Nige's response shows he can dish it out but he can't take it

Could it be that, like most narcissists, Nigel Farage is actually a bit thin-skinned? Surely not! Not our Fearless Nige! The man who is never happier than when he can cast himself as the outsider - a lone voice speaking truth to power.

- John Crace

When he can control the narrative. A saviour rising from these streets. The politician who only knows he's alive when the cameras are rolling. That's the character Farage wants you to believe in.

So you would have thought that Nige would have been thrilled by Keir Starmer's speech to the Labour party conference on Tuesday. A whole hour pretty much devoted to him. The recognition that he was now the real leader of the opposition. The hostility only underlining his sense of importance. That he was now living rent-free in Starmer's head. That he had the government precisely where he wanted it. Let the campaign for the next general election start now.

Only it didn't quite play out like that. Instead, Nige looked rattled. Angry even. Trying to look prime ministerial in front of a couple of flags as he gave his response on social media, but merely looking slightly unhinged. Confused that Starmer had somehow deviated from Nige's own script. That Keir had drawn a line in the sand between what was and what wasn't racist, between decency and division, and had found Farage to be on the wrong side of it.