[soulboy]

To confirm; this story is being trumpeted by the Associate Political Editor of the otherwise largely sympathetic Telegraph.

On a similar note, I observe that two Farage friendly hosts at LBC, Nick Ferrari and Ali Miraj, seem to have given up trying to defend him on this one.

He's not been on Kuenssberg for 2 weeks.
An absence likely to trigger a missing person alert.

He blew out the Sunday morning rounds for a jolly to Abu Dhabi.

[Yug]

youtube...

All very amusing, but what has that got to do with the price of fasch?

To confirm; this story is being trumpeted by the Associate Political Editor of the otherwise largely sympathetic Telegraph.

Indeed

Nigel Farage has been reported to police by a former member of his campaign team over claims of falsified election expenses.

Mr Farage, the Reform UK leader, is accused of falsely reporting local campaign expenses in Clacton as national party spending in what would amount to a breach of electoral law.

Richard Everett, a former Reform councillor and member of the campaign team that won Mr Farage his first parliamentary seat, has submitted documents to the Metropolitan Police that he claims show an overspend.

The papers show that Reform came within £400 of the legal spending limit of £20,660 in the Essex seaside town, but Mr Everett claims that figure excludes some costs, including leaflets, banners, utility bills and the refurbishment of a blue and teal Reform-themed bar in the campaign office.

He also claimed the party failed to declare the loan of an armoured Land Rover, used by Mr Farage during his last campaign rally on Clacton Pier, as a donation.

If Mr Everett’s claims are found to be accurate, Mr Farage and Peter Harris, his election agent, could be found personally liable in court for a breach of electoral law...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/20 ... ion-fraud/

[Boiler]

And in true Farage style, dismissed as the actions of a disgruntled former councillor.

[davidjay]

While I doubt if the story will make much difference to his popularity in the short-term, it does show Farage's lack of political acumen. He could easily have said, "I was young, foolish and totally wrong, I'm sorry" and followed it up with an invitation to meet the accusers, complete with photoshoot and personal apologies. Do that and he would have come across as almost human. Instead he's continued digging and it will have been noted by his opponents.

[Andy McDandy]

Also consider that how the media decides to frame a story is just as important as its content. I might be brushing aside scurrilous rumours from years ago, but it could be reported as "Andy puts on a brave face as he tries to bury damaging schoolboy rumours". It's the old "Jesus can't swim" situation: when they decide time's up, it's up.

[Oboogie]

While I doubt if the story will make much difference to his popularity in the short-term, it does show Farage's lack of political acumen. He could easily have said, "I was young, foolish and totally wrong, I'm sorry" and followed it up with an invitation to meet the accusers, complete with photoshoot and personal apologies. Do that and he would have come across as almost human. Instead he's continued digging and it will have been noted by his opponents.

I presume he's afraid an apology would be perceived as weakness by his racist core.
I'm surprised he didn't try "I wasn't being antisemitic, just anti Zionist" a lot of them seem to think that works.

[Rosvanian]

While I doubt if the story will make much difference to his popularity in the short-term, it does show Farage's lack of political acumen. He could easily have said, "I was young, foolish and totally wrong, I'm sorry" and followed it up with an invitation to meet the accusers, complete with photoshoot and personal apologies. Do that and he would have come across as almost human. Instead he's continued digging and it will have been noted by his opponents.

But - the far right world is constructed almost entirely from victimhood and grievance. Any admission of guilt by Farage and that world collapses. He HAS to say it's a combination of youthful banter, outright lies and a plot by traitorous lefties so that once again, he can claim to be the innocent victim.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Exactly right.

[Bones McCoy]

Exactly right.

Strongmen don't apologise.

I'd add that they usually don't need a 6 man private security team and an armoured land-rover either

[Boiler]

Exactly right.

Strongmen don't apologise.

I'd add that they usually don't need a 6 man private security team and an armoured land-rover either

Milkshake Protection Squad?

[Bones McCoy]

Exactly right.

Strongmen don't apologise.

I'd add that they usually don't need a 6 man private security team and an armoured land-rover either

Milkshake Protection Squad?

Brings all the boys to the bar.

[Tubby Isaacs]

As others said, we had Lord Ali (a Labour peer) buying some specs from Starmer leading the news for ages. Some crypto gives Farage £9m and there's relative silence?

[Tubby Isaacs]

Are the Jews in the room with Arron now?

It's not real because he's not still traumatized?

How about the others? Are they leftwing film makers?

[Abernathy]

What I find most frustrating about the Farage /Reform phenomenon is the way he seems to be playing out to the letter the Donald Trump playbook.

When Trump said that he could shoot somebody in the middle of fifth avenue, and still not lose a single vote, he wasn’t joking, he was being deadly serious. Farage might be thinking along similar lines. He is clearly rattled at being exposed publicly as a racist bigot (“Bernard MANNING !”), and the revelations (though already previously made public by Michael Crick several years ago) might see Farage similarly unaffected by a scandal . He’s making noises about how odd it is that people are saying he’s a racist cunt only now he is apparently doing very well in the opinion polls, but it isn’t odd at all. Unthinking voters that are considering voting for his party because they’re fed up of the other lot, need to be made aware of just who they could be sending to number ten. There really is no better time to remind folk who Farage really is. Or else he really is on the way to pulling off another, this time bigger than Brexit, con trick.

[Crabcakes]

He’s making noises about how odd it is that people are saying he’s a racist cunt only now he is apparently doing very well in the opinion polls, but it isn’t odd at all.

It’s also not really true - people have been calling him out as a racist cunt for years. The difference now is, the people who he can appeal to by not directly addressing it (wink wink, Nige is one of us he’ll sort out the forrins etc) can only take him so far. To replace the Tories he has to have appeal to voters who see themselves as Conservatives but morally don’t want to be linked to outright bigotry. And so now he has to do something: and straight out of Trump’s playbook, he’s decided to make out this is a plot to take him down rather than just the truth that he is the same as he’s always been - a racist, sexist, homophobic, antisemitic greed-driven arsehole.

And of course, it’s also not any sort of apology. Because he doesn’t want to lose the people that got him where he is today either.

[Abernathy]

I errr…. think that’s what I said ? Using slightly different words.