Farage’s dodgy dealings are finally pushing him to brink

On 3 June 2024, Nigel Farage announced that his retirement from politics was over, reversing a decision to stay out of the coming election which he had confirmed just a week earlier.

- David Aaronovitch, The Independent

One person caught out by Farage’s decision was the Maga YouTuber Steven Crowder, whose interview with Farage had been recorded days earlier during Farage’s period of self-demobilisation, but was only transmitted after his reversal.

On Crowder’s programme Farage had told the vlogger how happy he was with his life as a GB News presenter (estimated to bring in £400k a year), lobbyist, columnist, reality TV star and online monetiser. “There's no money in politics, no money... if you're straight”, he told Crowder, but now, “for the first time in 30 years, right, I'm earning good money. I'm enjoying life”.

So what happened to change his mind, to persuade him to ease the perpetually bewildered-looking Richard Tice from the leadership of Reform and to stand as candidate for one of the poorest, oldest, least educated and most welfare-dependent constituencies in England? It could have been a sudden flash of conscience. How could he keep out of this most consequential election and allow his party to be led to political oblivion by the tedious Tice? Or it could have been a £5m secret personal gift from the Thai-based crypto billionaire, Christopher Harborne, which must certainly be said to have represented “good money”.