Farage is the epitome of the establishment: a privileged upbringing, private education, and a City career that made him millions.
I’ve often wondered why so many people—especially working-class voters—get drawn into his orbit when he’s such an obvious fraud.
I suppose his carefully crafted image of perpetual victimhood, delivered over a pint of beer, resonates with people who genuinely feel ignored and left behind. They hear what he says and, quite understandably, want to believe that someone is finally speaking for them. The problem is that once you peel back the veneer, it’s clear that Farage is not a “man of the people” at all. He’s backed by many of the same elites he claims to be fighting.
Of course, he also says plenty that appeals to racists, although I’d like to think they represent only a minority of Reform’s voting base. I suspect the largest group of Farage supporters are decent, frustrated people who have simply had enough of a political system that has consistently failed them. They see him as a wrecking ball for a broken establishment. If you’re one of those people, I’d simply ask you to remember the promises that he made about BREXIT.
I’m political, but these days I don’t have a party of choice. I was once a Conservative voter and an elected second tier politician – I won three elections—but when Boris Johnson came to power, I became fully acquainted with the stench of corruption and chose to stand down at the end of my term.
However, one thing my experience taught me is that the old cliché isn’t true: they are not all the same. I worked alongside many decent, hardworking people from different political backgrounds who genuinely wanted to make things better.
British politics is broken—that’s something I can agree on with many Reform voters. But I’ve come to the conclusion that I’d take any mainstream party over the rancid shithousery of Reform UK.
Your vote does count.
Use it wisely. Vote tactically.
PS
There is another Farage sect who are so far down the Reform rabbit hole that if Farage shat in their hands, they’d still clap him to the rafters. In psychological terms this is labelled “cognitive dissonance” and there is, alas, little that will shift their dial. Even the truth fails miserably.
© Ian Kirke 2026
@ iankirke.bsky.social
Title image: Google images (creative commons licences)