Farage’s VIP lane

And his two-faced response to Epstein...

Nigel Farage has spent the past couple of days talking about one of his favourite subjects: beer.

While the nation has been aghast at the revolting camaraderie between Peter Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein, the Reform leader has been trying to flog his latest tawdry bribe to British voters – promising to reduce the price of a pint by 5p.

The cost of this measure – and Reform’s other pledges to support the pub industry – is expected to hit £5.6 billion (not the £3 billion originally claimed by Reform).

And how does Farage intend to pay for it? Reintroducing the two-child benefit cap, which pushed at least 350,000 kids into poverty and apparently didn’t save the Treasury any money.

Welcome to maths according to Reform, where 1 plus 1 equals whatever number suits Nigel Farage that week.

This policy epitomises Farage’s duplicitous working-class charade. He’s offering a virtually non-existent discount on beer in exchange for rampant child poverty, while parading around as the people’s champion.

And the pantomime doesn’t end there. I’m convinced that Farage is pictured so often with a beer in hand when he’s out campaigning because he can’t stand to interact with the British public without the influence of alcohol.

We all know who Farage really is: a snob. A privately educated former City trader who spends his evenings in Mayfair clubs – he’s a member of 5 Hertford Street – and his weekends (increasingly) in Dubai.

And Reform is being moulded in his image.

I know it’s a point that has often been made, but Farage and his mates are dripping in money – a fact that has only been emphasised in recent weeks following the new defections from the Conservative Party.

Just take Zia Yusuf, the man in charge of drafting Reform’s policy agenda. He also went to a posh London private school, worked for Goldman Sachs, and then co-founded a luxury concierge company that he eventually sold for £233 million.

Yusuf has spent his entire career surrounded by the richest people in the world, and now wants to cut £400 billion (yes, billion) from public services. But apparently he can promise 5p off a pint and he’s reborn – at least in the minds of some media outlets – as a patron saint of the poor.

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Accumulating property is a key marker of the super-rich, and Reform politicians have amassed a formidable property empire.

Recent Reform recruit Nadhim Zahawi – who chairs the board of an “ultra-luxury” Dubai property developer – had a “sprawling” £100 million portfolio back in 2022. The party’s treasurer Nick Candy is a luxury property mogul who owns an 18,000 sq-ft apartment in One Hyde Park, Knightsbridge – the most expensive flat in London, listed at £175 million.

Robert Jenrick’s wealth pales in comparison to these riches, but to any normal person he’s offensively affluent. He reportedly used to be nicknamed the “Four Houses Secretary”, while serving in the Cabinet, due to his real estate holdings, which apparently include two London properties – a £2.5 million Westminster townhouse among them – and a Grade I-listed manor in Herefordshire.

And let’s not forget Farage’s second-in-command, Richard Tice, who has openly admitted to being born with a silver spoon in his mouth, having profited from the inheritance of his maternal grandfather, Bernard Sunley, a property developer. Tice was made a director of the Sunley Group at the tender age of 29.

These politicians say that making money shouldn’t be frowned upon and that society should reward merit. What they really mean is we should protect the already wealthy. They have no interest in incubating the next generation of working-class pioneers and innovators who may – god forbid – introduce some regional accents into their boarding school fraternity. Their meritocracy is one in which the winners have already been selected, and should be lavished accordingly.

And what about Nigel? Well, Farage seems to share Boris Johnson’s infatuation with money. His annual income stands at over £1 million, while his property portfolio extends to three houses in Kent and one he rents out in Surrey. You can see why he has a chip on his shoulder (sarcasm intended).

This also hints at why Farage and his chums haven’t been hammering the Epstein scandal with their usual glee.

Namely, they’re implicated in the sordid, cosy elitism that underpins the Epstein affair.

As Farage mentioned in his press conference yesterday, he’s mentioned 37 times in the Epstein Files, largely due to their mutual association with far-right strategist Steve Bannon.

The files show an assortment of morally vacant politicians and businessmen clamouring for the affirmation of a sexual predator because they revered his connections, power, and money. They were willing to overlook his abuses, his lewd comments, and obscene typos, to gain access to his bank account and contacts book.

This is a world – and the form of politics – to which Farage is familiar.

In fact, don’t just take my word for it: Farage even admitted on LBC last year that, if he’d been of a different generation, he too would have probably come into direct contact with Epstein.

“Had I been 10 years older, I would have done, because they were the circles,” he said.

That’s why Reform has hammered Mandelson in recent days but has been careful of its statements about Epstein himself – because Farage knows he shouldn’t be throwing stones while living in a glass house (or houses, in Farage’s case).

However, even on the subject of Mandelson, the irony is thick. Farage ridicules Starmer for appointing the “Prince of Darkness” as U.S. ambassador, yet the Reform leader has spent the past decade campaigning for Donald Trump, a man who openly fraternised with Epstein and now appears intent on burying the truth.

Ultimately, this is what happens when money eclipses morality. And, if Farage wins the next election, British voters will see just how quickly morality can be jettisoned when it comes into competition with cash, privilege, and ruthless self-interest.

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