Martin Jay
Farage went ahead with his new model in the parliamentary system as he had two chief advantages from players on the sidelines, Martin Jay writes.
What are the specific ways Reform threatens established political, media, and financial elites in the UK ? In many ways, Nigel Farage has challenged head-on the established ways political parties operate and has profited enormously from it, but not without the help of the deep state, which has allowed him to get away with skirting the rule book or the established norms. It is hardly mentioned by the UK press, but the very structure of Reform - as a UK limited company - is entirely unprecedented in British history, and many have argued it is illegal under current parliamentary rules. Creating such a set-up comes with the inevitable financial pretext, and so it should come as little surprise that the party, and certainly Farage, has an appetite for monetising the party more than others. Indeed, creating a financial tool that generates huge revenues both for the party and certainly for himself is one of the core differences that sets Reform aside, and so it should hardly be a surprise that Farage is presently facing a very serious allegation of breach of parliamentary rules by accepting a cash payment of five million pounds from a wealthy UK businessman in crypto - who donated the money while Farage was not an MP. Critics of Farage are questioning what the payment was for, as many claim it was an incentive to stand as an MP in Clacton, since immediately after receiving it he announced his candidature. Given Farage's track record of manipulating the truth at the best of times, there is considerable scepticism about how this money was used, as it raises a number of new questions now about how Reform takes cash off billionaires who want payback in return, if or when Farage is in office. The parliamentary watchdog charged with investigating sleaze will want to know how Farage paid cash for his house and whether there are other payments from the same donor, to him or to members of his cabal.
The whole scandal has drawn attention to how Farage has used politics as a cash machine to draw from, going back over twenty years to when it was simply a retired wealthy British businessman called Arron Banks who would fund him and his party. For those who know Farage well, it is money that is the driving force for him to continue his political activities, and it is the same donors who are investing in him becoming PM who pay him the huge sums to stay in the game and go the distance. This is what makes him unique compared to other players, and it is what has so far given Reform an edge in the political sphere, as, until now, there has been an extraordinary contrast in how the political establishment and the media that serve it have treated other politicians compared to Farage when it comes to such venal matters.
Over the distance this has an impact, and makes his claims that the media are out to get him even more preposterous, given that it is journalists who have avoided any real accountability of him and how he handles money.
While mainstream players cannot even receive gifts like glasses (Keir Starmer) without a hue and cry from journalists, to date Farage has been given a green card to gorge himself from the trough of wealthy donors, which has allowed Reform to use money to campaign and lobby and splash out, for example, on whole-page ads in national newspapers like billionaires buying candy in the local store. Reform is cash-rich and can play at being extravagant and also the bully in the political arena where other small parties like the Greens and Liberals cannot.
With the media it is a similar story of manipulating the landscape and its funding.
It is not only that Farage and Reform have been allowed to bend parliamentary rules with their new business model of a party. In the media, there is also something quite tawdry and mysterious going on in how most journalists refuse to look at the graft that is linked to Farage. This in itself is worth hundreds of millions of pounds over a given year and allows Farage to indulge himself even more with his 'coin-operated' approach to politics, extracting the most financial gain he can manage as he offers his services to anyone who has the cash.
With the media, his leverage is deeper than most realise. Farage's ownership of a considerable number of shares in GB News and his generous salary there is only the tip of it. Never before in the long history of Britain has any political leader been allowed to take over a TV channel and allow it to be such an obvious platform for their self-promotion. Not only does Farage get a fat cheque every month from his presenting, but the station itself acts as the best PR deal that money cannot buy. If Farage were to go to one of the PR giants in London and ask for the same coverage, the annual fee that firm would charge would run into several million pounds at least, perhaps even more. Powerful dark forces in the UK, sometimes called the 'deep state' (senior figures in the civil service, police, military, MOD, etc.), have collectively decided that he can bend the rules to this extent and rake the money in at the same time. There are probably parliamentary rules that prevent politicians from doing this, but how would we know if journalists are all united in the decision not to even probe them and report on the subject in general?
But there is another point that most people miss about Farage's unique relationship with journalists. While most journalists like Farage, as he provides much more material than most dull politicians, they are also conscious of his influence over GB News management and so treat him as a media boss and a potential future employer. No other politician in the UK has this power.
The reality is that Farage went ahead with this new model in the parliamentary system as he had two chief advantages from players on the sidelines - the deep state assuring him that the rule book would not be thrown at him, and wealthy donors simultaneously egging him on while stuffing millions of pounds of cash into his pockets. This is the phenomenon of Farage and Reform, and why it has the unique momentum that it has, which has confused many who see it as a tiny party of only a handful of members but one that gets media coverage as if it holds a majority in the House of Commons, and one that is sitting on a pile of cash giving its leader a lifestyle you might compare to a highly paid footballer or mega TV celebrity.