A popular maxim on the American right is that politics is downstream from culture. In the UK, it increasingly feels like politics is simply downstream from the US. With Reform UK ascendant in the polls, Nigel Farage – officially MP for Clacton, unofficially Donald Trump’s emissary to the UK – is setting the terms of the national conversation, and he is importing them directly from across the pond.
Over the past few months, Reform has sought to launch “Doge” initiatives (referencing Elon Musk’s department of government efficiency), waged war on DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) employment schemes, and called for the UK government to embrace crypto and create a bitcoin digital reserve at the Bank of England, following Trump’s lead. It seems the Brexiteers were right: Britain doesn’t make anything any more – not even its own bogeymen.
