The very party that has spent the summer endorsing the mass colouring in of roundabouts and the St Georgification (real word, honest) of lampposts is now under the microscope for alleged Russian bribery.
Close Nigel Farage pal, former UKIP MEP, Brexit Party bigwig and Reform UK leader of Wales, Nathan Gill, has been jailed for ten and a half years.
Gill, as you may know, pleaded guilty to eight counts of bribery after taking around £40,000 in payments between 2018 and 2019. As reported by the Crown Prosecution Service:
“[Gill] took the money in exchange for tabling motions, delivering speeches, and facilitating media access for individuals linked to a pro-Russian party.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Farage has admitted that he is “shocked” by these “shameful activities.” But if that shock is real, why has he not called for a thorough and immediate public investigation?
Was Gill acting alone? Did he have assistance?
How did this occur within multiple political parties and organisations without anyone else noticing, or at least becoming suspicious?
With close personal and professional links going back many years, it is hard not to wonder whether Farage is either highly incompetent with no awareness at all (which we know is not the case), or worried that others might become implicated and further tarnish the great British corporate takeover he seems so eager to oversee.
The public is beginning to respond. A recent poll carried out by YouGov found that 28 percent of respondents believe Reform is pro-Russia, compared with 13 percent who think it is anti-Russia. Yet 59 percent remain uncertain.
Questions about Reform’s relationship with Russia come alongside renewed scrutiny of Farage’s own past. For example, a 2013 Michael Crick documentary for Channel 4 has appeared in the news again this week. It stems from a letter written by a former English teacher at the elite Dulwich College, which shows them pleading with staff to prevent a younger Farage from taking up a post as prefect. The concerns came from reports by staff and multiple pupils about racist language used repeatedly by Farage towards students of colour, and, disgustingly, an incident involving a Jewish student where Farage suggested a certain dictator “was right” before imitating the sound of leaking gas.
Ultimately, people will make up their own minds, even as the media and opposition parties continue unearthing more and more dirt on each other in an attempt to nudge the public in whatever direction suits them best. It’s becoming a never-ending merry-go-round of lies, smears, briefings and backstabbing. We can’t stop it, so we have to navigate it with integrity and do our best to stay well-informed.
With so much misinformation around, Majority Movement remains unique. We provide a safe place for political debate and political education, along with book groups, a writing group, a climate action group, an economics group, an anti-racism group, a film club and a professional candidate-training programme.
In a political landscape where so many politicians seem intent on trying to out-British each other, while punching down on the vulnerable, it matters more than ever that spaces like ours exist where people can think clearly, argue honestly and begin to build something new from the ground up.