Farage Accidentally Explains The Clacton Stunt

Last night, Reform UK Ltd lost the Greater Manchester Mayor election by 25 points, a race they'd been favourites to win in the spring, and the man who lost it for them is Nigel Farage.Because when it mattered most, he pulled his activists out of Manchester to help fight a by -election that he called in Clacton, against a man with a bin on his head, for a seat he already held.And why would anyone do that?Well, this week he stood on Clacton Pier with a newspaper that adores him.Farage answered that question by accident.In the same interview, he gave his third different explanation for £5 million gift that he'd been under investigation for, and I'm going to quote him exactly when he says it's possibly not filling out a form.

Five million pounds, a form and a mayoralty burnt to protect it.So let me show you how.The Telegraph's daily tea podcast went to Clacton for a day out with Nigel, and it's a proper seaside special.He shows them his portable ashtray, he delivers an unprompted monologue about ice cream, dairy only, nothing from a machine, and he's from an ice cream family, apparently.They ask whether he'll sing on the pier for his 155th birthday.Nobody lays a glove on him for 20 minutes, which is presumably why he's relaxed enough to say the most useful thing that he's said all year.

because eventually, you know, very gently, almost apologetically, they ask him about the five million pounds.

Well, let's just get a sense of context on this, shall we?I haven't broken the law.I haven't avoided or evaded tax.I haven't misused any public money.My personal expenses since I became the Member of Parliament for Clacton two years ago are zero.I haven't claimed a penny.

I don't need it.I've got outside income.I've got business interests.I don't need it.What am I guilty of?Well, possibly not filling in a form.

Possibly not filling in the form.So what is that?form?Well it's the Register of Members Financial Interest.It's the document that every single MP fills in so the public can see who has given them money.That's it.

That's its entire job.It doesn't care what you use the money for, it just wants to know that you've received it.Calling it a form is like calling your tax return just a leaflet.But do you notice the construction?He lists all the crimes that he hasn't committed.Tax evasion, misusing public money, none of which that anyone's actually accused him of.

Then he arrives at the thing that he's actually been investigated for and shrinks it to a piece of stationery.His personal expenses are zero, he tells us.He doesn't need public money.Well, of course he doesn't.You've got five million pounds from a crypto billionaire.Most people wouldn't need the stationary cupboard either.

Possibly not filling in a form.Now my lawyers were clear with me there was no need to.Some in Parliament take a different view.

Now the some in Parliament he's referring to is the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner.The person whose actual job is deciding this.So what's that make it?Explanation number two, three, four?I'm kind of losing count.

With all due respect, what's it got to do with you?Well, because it speaks to the position you hold in office.Initially, we were told that it was because of your personal security and it would pay for that for the rest of your life.Then apparently it was some kind of reward for campaigning for Brexit.I am told we have two different stories.Which is the truth?

I think you're contradicting yourself there, aren't you?Well, if you tell me what happened with the £5 million, then we're solved.It's an unconditional gift.

I can spend it on Ferraris if I want.Whatever it was going to be used for, the form didn't apply to it anyway.His lawyer told him so.But all of those can't be true.Two of them can't even be true at the same time.When your story changes every time you tell it, the story isn't the problem.

You are.Jake Berry couldn't defend it on the BBC.Richard Tice couldn't defend it.Now the man himself, on the friendliest possible ground, with a co -host who spent the morning complimenting his ashtray,has downgraded it to admin.Then we move on to the by -election itself.

Let's see what the result is here in a couple of weeks' time.If I get a thumping endorsement here from the people and they really, really try and push and make them vote again, I think Parliament itself will look very silly.

And so he's just given away his old game plan.It's like a Bond villain, isn't it?If I get a thumping endorsement and they try to make people vote again, Parliament will look really silly.No, no, no, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die.

Now I'm gonna tell you my whole plan, and then I'm gonna come up with some absurd and convoluted way to kill you, and you'll find an equally convoluted way to escape.

What he's describing there is the recall petition, the thing that happens if the standard commissioner finds against him.He's telling you out loud that this by -election exists to make the punishment politically impossible before the verdict arrives.Get re -elected now, and any suspension later looks like Parliament overruling the voters.It's mandate insurance purchased in August against a finding that's due in the autumn.Which, I suppose he thought he was being clever.It's also quite breathtaking coming from the man who spends the same interview saying this about Andy Burnham.

But the big one, they don't want a general election.

And I find that unbelievable when we've got Burnham in saying he's going to make the biggest changes to politics in 40 years with no mandate.

Burnham is governing without a fresh mandate.Constitutional outrage.Election now.Farage is manufacturing himself a fresh mandate to outrun a standards investigation.Democracy in action.Thumping endorsement.

Cheers all round.Mandates are sacred when he needs one and optional when he's dodging one.Now obviously I'm coveringevery twist of this until the Commissioner reports so subscribe if you want to follow it properly and memberships are open if you can support the channel that way too.And now we know what that shield cost because last night Manchester sent the invoice.Labour at 45 % and Reform at 20%.

In a contest Reform had been favourites to win in the spring.Remember the sequence here, Burnham was blocked from Gorton and Denton because Reform looked likely to take them.And even though they lost Gorton and Denton, reform was still riding high after Makefield.This was a winnable one, a real prize, an actual executive office in England's second only city region.And with the campaign in the balance, Farage redirected his ground game to Clacton so he could rack up a Thumper endorsement against a man with a bin on his head.He fed the morality into the machine to build himself a shield against the form.

And that trade he made, and every reform activist who spent July knocking on doors in Essex instead of Salford knows it.One more moment because the Telegraph asked only mildly difficult question of the day.He's a great campaigner, but can he actually run anything?

I built a political party from zero.to be the biggest political party in the country, with structure, organisation, and I've done it as the CEO.

As the CEO.Because Reform UK is a limited company, and he's not just its leader, he's the controlling shareholder.Members of an ordinary party choose their leader.Shareholders of a company answer to nobody but themselves.Now, I do believe that he has given up his shares, but he appointed a board that can remove him, but he appointed the board, and it has to be a silly amount of votes or it's an impossible amount of votes that he has to get before he can actually be removed.So yes, although he's no longer a massive shareholder, he's still the controlling CEO of the Reform UK Limited company.

The Telegraph went to Clacton for a carousel ride and came home with a complaint.Not a legal one, he's very keen to remind you that nothing illegal has happened, but something better.A man relaxed enough among friends to show you the machinery, the gift is a form, the by -election is a shield, and the party is his company.He told the truth about all of it, he just doesn't think that you're paying attention.August 13th, Clacton votes.The Commissioner reports after that, if he gets back in, and one of those results he's already arranged.

and Manchester shows you exactly what he's willing to pay for it.The other one, well, he can't arrange that at any price.And so as a bit of a distraction, they've decided to invent a new tax and they spent an entire press conference getting really worked up about this imaginary tax.And you can probably see why that Farage doesn't do these press conferences anymore in the video that's on screen now.Thanks for watching.Don't forget to hit that like button and I'll see you next time.