This latest Farage scandal won't change anything when his supporters don't care
William Mata laments the lack of accountability as Reform looks to weather another storm
Nick Kyrgios banned from tennis for doing cocaine. Argentine president demands the Falkland Islands. Reform suspends officials filmed plotting to get around electoral rules.
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Today’s news of Nigel Farage’s top advisors finding ways around accepting foreign donations is the latest of headlines that should be shocking at face value.
And yet most will greet it only by an eye roll. As unethical as it was for Farage to be filmed celebrating the success of an opinion poll paid for by an unregistered foreign source, it’s behaviour that his supporters are well accustomed to.
This is a man who earns £2m a year in addition to his base salary as an MP, working for Direct Bullion gold investments, Elon Musk’s X, contributing to GB News, and sending greeting videos to order on Cameo.
By March, he had spoken in Parliament 43 times in nearly two years, compared to the 134 of fellow party leader Ed Davey and 216 of Jeremy Corbyn.
Only last month he took part in a by-election having resigned from Parliament amid allegations he did not declare donations from convicted criminal George Cottrell and an investigation into an undeclared donation from cryptocurrency investor Christopher Harborne.
If Reform voters were truly bothered about the right wing party’s’ financial accountability they would have ceased to be relevant long ago.
Kyrgios will return to tennis. Britain will state the Falklands’ sovereignty is non-negotiable. Reform’s place in the opinion polls (ones they have commissioned, or otherwise) will not dramatically change.
While Reform should be punished for any electoral rule breaking, the only meaningful difference that could be made after this development is if Farage is forced to stand down or becomes, as has been reported, burned out from apparent strain at being challenged and held to account.
Or maybe he will decide his time will be better spent making (even more) money.
A Reform without Farage will present voters with a party indistinguishable from the early 2020s Conservative front bench, and hardly an affront to the "establishment" Farage is so keen to challenge.
But if a team of investigators really wants to bring Farage down with hidden cameras, they would be better off destroying his personal brand.
Show him asking a punter to not smoke near him. Film him secretly drinking lemonade, after ordering beer. Get a soundbite of him agreeing that immigrants do, you know, make a positive difference to the UK.
The most significantly damaging story to Farage in recent memory was not other parties refusing to contest the Clacton by-election, but the discovery that an image of him watching the 2026 World Cup in the pub (with the lads) was a photo actually taken in 2024.
Maybe that’s the style of journalism required in these weird times.
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William Mata is a writer and SEO editor for LBC.
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