After all the larks at PMQs, and several re-runs of the best lines, I really hate to do it so soon, I really do, but I feel a reminder is in order.
Just to give you some idea of what I’m talking about, here is a rundown from Count Binface himself of his mentions at PMQs, along with guffawing MPs who are very pleased with their own wit:
And here is Ed Davey reliving the best line of his political career:
Out of reams and reams of columns all effectively saying the same thing – much as they did in the runup to the Brexit referendum – James Marriott in The Times is the only columnist I have seen casting any doubt on the whole Clacton run-off. Though his concern is more the enforced fun and allergy to seriousness that has become institutionalised British whimsy.
Nobody has yet – at least, nobody who isn’t already a fully paid up Reform supporter – addressed the elephant in the room. Leave aside the credibility of Farage setting his sideshow up as the people vs the establishment and quite which side he sits on, there certainly is a political establishment. As Danny Finkelstein rightly pointed out:
The country definitely has an establishment and — not quite the same thing — an elite. And like all groups (Clacton voters, fans of Zia Yusuf, Swifties, accountants, lion tamers) the establishment and elites are self-seeking, live in a bubble and are prone to error.
These errors can be systematic and consequential. An important example, as I have argued for years, has been insouciance about mass immigration. So pitching a political party against establishment error is potent, and asserting that the elite is often blind to interests other than its own is merely a statement of fact.
He also rightly points out, ‘Farage’s argument goes beyond this. What he and Reform are arguing is for immunity from normal accountability and standard institutional scrutiny.’ However, it is moot when Farage’s framing of the matter is being frequently and happily reinforced by the very political establishment he purports to stand against. On and on they line up to deliver their zingers and laugh their self-satisfied laughs, united against the buffoon they are convinced has cooked his own goose and will shortly be defeated by a man with a bin on his head.
Which brings me, once again, to my repost. I’m sorry to do it so soon, truly. But it bears repeating, particularly right now. The mainstream need to stop for everybody’s sake. Stop their jokes, stop the zingers, stop the smug self-satisfaction. Let the thing run its course, quietly and without intervention. If it is as unserious as they say (and I think it is), it is best ignored altogether.
Sadly, the interventions of the political mainstream simply lend credibility to Farage’s framing, and we all know how well their interventions turned out for them during the Brexit referendum! But they are so arrogant that they cannot conceive that people might be more inclined to their position if they weren’t so quick to smugly intervene in the way they have been.
The mainstream parties need to remember that voting in areas like Clacton is not really about whether anybody thinks Nigel Farage is part of the establishment or not; it is entirely about sticking one in the eye to the mainstream and their supporters who have allowed the political systems of the country to so badly fail them. Many are no more lovers of Reform than the mainstream parties, but the more the mainstream insist they fall in line, well, you can imagine where that will end up. If you can’t imagine, read my re-blogged post below.
I agree, it was best ignored altogether. The whole point of not putting candidates up was surely to starve the bye-election ofmedia interest. Yet they seem keen to do so. A Count Bin face win is also perhaps the worst result for the main parties
The problem is, they can’t help themselves. And they seem to have no sense that their ‘help’ is detrimental to themselves.