Brexit leader Nigel Farage told a packed rally in Clacton on Tuesday night that it was time to combine tradition with radicalism, urging people to respect Britain’s history and culture while saving the country with major reforms.
Eminem took the stage to sing the song, which became the theme song for his election campaign, and addressed his supporters in the audience. Without me Nigel Farage on Tuesday, capitalizing on the lyric “guess who’s back” in an apparent allusion to returning from political retirement, announced a mass defection of local Conservative politicians to his Reform Party. While the comings and goings of local politicians might not normally make national news, several Reform Party candidates and spokespeople recently told Breitbart News that at the heart of the plan is to redirect the party’s current energy into a lasting grassroots organization ready to compete in 2029.
The party has said it wants to persuade more Conservative and Labour local councillors to leave the party once the general election next month has settled, and then win over even more councillors in the local elections in spring 2025.
In the precise populist rhetoric of Nigel Farage, who insists on rejecting the political jargon of the old establishment, this grassroots organisation he is building is his “people’s army”. Addressing a packed theatre which he likened to a Billy Graham revival rally, Farage cited the old UKIP campaigners as one of the reasons for his surprising decision to change course and run again.
Thank you Clacton!
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) June 18, 2024
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage speaks to local residents during a town hall general election campaign event in Clacton-on-Sea, England, Tuesday, June 18, 2024. Brexit architect Nigel Farage’s Reform UK continues to surge, hitting a new record of 14.4% support, while Ed Davey’s Liberal Democrats are at 10.6%, their highest level of the race. Photo by Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Reform UK Party leader Nigel Farage signs a sign after speaking to local residents during a town hall general election campaign event in Clacton-on-Sea, England, Tuesday, June 18, 2024. Brexit architect Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Party continues to surge, hitting a new record of 14.4% support, while Ed Davey’s Liberal Democrats are at 10.6%, their highest level of the campaign. Photo by Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage arrives at the Princess Theatre in Clacton during the general election campaign on Tuesday, June 18, 2024. (Ian West/PA Images via Getty Images)
Farage touted the success of the Brexit campaign in the years leading up to 2016, and the ousting of two British prime ministers, saying: “I was the leader of a movement with millions of supporters who changed the history of Britain. I felt I couldn’t let these people down. I couldn’t let the people down.”
Mr Farage said there was still much to be done, adding: “I will do it and with your help we can change the future of Britain’s history again.”
Mr Farage said coming out of retirement was a “huge commitment” rather than a “short-term commando raid by me”, and told supporters: “What we need to do is establish a bridgehead in Parliament, which we will absolutely do, and then spend the next five years preparing to contest as a party that believes we can win the 2029 general election and get the country back on track. That’s the aim.”
As European politics continue its slow shift from a left-right divide to a new populist-globalist paradigm, Farage also addressed one of the shallow contradictions of the populist position, saying that parties, supporters and policies must blend respect for tradition with a will to change for the better. “I really believe we can be traditional and radical at the same time. We’re traditional because we respect the past…” [but] “When patients are seriously ill, the solution is radical surgery. And our country needs radical surgery – a complete overhaul of how we provide public services.”
The reform leader identified the areas that need the most rapid change, saying, “Yes, we have to get back to smart policing. We have to get back to law and order. We have to get back to educating our kids about the good and the bad of our history. Our institutions are corrupt and they’re not working. Our electoral system is not working.”
Farage’s media team was keen to stress that he may be the only politician in the country who could fill a theatre in such a short space of time. To be sure, the rally was very small by US standards, but organic local rallies of this size have been rare in Britain for decades, thanks in part to the centralisation of power within the major parties.
Farage parks tank on Labour lawn: ‘little man’ campaign against globalistshttps://t.co/pZisVMOSXb
—Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) June 17, 2024
