Britain’s Conservative Party Needs To Be Replaced, Nigel Farage Says

‘It now serves no purpose,’ says the leader of the campaign for Brexit.

AP/Francisco Seco
Nigel Farage at Brussels, January 29, 2020. AP/Francisco Seco

“The Conservative Party as we’ve always known it, is now dead” — so says Nigel Farage, commenting on the cashiering of the chancellor of the exchequer, Kwasi Kwarteng, replaced by an arch-Remainer, Jeremy Hunt. OUT, “the best Conservative budget since 1986.” IN, a budget reversing most tax cuts and the hope of economic growth.

“There is no point to this Conservative Party,” Mr. Farage argues. “It might have existed for 200 years. It now serves no purpose. It needs desperately to be replaced.”

And all this, before Wednesday’s resignation of (Brexiteer) Home Secretary Suella Braverman, succeeded by (Remainer) Grant Shapps. Has the hope of ending the European Human Rights Commission stranglehold over UK legislation been binned?

Any has any success in ending illegal immigration in the English Channel and rationalization immigration in favor of domestic employment been scuppered? Will even the smallest bits of the Brexit agenda be junked for the Establishment status quo?

Calling this a “Globalist and Remainer coup” against Prime Minister Liz Truss, Nigel Farage repeated his prescription to his GB News colleague Dan Wootton: “The Conservative Party of the small state and entrepreneurship is now dead and needs to be replaced.”

Asked by Mr. Wootton if “there has to be some sort of revolution on the right of British politics,” were he “prepared to return to frontline politics?” Mr. Farage was humble about his prospects. “I absolutely could not do that on my own,” he confessed. “It would need several major figures to recognize that the Conservative Party is dead.

“My message to all of those people who genuinely believe in a small state, in free market capitalism, in looking after the concept of the nation,” the founder of the Brexit/Reform parties continued — calling on all those turned off by the low-grade careerism of center-ground social democrats — is “to have the courage and the vision to rise above it, and if we can get a gang together of people, we can make this happen.

“On his own, ‘Nigel Farage’ could fight a very, very brave rearguard action,” he confessed, but “we need more than that.” Singular action would get the movement only so far. “If there are others out there who want to work with me, who have got that vision, then it can be done.”

Yet former Cabinet minister Ann Widdecombe, while sympathetic to disgust with the Tory party, raises an objection: “History tells us that new parties in this country do not survive.”

She reasons that while Tories’ supporters may openly consider a third party option in the abstract, when push comes to shove at a general election, they will continue to support the Conservatives, if only to keep the Labor Party out of office.

What, though, if Labor assuming power is a foregone conclusion? If the Conservative Party is going down to defeat, what danger, then, of contemplating an alternative — a replacement, even?

Commentators cite the UK election results of 1997, when the Tories were trounced by Tony Blair’s New Labor: 418 to 165. But what if the more apt example comes from the Northern Dominion?

Canada, that is, in 1993, when the Progressive Conservative Party was reduced to a rump of two seats in Parliament. Can such happen in the United Kingdom?

One recent survey, by the Opinium poll, conducted on behalf of the Trades Union Congress, shows Labor, much like in 1997, winning 411 seats, with the Conservatives losing 219 seats for a remainder of 137.

Yet one pollster predicts a Canadian-like fate for the Tories. According to this scenario, Labor picks up 515 seats, the Liberal-Democrats 47, Scottish Nationals 42, and the Conservatives a mere 22 constituencies.

The question for Conservative voters then, is simple. If the Party is down for the count, why not go out with a bang instead of a whimper? Why not support a true party of conservative principle, of “maximal liberty and minimal government”? Hearken to the optimism of Mr. Farage: “For the first time ever, there is the opportunity — not just for a political insurgence — to create something completely fresh and brand new.”

BrexitDiarist@gmail.com


The New York Sun

© 2024 The New York Sun Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The material on this site is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used.

The New York Sun

Sign in or  Create a free account

or
By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use