When parliament returns from its summer recess on Monday, Keir Starmer should not be surprised to find Nigel Farage camped out at the dispatch box. While Starmer has taken the traditional time off, the Reform UK leader has been in overdrive, from holding seven (increasingly chaotic) press conferences to featuring in glossy profiles in the broadsheets and adorning a further 22 front pages. Throughout it all, Farage has had the air of a conman seeing how long he can get away with playing at prime minister before anyone notices.
That this hasn’t needed to involve any actual governing has suited the I’m a Celeb alumnus perfectly. Rightwing populism breeds on complaints rather than cabinet meetings, with Reform enjoying the media coverage of a major player and the lack of scrutiny of a nonentity. The impact of this has been staggering: concern over immigration – already seen by the public as the most important issue facing Britain – has shot up eight percentage points since July, according to Ipsos. And that’s before any bounce from Reform’s party conference this week.
