Nigel Farage is the showman of British politics - but there are questions over his motivation for calling by-election, writes Andrew Marr
Nigel Paul Farage is the great showman of British politics and today unveiled a new show, the great Clacton-on-Sea by-election summer extravaganza.
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Roll up, roll up, to see the people of Britain take on the monstrous, hydra-headed, mean-spirited establishment.
Gasp as Nigel upends the editor of The Times newspaper. Cheer as he thrashes Tory Tweedledum and Labour Tweedledee.
Well...perhaps I'm exaggerating a little, but only a little. Mr Farage has learned, I think, from the politics-changing drama of Andy Burnham's Makerfield by-election triumph last month.
After so long under attack over his finances and his friends, he's decided to change the story, out himself as a proudly wealthy man, à la Donald Trump, and then perhaps resume Reform's upward trajectory after recent months when they have plateaued.
If Andy can reshape politics in a by-election, he calculates, well then, why not Nigel?
The difference is that Burnham took a genuine, personal high-stakes risk by standing in Makerfield - lots of clever people thought Reform would beat him.
In Clacton, however, Farage won over 46% of the vote almost exactly 2 years ago, with the Tories down at 28% and nobody else anywhere.
So it doesn't feel like a very perilous contest, particularly, as Farage reminded us today, after the absolute battering that Reform gave both Labour and Conservatives in the May local elections.
Will the extravaganza be truly exciting or a bit of a damp squib? I don't think Farage's motivation was primarily to avoid Parliamentary scrutiny of his finances because that can restart when he returns.
And just sometimes it's worth taking people at their word. Certainly listening to their tone: he sounded to me to be genuinely furious about finding his daughter drawn into political scrutiny:
When the first announcement came that Farage was going to make a statement about his future in public life there was, of course, a lot of speculation that he was simply going to leave it - and he did mention the possibility of simply decamping to the United States.
But the showman is still a showman and for all his irritation and his sense of persecution, he clearly hasn't lost his taste for the sawdust and the trumpets.
Andrew Marr is an author, journalist and presenter for LBC.LBC Opinion provides a platform for diverse opinions on current affairs and matters of public interest.
The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official LBC position.
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