R U S S E L L ✨

Laura Kuenssberg, "You did once say there is a Nigel Farage in every country, do you gave a reflection on how his style of politics has had a lot of success?" Michel Barnier, "We have our own Farage, Le Pen: the same populism, the same lies, the same false promises. We have to be careful" Laura Kuenssberg, "So there are lies and false promises from Nigel Farage?" Michel Barnier, "Yes it's clear" Laura Kuenssberg, "On which issue?" Michel Barnier, "Farage and Johnson promised the UK people to get £350m a week, it was not true, it was a lie" Laura Kuenssberg, "How does the EU feel about dealing with Nigel Farage" Michel Barnier, "I don't know what could happen in British domestic politics, it will be the choice of the UK people" My view: Electoral success does not turn false promises into facts. The question is why politicians who sell simple answers to complicated problems keep being judged on their ability to attract support, rather than whether their promises withstand scrutiny. Barnier’s example needs one distinction: the £350 million slogan belonged to Johnson’s Vote Leave campaign. Farage called it a mistake the morning after the referendum. The claim was misleading because it ignored Britain’s rebate and money returning from the EU. Accuracy matters when challenging misinformation. But the wider question remains: where is the accountability for what Brexit’s leading advocates promised, and what Britain actually got? Winning the argument at the ballot box should increase the scrutiny of those promises, not bring it to an end. Barnier also recognises that Britain’s political future belongs to British voters. Respecting that sovereignty includes our right to scrutinise Brexit, challenge its champions and choose a different direction.

Left: Nigel Farage lays a wreath at the Cenotaph for Remembrance Day Right: One of the 34 boys at Dulwich college accusing Nigel Farage of racism, Peter Ettedgui, "Farage repeatedly coming up to me and knowing that I am Jewish saying 'Hitler was right' and 'gas them' which was frequently followed by a hissing sound of escaping gas" My view: Something is deeply broken in our democracy when allegations of repeated racist and antisemitic abuse can remain unresolved while the politician accused takes his place among those representing the nation at the Cenotaph. Peter Ettedgui alleges that Nigel Farage repeatedly targeted him with antisemitic taunts invoking Hitler and the gas chambers. Farage denies the allegations. But political prominence should bring greater scrutiny and accountability, rather than allowing questions of this gravity to fade into the background. If Ettedgui’s account is true, the contradiction is appalling: someone who allegedly mocked the victims of Nazism now publicly honours those who fought against it. The passage of time cannot, by itself, resolve that contradiction. Remembering the fallen must mean carrying their lessons into our politics. When we honour the fight against fascism while treating allegations of antisemitic hatred as an inconvenience, we risk reducing remembrance to a ceremony whose moral meaning we refuse to uphold.