Emily Maitlis
Journalist, broadcaster and host of the podcast The News Agents
Nigel Farage wasn’t exactly standing in front of a field of wheat in this morning’s video pastorale. But he might as well have been. There were Theresa May vibes coming off him as he talked. An admission from a broken man that he was “disappointed”.
Speaking directly to both the camera and Restore voters – as if it were a new incarnation of those Cameo birthday greetings he used to sell – Farage begged to know why they had abandoned his Reform UK party with a plaintive, pitiful “what do you WANT” as he urged them to “think again”.
Look, maybe they simply muddled his party with the newer, nastier version. It’s not like they haven’t already followed Farage through three other iterations of the Ukip name. But maybe Makerfield voters are thinking again. And they’re not coming up with the same answer they did even six weeks ago.
