Nigel Farage’s decision to call a by-election in Clacton-on-Sea is straight out the Donald Trump playbook.
Surrounded by allegations about his financial affairs, he is pre-empting the process of a Parliamentary watchdog over the £5m donation from Christopher Harborne and trigger a forced by-election. Instead, he’s chosen to make his seaside voters his jury, not Parliament.
“This will be a people versus the Establishment by-election. It’s a chance to stick two fingers up to the entire Establishment to frankly tell them where to go, and that is why I will be putting my name forward to stand in this by-election,” Farage said in an angry straight-to-camera statement on Tuesday.
The Sunday Times reported that George Cottrell, a convicted criminal and longtime friend of Farage, funded security and social media staff who worked on Farage’s online content in the year before he became an MP. Under parliamentary rules, new members must declare financial interests and “registrable benefits” received in the 12 months before their election. He is now under further investigation from the Parliamentary standards watchdog. He denies any wrongdoing.
“It seems to me that the Establishment have now decided that they can’t beat us fairly, so chosen to use foul means,” he claimed.
