart-rage’s “cunning stunts” which of course are all about him – demonstrably so by swapping the c and st.
Related: “resents being upstaged” ………so Tump-mini-me & all the dynamics for a total disaster.
The elections later this year will show how solid the support for the Deform Limited (owner: N Farage) is.
I’ve always thought Farage gets rattled easily if things aren’t to his liking, out of his control or when asked difficult questions. He will get a lot of that if he becomes PM.
That said, I have a feeling that PSR is right in thinking he will just quit if Reform win the general election.
Farage’s nickname at school apparently was Fudge. A life of responsibility in the spotlight in No 10 would drive him mad, he is far more fragile than Trump. One way or another he will boil over, his past will expose him and he will fudge it. Certainly got to hope so and that it will be sooner rather than later.
Jenrick has lately been even more overtly promoting racist divisions than Farage – to the extent that he should be vulnerable to prosecution for hate speech – which is against the law as enshrined in the public order acts.
There is yet another good piece by Aditya Chakrabortty contrasting Starmer/Reeves’ self imposed ‘we can do nothing’ with Trump’s ‘we will do whatever we damn well want to do’:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/16/trump-power-right-starmer-potholes
I have held for a while that the only card Farage actually holds is the ownership of the brand, and the ££££ his public profile brings him. At some point, rapidly approaching, he will be defenestrated, compensated for opening up Reform by a large wedge from ‘anon’. My main suspect was Tice, now possibly Jenrick or even a defector to come; whatever happens I expect the fascists to splinter even more. The main beneficiaries would be the Tories, or even a new hybrid Right grouping – after all they have about 45% of the vote currently.
Maybe…..
One can’t help feeling that Farage is getting older and tired in experience. His brittleness is showing more, and he’s no longer able to hide his nastiness under his previous veneer of charm. The thing is there is no talent in his party, just opportunists and cast offs from other parties. There is no teamwork or common vision, and very little solid political experience. What all his parties have had is money from very questionable sources.
I have for a long time thought that Farage and his nasty party will end up hanging itself by a very long rope. What the British people need and want is hope. He appeared to give it, but in reality he’s just wearing the Emperor’s new clothes, and before long many more will see this. Without a charismatic leader, Reform is nothing. I will cry no tears as he/they are exposed for what they really are.
He’s on with Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday morning.
“Why do you want to be prime minister?” would be an interesting question, though it’s doubtful whether the answer would make any more sense than: “Because I’d be good at it”, which is how David Cameron is supposed to have answered the question.
🙂