Donald Trump’s inside man
What is it about fascists, that they are so universally unlovely? From Steve Bannon to Steve Miller to Steve Cheung to Trump himself. They aren’t content to be merely hideous on the inside. Is there some law that political villains must look the part?
Meet Trump’s man in Britain, Nigel Farage. If ever there was a bad guy who looked the part it’s our very own Nigel. If you don’t already have the “pleasure” of his acquaintance, Nigel is the leader of Britain’s Reform UK party. If you haven’t heard of Reform UK you don’t need to. There are no surprises. It’s the same racist MAGA-like bullshit popping up all over the world. Just ask any white cab driver in London about it.
Farage has been accused of acting (once again) as “Trump’s spokesman in Britain” for refusing to criticise Donald Trump for shamelessly and unjustly bullying and belittling Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office on Friday. Farage blamed the Ukrainian president for having played the White House meeting “very badly,” as well as accusing President Zelensky of showing no respect for Trump.
When Farage was asked if JD Vance bullied Zelenskyy, Farage evaded the question and repeated his charge that the Ukrainian President was “rude” to his US counterpart “in his own house.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer called out Farage in Parliament, where Reform UK has a whopping five members. “Can I just remind him that Russia is the aggressor,” the Prime Minister said, “Zelensky is a war leader whose country has been invaded. And we should all be supporting him and not fawning over Putin.” The leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, Sir Ed Davey, said, “Nigel Farage is once again showing his true colours as Trump’s own spokesman here in Britain.”
Farage passes the litmus test for Trump-loyalty the way British TV presenter Piers Morgan does not. Farage will agree with Trump no matter how absurd or hateful or patently wrong he is. On again off again Trump apologist Morgan calls a few balls on Trump, but he calls strikes too. And Morgan agrees: Trump is out of line on this one.
Nigel Farage’s opinion is fairly rare in Britain and his party size reflects it. Trump would have never become Prime Minister in Britain. To be sure, MAGA has found a foothold among lowlifes and bigots here, and sometimes there’s enough of them to elevate a Reform UK party member to MP, but not to PM. Not yet.
Don’t misunderstand me, though, there are plenty of bigots in Britain. I personally know some of them. But there are not anywhere near enough of them to get us a MAGA-like government. But give it time. Britain trails America in trends, good or bad, by about twenty years. The mere fact that a man as awful as Nigel Farage exists and has a place in government is worrying.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.