Nigel Farage, just back from America where he attended Donald Trump’s underwhelming celebrations of the US’s 250th anniversary of independence, is clearly following the president’s playbook. When asked awkward questions, you deflect, divert, distract and cry foul. The Reform UK leader’s announcement that he will resign as an MP and force a by-election in his Clacton constituency, in which he will stand as a candidate, is a diversionary tactic in response to legitimate questions about his finances. It is a stunt that shows he still knows how to attract attention. He did his best to present himself as a martyr, paying the price for his courageous stand against the establishment. And he is quite right that no one should have to put up with death threats, or threats of physical violence – which include having milkshake thrown over him. It is an appalling indictment of our society that people who seek to take part in democratic service should feel threatened in this way. But to put the people of Clacton through an unnecessary by-election in order to deflect attention is self-serving and weak. The question that Mr Farage failed once again to answer in his statement today was why he believes that he has obeyed parliamentary rules on the disclosure of donations. He accepted a gift of £5m from Christopher Harborne, the Thailand-based crypto billionaire, when he was not intending to become an MP, but within 12 months of his election, in which period any donations that could “reasonably be thought by others” to be related to “political activities” have to be declared. Given that Mr Farage himself said that he thought the gift was a “reward” for devoting his life to campaigning to leave the European Union – that is, his “political activities” – it is baffling that he should have thought he was following the rules by keeping it secret. The same question needs to be asked about the weekend’s revelation of further donations in cash or in kind from George Cottrell, the colourful 32-year-old known as “Posh George” who has been at his side for most of the past decade. Instead of asking himself what a reasonable person might make of his conduct, Mr Farage seems to have convinced himself that he is the wronged party. “I have never been angrier in my life,” he said. Yet he has not been open about his finances and looks as if he is trying to deflect questions intended to hold the rich and powerful to account.Some of his complaints are justified, others are not. He should know that many aspects of public life seem unfair, and that as Prince Harry has found out, complaints about the costs of being a public figure do not always meet the threshold set by the law. Hence his deployment of Trumpian tactics, his refusal to admit error and his accusation that those asking reasonable questions about rules designed to protect the integrity of democracy are out to get him. “The establishment have now decided that they can’t beat us fairly, so they’ve chosen to use foul means,” he said. These wilder accusations are not in his best interest. However tactical his tirade may have been, he has shown himself to be temperamental, unable to stay focused on what matters to his party and to the country. He has undoubtedly changed British politics from outside parliament, but has yet to show the skill and judgement needed to assemble a competent government and for him to be a successful prime minister. The Trump playbook may be enough to keep his core supporters on board, but there are many features of American politics that cannot be easily transplanted over here, and we firmly believe that Mr Farage’s by-election stunt suggests that he is not the serious politician he so desperately claims to be.