Farage attacks 'chameleon' Burnham
As the new Labour leader said he would not try to out-Reform Reform
Nigel Farage did not look a man under pressure as he granted Liz Truss something she could never hope to conjure herself — a crowd.
For the past two days, the former UK prime minister has attempted to recreate the US right-wing blockbuster event that is the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in the UK.
But CPAC-GB, like Truss’s record-short-lived premiership, has been nothing short of a failure.
The first two days of the three-day conference have involved lacklustre speakers speaking to a sea of empty seats. The last time I was at this venue was for the 2023 Ukraine Recovery Conference. The room was packed to such capacity, standing against the walls was the only option for those who were late, and the phone reception was so throttled, not even a basic SMS could be sent across the room.
But at CPAC-GB on Friday, the vibe was such that one man fell asleep and snored loudly through a panel about free speech being supposedly suppressed in the UK.
Truss herself spoke to rows and rows of empty seats, a humiliation for anyone who occupied Number 10. Her saving grace was Farage, who closed out day two with an ebullient performance, wishing he could welcome the overseas visitors to Great Britain. Alas, the country was no longer Great but broken, so went the punchline.
Farage has reached a delicate position in his political journey. Faced with questions and a parliamentary investigation into the undeclared and unexplained £5 million donation made to him by an offshore crypto investor, he spat the dummy and tried to set up a byelection in which he would face off against the ‘establishment.’
But he was outfoxed. None of the other parties said they would field a candidate in the unnecessary byelection in Clacton, Reform’s safest seat, leaving Farage to run against the comedian Jon Harvey, who poses as Count Binface and runs in every election against the prime minister, in a perennial joke.
It’s an uncomfortable and unfamiliar dynamic for Farage. Railing against the establishment — he’s the pro. But against a joke candidate in a joke byelection? Suddenly, Farage becomes the punchline, and if there’s one thing he doesn’t cope well with, it’s mockery.
Even Rachel Reeves, the humourless outgoing Chancellor, managed a free kick as she formally approved the byelection.
‘I will accept Nigel Farage's request to be appointed Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead. It is a farce and a desperate distraction, and the people of Clacton deserve better. But if he wants to spend the summer arguing with a bin, I won't stop him,’ she said.
No one expects Binface to win, but the British sense of humour is not something to underestimate either; this is the country that voted to name a polar research vessel Boaty McBoatface, after all.
But Farage appeared unconcerned by all this as he addressed CPAC-GB on Friday afternoon. Speaking mostly without a script and walking around on the stage, it was a reminder of the power of his communication style.
He landed some decent blows on Andy Burnham, who officially became leader of the Labour Party hours earlier, warning that taxes would rise, possibly crashing the property market.
‘I watched his acceptance speech earlier on today. I have to say I find the whole thing utterly vacuous. He is the great chameleon of British politics, capable of being all things to all people', Farage said.
On this Farage is right. Burnham’s agenda-free and detail-lite ascension has been accompanied by heavy doses of political projection. He cannot possibly please the soft-left of the Labor party, yet cut government spending, fund services better, reduce the cost of living and raise defence investment simultaneously. But too many are playing pick-and-mix politics and believe all this could be accomplished, and more, just because Burnham smiles a bit more than Keir Starmer ever did.
Equally valid was Farage’s point about Burnham having no major public record on immigration.
‘On immigration, he’s never shown the slightest concern about what’s going on and of course, do we think Andy Burnham will take us out of the ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights), so we’re back fully in control of our borders? Not a hope in hell,’ Farage said.
This could be a flashpoint in Labour, which was largely revolted by Starmer’s tough line and Reform-style rhetoric, particularly his warning that Britain risked becoming an ‘island of strangers.’
Cost of living is by far the dominant issue but immigration remains high. However, dealing with the first would ease some anxieties about the second.
Across town, accepting the Labour leadership, Burnham addressed this head-on.
‘As your leader, I will set a direction that is distinctively Labour. We won’t try to out-Green the Greens or out-Reform Reform, or doing what we’ve done in the past of wearing too many Tory clothes,’ he said.
Burnham began to articulate some driving ideology.
‘Britain took a series of wrong turns in the 1980s. Political power was centralised and economic power was privatised,’ he said.
‘If we have don’t have sufficient public control over the cost of the essentials, how can we have control over inflation, public spending and the rest of the economy?
‘The Government I lead will confidently lay that path out starting next week – and that is why this change today is the most significant change moment in our politics for 40 years.
‘It will take us to a country where life is more affordable and all people and places are lifted from where they are now.’
But again, all vibes no detail, it is hardly radical to oppose Thatcherism in the Labour party, but to what end. What gets undone, remade, and most critically how do the sums add up?
Burnham also said he had not yet decided on his Cabinet. This is beginning to look like a politically dangerous trait of indecision.
Especially given that last week Burnham’s factional ally Louise Haigh, told the BBC: ‘He has been thinking about this and certainly planning for this, for this moment, for at least the last year.’
Planning what exactly beyond satiating his ambition? How can a prime minister-in-plotting know for a year that he thought he could do a better job than the man the country elected, go to the massive step of orchestrating a coup against a sitting Labour prime minister and not have his dream team sorted out and two or three radically different policies ready for them to execute?
Farage’s least compelling attack was his demand for a General Election now, bemoaning that Burnham had no mandate whatsoever.
The latter might be true but nobody wants an election, just a government that will actually start fixing the country and kickstart the economy.
But having wrested the prime ministership, Burnham and Labour are under pressure to deliver results fast.
Burnham’s happy, smiley nature and communication skills might revitalise the gloomy Labour base, but will only go so far with the public. And this time it’s do or die.
Something Burnham at least seems to recognise.
‘Let’s be honest, everybody. This is a last chance to change, and we must take it together, united together,’ he said.
He becomes Prime Minister on Monday.