“There is a complete lack of leadership”

Populist Nigel FarrazThe “enfant terrible” of British politics, always wants to distance himself from the “establishment”. So while all parties talk about election manifestos, yesterday they preferred to use The term “contract” with voters Submit your proposal for General election on July 4.

This formula is working for them once again. It’s only been two weeks Reform leaderBut he has managed to become the hero of a boring campaign with a better result than expected.

With Labour more than twenty points ahead in the polls and a complex electoral system that does not help new parties enter Westminster, Farage is fully aware that he has no chance of getting into Downing Street. “We do not pretend that we are going to win these general elections. We are a very new political party and we would have liked to have had these elections in October or November to be more prepared. But we are running very fast to catch them,” he insisted.

with A charisma and telegeny that neither Prime Minister Rishi Sunak nor the Labour Party’s Keir Starmer possessFarage is moving ahead in the polls every day, even placing himself as the second leading political force ahead of the Conservatives in last week’s YouGov poll.

The populists now present themselves as the authentic opposition. So, to present their “contract with voters” they travelled yesterday to Merthyr Tydfil in Wales, where Labour has governed for 25 years.

His programme includes a large package of tax cuts, including £30 billion in savings by scrapping net zero environmental targets, and £15 billion in savings in social benefits.

Immigration issue

However, immigration control remains its top priority and this proposal has been introduced for this purpose A new tax on employers who hire foreign workers And abandon the European Convention on Human Rights, one of the demands of the radical right, since it was the Strasbourg court that blocked the implementation of the first version of the government’s controversial Rwandan plan to send applicants to seek asylum in the African country by irregular routes. “The Conservatives have been promising to reduce immigration for fourteen years and they still haven’t achieved it”denounced the protest vote as a blatant imposition, where its great political appeal lies.

It was the victory of his first party, UKIP, in the 2014 European elections that prompted the Conservative government to call the historic referendum that ended with the victory of Brexit. It was the victory of his second party, the Brexit Party, in the 2019 European elections that ensured Theresa May’s resignation and forced the Tories to negotiate a difficult divorce. And everything indicates that now his third project, Reform will shake the pillars of Westminster again Where he is seeking his first seat. His party has been supported by Right-wing voters disappointed in Sunak’s ranks That could lead the Tories to real ruin.

Despite his usual provocative tone, Farage seemed calmer than usual yesterday, betting on traditional values ​​”We are a party that knows what we believe in: Family, community, country“, said. “I think there is a complete lack of leadership. People need a certain sense of motivation,” he added. In this sense, he said you can be “traditional and radical at the same time.” “Help Real and genuine change to give us a better, brighter and stronger future.I’ve been back on this job for a few weeks and I think we’re doing quite well,” he concluded. If the establishment parties now bet on accusing him of not being able to meet his proposals, they will once again be playing into his hands.

Most of the cabinet – including the prime minister – barely mention Farage by name, indirectly referring to Reform as “the other party”. However Foreign Secretary David Cameron was more direct in his interviews last weekend. “I am committed to a concrete policy and measured language. I think you get inflammatory language and desperate politics from these populists,” he said.

The point is that the conservative centrism that brought David Cameron to Downing Street in 2010 – the same one that is now being defended by Sunak – is no longer attractive to a large part of the Tory base. While all the so-called “centrist fathers” have joined either the Labour Party or the Liberal Democrats, The traditional conservative vote now demands stronger responses on issues such as immigration or the rise of radical Islam. And it is Faraz who represents his voice.