So much for being a man of the people, it’s been a bad year for Farage.
Just over a year ago, Nigel Farage was elected as an MP, after seven successive failed attempts.
The arch Brexiteer was elected as Reform’s Member of Parliament for Clacton, despite repeatedly insisting beforehand that he no longer harboured ambitions for elected office.
It quickly became apparent after his election however, that the interests of Clacton’s residents wouldn’t be a priority for him as he repeatedly jetted off to the U.S. In total, he has made at least eight trips to the US – but not held a single surgery for constituents.
Anti-extremist campaign group Hope not Hate has now compiled a report card on Farage’s first year in office, grading him on a range of factors from voting and speaking in Parliament, to casework and transparency.
When it comes to speaking in Parliament, Hope not Hate says that Farage has spoken fewer times in parliament than any other leader of a British political party with a seat in Westminster. Farage has spoken just 45 times. That compares, for instance, to 226 for Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, 97 for Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey, and 152 and 86 respectively for Green Party co-leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay.
He has been ranked with an F grade for speaking in Parliament.
Farage has also been given an E grade for turning up to vote in Parliament, voting in parliament on 91 occasions. That’s fewer than Ed Davey (111), Carla Denyer (205), Adrian Ramsay (178) – even Kemi Badenoch (92) managed to best him by one vote.
The Reform UK leader has also been notably absent from his constituency, scoring a Grade F for constituency work.
Hope not Hate reports: “In September, Farage announced that he wouldn’t be holding face-to-face surgeries in his Clacton-on-Sea constituency, as MPs are expected to do. Farage explained that the House of Commons Speaker’s Office had advised him not to hold in-person surgeries due to security concerns.
“By early October, however, Farage had backtracked on these comments, after the Press Association reported that the Speaker’s Office hadn’t actually advised Farage against holding in-person surgeries after all.”
And of course, transparency has never been Farage’s strength, scoring a F grade on declaration of interests. For eg, despite admitting that he owns a commercial fishing boat, it has never been declared on his register of interests.
So much for being a man of the people, it’s been a bad year for Farage.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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