Gawain Towler explains the ongoing campaign by the British establishment to destroy the existential threat The Reform Party poses to them.
The first aim, the one they would toast if they achieved it, is to take Farage down altogether, to force a resignation. They will not be so lucky. The second aim is subtler and in its way just as dangerous. It is aimed at the rear echelon. At the Reform leaning voter, the not sure but interested, the undecided man or woman who is being told, day after day, that these people are chaotic, tainted, not quite safe. Frighten the reserves and the front line starves.
If Farage were to resign, which he will not, Burnham would call a general election the next morning, before the smoke cleared. Since he will not, there will be a delay, and the pounding will continue. That is the nature of the thing. Preparatory bombardments do not stop because the defenders are steady. They stop when the attacker runs out of shells or out of time.
So what is required of us is not cleverness. It is resilience. We have been shelled before, in 2016, in 2019, in 2024, and we have remained undimmed. Morale is the true objective of every barrage, and morale is the one thing entirely within our own keeping. Courage under fire is not a slogan, it is a discipline, and it consists mostly of not doing things. Not wavering. Not sniping at our own. Not mistaking noise for damage.
If you are even vaguely considering supporting Reform, then you are the target of this carefully orchestrated campaign to convince you to do otherwise. I urge you to read the entire linked article: The Guns Before the Whistle.
Thucydides famously observed that “the secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom is courage.”
Take courage.
Ooooo, he’s dishonest, he’s weird, his morals are gutterish, he’s in it for himself, he’ll cause chaos, he makes intemperate and childish decisions, he’s a danger to our democracy . . .
They’re following a proven playbook. That playbook works very well on a lot of credulous types, including here. Let’s see if they can repeat it with Farage.
Perhaps the argument should be — you are worried that Reform will screw things up? I mean how could they possibly do worse than the current government or the one before?
As soon as Reform hit a poll lead back in late 2024 I said that the next 4 years would be a litany of character assassination attempts on the party and particularly Farage. Who in their right mind thinks that the Establishment is going to just sit idly by while a bunch of iconoclasts sail serenely into power? Its going to be hard pounding, and we need to be able to pound harder and longer than they can.
One wonders why they are using up this ammunition now though, unless it is a straw in the wind that an election is far closer than anyone thinks. Burnham may have declared ‘No early election’ but frankly what value does that statement have? He’s obviously quite happy to say one thing one day and the opposite the next, so is quite capable of calling an election anyway despite his previous denials, and would never be called on it by the Usual Suspects. So maybe we should prepare for a GE sooner rather than later.
First the counter-battery work, the rule changes on political donations, backdated, no less, which tells you everything about intent.
To what does this refer ?
The answer to that question is: hold my beer.
@Lee Moore – Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo, two cryptocurrency billionaires who are major funders of Reform UK, have returned to the UK to continue donating to the party. They previously donated millions while living abroad in Thailand and Hong Kong, respectively, citing the desire to contribute more effectively to Nigel Farage’s party.
However, new government rules designed to curb foreign influence now impose a £100,000 annual donation cap on these individuals for one year after their return. This measure, part of the Representation of the People Bill, closes a loophole that allowed donors to bypass overseas caps by re-registering as UK residents. Harborne and Delo, who had donated a combined £7 million in early 2026, are now subject to these stricter limits, which Communities Secretary Steve Reed stated are necessary to protect the integrity of elections.
By making it retrospective they are attempting to starve Reform UK of the funds of these two specific donors.
Thank you Dan.
As it’s a Bill, it is not yet law. I assume. Traditionally, a statute is not regarded as retrospective if the relevant provision has an effective date on or after the date on which it is announced. ie a Bill is going through Parliament, and it is eventually given Royal Assent on 7 August. Along the way an amendment is introduced, or at least announced, on 23 May, to have effect for events, transactions, circumstances occurring on or after 3 May, and it is duly adopted and enacted with the Bill.
Are you saying that the rule affecting Messrs Harbourne and Delo is retrospective in this sense – ie it applies to events prior to its announcement ?
Farage has apparently resigned as MP for Clacton (7 July) – in order to stand again in the byelection hoping to win and re-emphasise his support.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ijj9l4F1ig
Judging by the similarity of the messaging going around – messaging that the Boss has been doing his best to counter – it is clear there is a lot of coördination going on.
And Reform has offered to pay the costs of holding the election. Which puts Labour on the spot over the upcoming Manchester mayoral contest. Heheheh. I won’t say I haven’t had my doubts about Reform over the last year or so, but credit where it’s due. Well played, Nigel, well played.
Political donations among other things are part of the stench of corruption.
Id make 10k the maximum anyone can donate to a political party in a year. No corporate and union donations. Only uk citizens living in the country.
It is indeed a classic establishment smear job (similar to the effort to force Madam Le Pen out of politics – by punishing her for what EVERY group in the European Union “Parliament” does – namely use their expenses money for party-political purposes, every other group in the body does this – but it is, somehow, wrong for Madam Le Pen and the National Rally to do it)- Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, a former leading member of the Haldane Socialist lawyers (only a really bad person would join such a group), was gloating about it today – Sir Keir was unconcerned about the end of his own life in politics, because he was never really an independent person (he understands that it does not really matter who is Prime Minister – as long as that person is prepared to rubber stamp establishment policies) – he was delighted at the possible end of Mr Farage, an enemy of the establishment.
The Reform Party is hated by the establishment, just as the National Rally of France is hated by the establishment, and the Freedom Party in the Netherlands is hated, and the AfD in Germany, and the Freedom Party in Austria, and Vox in Spain, and Chego in Portugal, and on and on – the persecution of the right wing party in Belguim became an art form, it kept being de facto banned, and coming back under another name – only to be persecuted again.
And all this smearing and persecution is done in the name of “defending democracy”.
“And how will you vote Paul” – if I live to the next General Election (hopefully I will be dead), I will obey the William F. Buckley rule of voting – as I always have.
I will vote for the most conservative candidate – who-has-a-chance-of-winning.
I would urge everyone else to follow the same rule – vote for the most conservative, the most “right wing”, candidate who-has-a-chance-of-winning.
In Kettering that is Philip Hollobone, the Conservative Party candidate – in Clacton (where Mr Ed and myself used to go for the air show) it is NOT Mr Hollobone – it is Mr Farage.
Stuart Noyes – limiting private funding is a Trojan Horse for state funding of political parties, and guess who would not get any state funding – “right wing” parties, because the Open Borders (open gates of the city – open to enemies who wish to plunder and destroy – plundering and destroying violates the non-aggression-principle) “Diversity and Inclusion – ban Hate Speech” establishment do not like them.
However, I agree with you that both Corporate and Union (a Union is a body-corporate) funding should be ended – all funding should be from individuals. Individuals – not corporate bodies, including not “NGOs” (which are not really “non government” as they are mainly funded by the taxpayers).
If Mr Soros wants to give millions to leftist candidates – that is fine as-long-as “right wing” billionaires are allowed to give millions to “right wing” candidates.
Lee Moore
Are you saying that the rule affecting Messrs Harbourne and Delo is retrospective in this sense – ie it applies to events prior to its announcement?
Yes. The law is backdated to cover donations made before the act was drafted. It is an ex post facto law, something expressly prohibited by the US Constitution.
Philip Scott Thomas – yes all the basic rules of the Common Law have been ripped up (including the principle of jurisprudence, long before it was stated in the U.S. Constitution, against ex post facto edicts – “what you did last Tuesday is now a crime – even though it was not when you did it, now you are going to be hanged”).
As for the Parliamentary investigation – it will be conducted by the enemies of Mr Farage, so the result is is predetermined.
“You are guilty” regardless of what the “charge” is – they would find him guilty of burning Rome in 64 AD – even though he was not born till almost two thousand years later, “he must have used a time machine” or some such claim.
This means there will be two by-elections in Clacton – not one.
After Mr Farage is found guilty (by a Parliamentary committee made up of his enemies) – there will be a second by-election in Clacton.
Then both the Restore Party, led by Rupert Lowe (still angry over the armed police send to his home – thanks to Zia Yusuf) will stand – and so will the Conservative Party.
It will be the second by-election (the contested one) that matters.
Thanks Philip
So the response would be to make union contributions illegal, retrospective to, oh say, 1 Jan 2001 ?
I see that Farage is to stand down and contest his Clacton seat in a by-election and that, as of the time of writing, the Conservatives, Lib Dems, Labour and Restore parties are refusing to contest the election. So it is a farce, and meant to be. It is designed to rob the whole ploy of being seen as a flex of democratic credibility. (Kemi Badenoch has played her hand shrewdly on this, since she realises the Tories have nothing to gain from what Farage is doing. I suspect Burnham and the rest think the same.)
With Farage, the attitude is, “give him enough rope”. Reform is stuck at 25 per cent; it has fought and lost a number of by-elections.
The Tories, in particular, want to see Farage remain in the Commons so that he can be ejected from it, rather than leave as of his own time and choosing. They want to put his head on a spike. There is a level of venom here that goes beyond the usual ideological spats or rows about particular measures. Farage, whether from genuine conviction or less worthy motivations of pique and bitterness and venality, has wanted to destroy the Conservatives, even at the cost of making it easier for Labour to win an election or elections. There is an element of “let it all burn down” with him which I suspect puts him on the same page as some of the more nihilistic types on the Right.
Then again, Farage enrages the more “establishment” types with his bumptiousness, willingness to say out loud what they’re afraid of saying, etc, that speaks ill of his detractors. As I have said in another comment, I do think Farage has a self-destructive streak – maybe that is why, for all their differences, he resembles Boris J too much for my liking – the blithe acceptance of the £5 million and being tetchy about it, the inability to get on with colleagues and run a team (the whole Rupert Lowe thing is bizarre), the fact that he has, in a political career, become a fairly wealthy man. There’s an old saying that goes back to President Truman about how a person who got rich in public life is probably a crook. Maybe harsh but I can see why there’s an issue there.
I have worried about Reform from the start and for all my dislike of the Tories, have never been quite willing to roll the dice on R.
He will, however, be opposed by Count Binface.
Regardless of your political leanings, you would need a heart of stone not to laugh.
JP : Farage, whether from genuine conviction or less worthy motivations of pique and bitterness and venality, has wanted to destroy the Conservatives
A worthy goal.
even at the cost of making it easier for Labour to win an election or elections.
But this seems wrong. I forget the precise dates, but I seem to remember that after he won the Brexit referendum he folded his tent and went home. And only re-emerged when it became clear that the Tories had no intention of actually delivering Brexit, which return forced the terrified Tories to eject Mrs May and instal Boris. And then in the 2019 election, the Brexit Party contested less than half the seats, standing down in all the seats the Tories already held. This seems very poor strategy for destroying the Tory Party.
In 2024, after 5 more years of even more appalling Tory government, Farage returned full throttle. But the Tories were going to lose big anyway, so the only effect was the size of their richly deserved defeat.
So if anything Farage has cut the Tories way too much slack. Old folk like me remember Cameron welshing on his European Constitution referendum promise 20 years ago. Farage spend years and years simply prodding the old Tory horse hoping it would wake up and shake up. He’s only moved on to destroying it now, because it is now clear that it is dead, and rotting.
Gingerdave – I must admit it does look a bit silly. The first by-election will be a farce – not even the Greens are standing.
However, I can understand the desperation of the man – he is being “investigated” by a committee made up of his enemies. The result is predetermined. He will be found “guilty” and there will be a second by-election – with screams of “sleaze” by Sir Ed “Genocide” Davey (perhaps “Sir Ed” will combine a Water Park with an Extermination Camp for Jews – so he can carry out his two interests at the same time, watching the Jews being forced into the gas chambers whilst he, “Sir Ed”, goes down a water slide or uses another attraction) and other such.
I have never voted for a Reform Party candidate – but it is clear that what is happening is a politically motivated witch-hunt.
I personally dont believe Nigel Farage is the impeccable character we need. Our nation state is being rotted away from the inside out. He is taking huge sums of money rightly or wrongly, which is bound to cast an odour around him.
He has politically assassinated several people over the years without integrity or courage.
There may be things I dont know about Lowe and I’m willing to learn given reliable sources. Yet he appears to have far more integrity. He’s made money in his life but to the best of my knowledge, he’s not making any from politics. He’s spoken without fear on several subjects that Farage has described politically impossible.
I think you’ve missed one other possibility. Last election results:
Reform 21225
Cons 12820
Labour 7448
LibDem 2016
Green 1935
The Lab/Lib/Green aren’t standing, so who will they vote for? Probably not Reform.
Based on those numbers, this would need 90% of the Conservatives to vote for not-Farage – but imagine if Binface wins?
Unlikely, I admit. You would need a heart of stone not to laugh.
What is the alternative? It’s Reform or the ‘More of the Same’ party in different guises.
BTW, if Farage and Reform collapse I would not be at all surprised to see Lowe disavow his online headbanger support and join the Tories, acting as a nice big right wing fig leaf for their ambitions.
Gingerdave – it is very unlikely indeed that Count Binface will win, it is far more likely that anti Mr Farage voters will just stay home and wait for the second by-election.
However, if you think Count Binface has a chance of winning – you can get very good odds from the book makers, you could make a fortune.
Marius – Rupert Lowe is very much to the right of Nigel Farage, but then so am I – and (rather to my astonishment) I have not been expelled from the Conservative Party – so perhaps Mr Lowe will be joining the Conservative Party at some point, I just do not know.
As for his “headbanger” supporters – well Carl Benjamin, Connor Tomlinson and so on (the “on line right”) detest the Conservative Party – but I think “headbanger” is unfair.
One can agree with, for example, Liz Truss that real power is with the officials and experts – but that does not alter the brutal fact that the Conservatives did not take power back from them.
Failure is still failure – even if there are mitigating circumstances.
And, as another post on this site points out, that failure (and it was a failure) is something that some (some) Conservatives have not yet fully faced – for example some people still sneer at Liz Truss (and others – such as Jacob Rees-Mogg) rather than listen to what they have to say.
If someone can not accept that they failed – they will never succeed in the future, because they will not learn from their failure.
In case anyone asks “in what are you to the right of Nigel Farage?” – the answer is, in everything, from economic policy, to opposition to Islam (as a philosophical system).
When I hear, for example, Carl Benjamin (Sargon of Akkad) “bang on” about Aristotelian ethics – I do not think “what a head banger”, indeed I think there is some truth in what he has to say, ditto on other subjects.
I remember a former Chairman of the Kettering Conservative Association (who has since resigned from the Conservative Party because he thinks Kemi is too right wing) saying of me “the only reason you are not in Reform, is because you are so right wing they would not have you”.
I suspect that was not meant as a complement – but I took it as one.
Are y’all voting:
– Against liberals?
or
– Against Tories?
or
– For Farage?
or
– For Reform?
To this furriner, it sounds like the right is evenly divided between those four goals.
Hard to score high with four targets.
bobby b
As I have said – I follow the William F. Buckley rule, I vote for the most conservative candidate who-has-a-chance-of-winning.
In Kettering that candidate would be Mr Philip Hollobone.
I have voted for Mr Hollobone in every General Election since 2001, and if I am unfortunate enough to still be alive at the next General Election – I will do so again.
Restore is a more right wing political party than the Conservatives – and I am sure the people at Martin Road (a few hundred yards from me – there is a house in Martin Road with a Restore Party flag – so I assume that is their H.Q. in this town) would urge me to vote for their candidate – whoever that might be, but such a candidate has no chance of winning the seat.
As for the Reform Party in Kettering – I hope they will back Philip Hollobone (the Conservative Party candidate) at the next General Election – some of them say they will, but we shall have to see.
Without engaging in whataboutery, let’s not forget that David Cameron ended up in a rather tawdry gig marketing supply-chain finance for an outfit called Greensill. The demise of that firm played a part in bringing down Credit Suisse, a Swiss bank that was second in market cap only to UBS and which was bought by UBS in a shotgun wedding in 2023. It shook the foundations of Switzerland, a relatively well run jurisdiction, and one I know very well.
So “Call me Dave”, while not doing anything necessarily illegal (steady on, ed.), was someone who should have been more careful about his choice of business friends. And there is of course the way that Tony Blair has made a fortune ($60 million, approx) leveraging his contacts (“leverage” is a word that such folk use a lot, since it makes them sound Wall Streetish and sophisticated) in the Middle East, etc. He uses offshore financial structures, and his wife owns a sackload of property. Now, there is nothing illegal in any of this – as a libertarian, I say well done to anyone who can avoid paying taxes. Avoidance is not wrong; evasion is. But it does come a bit rum from a former Labour PM.
It would take fairly strong self-discipline on Farage’s part not to feel a bit aggrieved at what he sees as this sort of humbug. There is nothing fair about UK politics. And NF should have seen this coming, given the enemies he has made and the way he has attacked so many of those as being part of an establishment. Because if you are going to play that card, you absolutely cannot afford to have a few issues yourself.
Now the Metropolitan Police have announced they are investigating political donations to the Reform Party Member of Parliament – Robert Jenrick.
Robert Jenrick used to be part of the establishment – he was a supporter of David Cameron, but he became disgusted by the failure of the elected government (its lack of real power – real power being with officials and “experts”) and resigned as a minister.
Now the regime (and “regime” is the correct word) is after him.
The regime could not be more crude Johnathan Pearce – if you support establishment policies they do not care what you do financially (or do in any other area of life) – but if you oppose establishment policies, they will try and destroy you.
And without a clear Constitution or a clear Code of Law, the “justice” system (police, prosecutors and courts) easily becomes a tool of political control for the establishment.
Even the United States is not free of this – as, whilst it has a Constitution, it does not have a clear legal code – it has endless vague statutes, and endless legal judgments by judges and other such. which can be used as a weapon against people the establishment does not like.