From: www.mattgoodwin.org/p/what-is-faragism-the-five-key-areas, 17 June 2024
The Conservative Party is fully imploding. Electorally, philosophically, ideologically, the party is completely lost. It no longer knows what it is. It no longer knows what it believes. It no longer knows who is voting for it, or why. And it no longer knows where it should head next --after what looks set to be a very heavy, historic defeat.
Into this space has stepped Nigel Farage, whose return has been made possible by the failure of the Conservative Party to be what its name implies. Had the Tories not put mass immigration on steroids, had they not lost control of Britain’s borders, had they not failed to transform levelling-up from a cheap slogan into a serious strategy for the non-London regions, had they not helped the left mainstream woke ideology in public institutions then, put simply, there would be no Nigel Farage.
But what is Faragism? To his critics, Farage is little more than a cheap populist, a single-issue xenophobe, an intellectual lightweight who has no guiding philosophy. Those closest to him, in contrast, say that ever since Brexit he’s been on a political journey —that unlike in the past his time campaigning in America, his time observing the Trump takeover of the Republicans, his time studying the Tory collapse, his time on the international conservative conference circuit, and his time talking with new and younger members of his team have pushed him to broaden out his traditional pro-Brexit message. People around him also say Farage now realises it’s no longer just about the UK; that the West, because of the rise of the radical woke left and radical Islamism, now faces a much more serious and sustained assault on its culture, history, values, and ways of life, and that he is probably the only person in British politics who can play a meaningful role in mobilising a serious pushback against this.
And we saw glimmers of this during Farage’s recent speech, when he declared he was running in the 2024 election. For me, having known him a long time, what was the most interesting aspect of his speech was not Farage’s decision to stand but his acknowledgement that he now needs to do two things he would never have talked about in the past. First, he talks about pulling together a broader coalition of thinkers, campaigners, and activists, some of whom will not have been involved in the Brexit wars at all; and, second, he is talking about passing the baton down to new generations of Millennials and Zoomers who have no memory of the 1980s and 1990s, and who are often motivated by an array of other concerns, from the housing crisis to the imposition of identity politics in the educational and governmental system.
The Farage of old, the Farage of the Brexit era, would simply never have said these things. He was never really open about his limitations nor fully aware of the need to pull a much bigger team together. Which raises the obvious question: if Farage really is on a journey then what is Faragism in 2024? What ideas are driving this revolt? And how does Farage plan on outflanking not just the Tories but the incoming Labour government and both of the big parties, the ‘Uniparty’, in the years ahead?
Well, today, in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, home of the industrial revolution, we got our first glimpse of what this post-Brexit Faragism looks like as Reform launched its ‘Contract With You’. Here's what I think, based on that document, are the five key principles that will drive this growing populist revolt against the establishment in the years ahead—the key dividing lines which Farage wants to embed into the heart of British politics over the next few years. And along with them are my own thoughts about why all of this is significant and different from what we’ve seen in the past …
1. End Mass Immigration. If Brexit defined Faragism in the 2010s, then opposition to mass immigration now defines it in the 2020s. Farage is calling for a freeze on all non-essential immigration into Britain, the immediate detaining and deporting of illegal migrants in the small boats, the immediate deportation of foreign criminals, new visa rules to exclude the relatives of international students from moving to the UK, and a new tax on foreign workers to incentivise British firms to hire British citizens. This will be unpopular in SW1 but much of it will go down well in the 80% of seats where there is majority public support for slashing immigration and bringing mass, uncontrolled, and low-skill migration to an end. Farage is counting on the fact when it comes to mass immigration both left and right are indistinguishable on this issue. New Labour began mass immigration. The Tories put it in steroids. And now Keir Starmer’s Labour Party will sustain it. He is also working on the assumption that in the aftermath of defeat the Tories, egged on by people who have never won elections, like the Tory elite class, will convince themselves to move to the cultural left, accepting mass immigration and leaving an even bigger hole on their right flank. This on its own will give Farage enough space to operate for the next five years, much like his opposition to EU membership gave him unique ownership over an issue in the 2000s and 2010s. But it would also be a mistake to think this revolt is only about mass immigration.
2. Embed National Preference. National populists are not like other parties in that they specifically campaign to prioritise the culture and interests of the majority group against elites who they argue are neglectful, corrupt, and self-serving. They begin and end with the principle of popular sovereignty, that power, authority, and legitimacy reside not with elites but with the people. And they routinely hold a direct rather than liberal conception of democracy, prioritising the majority will —i.e., what the people want on key issues. And Farage is no different. What also runs through this document is an attempt to embed the principle of national preference —the belief the British people should be prioritised above everybody and anything else— into the fabric of British society. What does this look like? Farage is now planning to outflank the Tories by calling to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) so Britain can better control who is coming in and out of the country. He is calling to slash foreign aid by 50%. He wants to scrap remaining EU regulations, abandon the Windsor Framework, and increase defence spending to 2.5% and then 3%. He wants to prioritise local people who have paid into the system for social housing. He wants S George’s and St David’s Day, and English national identity more generally, to be ‘officially promoted and celebrated, not ignored or banned’. He wants to stop EU fishers taking UK quotas. He wants all fish caught in British waters to be landed and processed in the UK and to revitalise the UK’s fishing fleet (which is actually a big issue in many of Reform’s key coastal seats). He wants to stop care homes for the elderly using off-shore trusts to avoid paying tax. He talks about ‘rejecting’ the influence of supranational institutions like the World Economic Forum, the World Health Organisation, and the creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency. And he wants to stop Sharia law, a foreign system, being used in the UK.
3. Target Radical ‘Woke’ Progressivism. Faragism is now going much further than it ever did in the past in opposing a woke ideology that has been embraced or enabled by Labour and the Tories in recent years. This is where he is moving closer in spirit to the US Republicans and Trump and has clearly been influenced by events in America. He wants to mandate single sex spaces, scrap Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) roles in policing, end ‘woke’ two-tier policing, and de-politicise the college of policing. He wants to fully replace the 2010 Equalities Act, including ‘DEI rules that have lowered standards and reduced productivity’. He wants to change the definition of ‘hate crimes’, arguing it leads to systemic bias. He wants a comprehensive ‘free speech bill’ to stop ‘left-wing bias’ and political correctness. He wants a more ‘patriotic’ curriculum, ensuring ‘any teaching about a period or example of British or European imperialism or slavery must be paired with the teaching of a non-European occurrence of the same to ensure balance’. He wants to ban transgender ideology in primary and secondary schools. And he wants to cut funding to universities that undermine free speech, all of which goes further than the Tories. Unless the Tories become willing to venture into what they wrongly dismiss as ‘culture wars’ but which deeply concerns many people out there in the country then all of this, too, will be a big open goal for Nigel Farage and Reform.
4. Oppose the Luxury Belief Class. The Luxury Belief Class advocate ideas or opinions that confer status on the ruling elite at little cost to them but which inflict greater costs on workers and the lower classes. Farage is now targeting this growing tension between the elites and masses by campaigning much more proactively against ideas that are advocated by the ruling class and which often lie fully outside the Overton Window in Westminster and London. He wants to scrap Net Zero and environmental energy levies. He wants to scrap HS2. He wants to ban ULEZ Clean Air Zones and Low Traffic Neighbourhoods. He wants to remove climate-related farming subsidies. He wants to replace Civil Service leaders with people from the private sector, who will be less at risk of political indoctrination and bias. He wants to unlock Britain’s vast oil and gas reserves. He wants to deport grooming gang members who hold dual citizenship. He wants to give mandatory life sentences to violent repeat offenders. He wants to scrap the BBC license fee and reform the ‘institutionally biased’ BBC. He wants to upend higher education by forcing universities to provide two-year degrees. He wants to remove VAT on private education. He wants to withdraw benefits for people who refuse to accept a job after two offers. And he wants to embed pro-family policies into the heart of the political system, including greater tax relief for married couples, front-loading the benefit system to give parents the choice to spend more time with their children, and promote child friendly app restricted smartphones. Few frontline Conservative or Labour politicians would ever advocate these policies which is exactly the point; by staying focused on opposing ideas that are championed by the Luxury Belief Class Farage, again, has much more room to play with. He is gambling these policies will appeal to voters who are fed up of a national conversation that too often is built around the values and voice of an elite minority at the expense of the wider forgotten majority.
5. Promote Fiscal Conservatism. Shaped by his past, Farage firmly opposes the new, post-Brexit economic consensus which has delivered a big state, big tax, big debt, big spending, low growth, and low productivity. He wants to appeal directly to the workers and small business people who are at the heart of his revolt by lifting the income tax threshold to £20,000. He wants the Bank of England to stop paying interest to commercial banks on QE reserves. He wants government departments to be forced to slash spending on bureaucracy and unelected quangos. He wants to cut stamp duty to 0% below £750,000 and abolish inheritance tax for estates under £2 million. He wants to appeal directly to small businesses by lifting the minimum profit threshold to £100,000, reducing the corporation tax rate from 25% to 20% and then 15% after three years. And he wants to lift the VAT threshold to £150,000, abolish business rates for high-street based small businesses, cut entrepreneurs’ tax to 5%, and reform the tax system. Do all the numbers add up? I’m not sure. Will all of this appeal over the longer-term to working-class voters in the Red Wall? I’m not sure. But to be honest at this stage of his growing revolt this doesn’t matter. What Farage is trying to do, clearly, is appeal directly to all those disillusioned Tories who have watched their party preside over what many of them would consider to be a social democratic rather than conservative consensus, who instead want to see a low-tax, anti-regulation, pro-business, pro-growth alternative. All Farage has to do is keep making this case over and over again to establish clear turquoise water between himself and the Tories. Adapting these messages to appeal much more strongly to disillusioned Labour voters after the election will need to be on his agenda, particularly given the lack of attention to the role of globalisation, large-scale corporations, and crony capitalism.
Put all this together and you begin to see the guiding framework for Faragism. A movement that is no longer built around Brexit but opposition to mass immigration, which is now linked to a larger cluster of issues, from the housing crisis to Britain’s stagnant economy. A movement that is much more focused than Farage ever was in the past on promoting the principles of national preference and popular sovereignty, and attacking the spread of radical woke progressivism within the institutions. A movement that is openly populist, in proclaiming to speak on behalf of the masses against a Luxury Belief Class which it argues has fully lost touch with much of the rest of the country, advocating ideas and beliefs that might go down well in SW1 and London but which are increasingly alienating Labour, Tory, and None of the Above voters. And a movement that, economically, is offering a genuine alternative to the big party consensus around having a high tax, high spend, high debt, big state.
These are the key dividing lines that separate Faragism from the big parties and they are the lines he is now hoping will help to not only maintain his revolt in the national polls but also attract a much broader and durable coalition of voters for the future.
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