The Big Story
MR MARMITE OR KINGMAKER? by Maarten Hoffmann
N
igel Farage’s slogan during his 20-year campaign to take the UK out of the European Union was “I want my country back”. The face of Euroscepticism in the UK for getting on for two decades, Farage helped turn UKIP from a fringe force to the third biggest party in UK politics in terms of votes at the 2015 general election, and he helped persuade more than 17 million people to vote to leave the EU.
Few politicians have been more closely identifi ed with the party they lead. Much of that success has been a product of his straight talking, everyman image, a picture editor’s dream when snapped grinning with pint or cigarette (sometimes both) in hand. His “man in the pub” image and disdain for political correctness left him free to attack rivals for being mechanical and overly onmessage. This inspired affection and respect among those who agreed with him on core messages about cutting immigration and leaving the EU and true to his image as an outspoken saloon bar philosopher, he got into plenty of fi ghts. During the general election campaign, one such fi ght was over TV debate comments he made about migrants using the NHS for expensive HIV treatment. They drew an angry rebuke from Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood, who told him: “You ought to be ashamed of yourself.” But despite widespread condemnation from opponents, reports quoted UKIP insiders saying the comments - dubbed “shock and awful” - were part of a carefully planned move to appeal to the party’s base. One senior aide was quoted as saying his remarks would be welcomed by “millions and millions” of working-class voters. So how did a stockbroker’s son become a mouthpiece for the disaffected working class?
Nigel Paul Farage was born on April 3rd 1964 in Kent. His alcoholic father, Guy Oscar Justus Farage, walked out on the family when Nigel was fi ve. Yet this seemed to do little to damage the youngster’s conventional uppermiddle-class upbringing. Nigel attended feepaying Dulwich College, where he developed a love of cricket, rugby and political debate. He decided at the age of 18 not to go to university, entering the City instead.
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At first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win,” speaking - after Mahatma Gandhi - in April 2015 about UKIP’s election chances
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With his gregarious, laddish ways he proved popular among clients and fellow traders on the metals exchange. Farage, who started work just before the “big bang” in the City, earned a more-than-comfortable living, but had another calling - politics. He joined the Conservatives but became disillusioned with the way the party was going under John Major. Like many on the Eurosceptic wing, he was furious when the prime minister signed the Maastricht Treaty, stipulating an “ever-closer union” between European nations. Farage decided to break away, becoming one of the founder members of the UK Independence Party, at that time known as the Anti-Federalist League. In his early 20s, he had the fi rst of several brushes with death, when he was run over by a car in Orpington, Kent, after a night in the pub. He sustained severe injuries and doctors feared he would lose a leg. Grainne Hayes, his nurse, became his fi rst wife. He had two sons with Ms Hayes, both
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