One of Us?

God help me, I think I'm beginning to become acclimatised to these plus thirty temperatures.  I've found this latest bout far easier to live with than the previous two.  Of course, the wider question is just how acclimatised to Nigel Farage's grift the voters of Clacton have become.  Because that seems to be the main plank of his campaign for re-election in a self-inflicted and entirely unnecessary by-election: 'What's the world coming to when a man can't accept the odd five million quid here and there without having to account for it?  It's bloody outrageous!'  A bold platform to campaign on - I mean, I'm sure that many, many people in Clacton can identify with his dilemma.  But while the whole business seems to be sliding into farce - with the main parties refusing to play Fartage's game and not running candidates, it looks like he'll be spending the campaign debating a man with a bin on his head - there is, obviously, a fundamental principle at stake here: the accountability of elected representatives.  It's clear that Reform UK doesn't subscribe to the idea that if you are elected to office, then you are held to a higher standard and that all of your conduct, particularly your financial affairs, are up for scrutiny.  At least, they don't accept that such standards apply to them - they seem more than happy, though, to try and call members of other parties to account for alleged transgressions. 

Farage can wriggle around at claim that, technically, he wasn't an MP when he accepted that five million so it didn't have to be declared, but the fact is that he is an MP now and bearing in mind his interest in promoting dodgy crypto-schemes, (lobbying the Bank of England not to impose restrictions on transactions, even), the fact that he accepted this sum from a crypto-currency billionaire is a matter of legitimate public interest.  Trying to avoid accountability in the matter by resigning and forcing a by-election so that he can try and turn the whole issue into one of 'The Establishment vs The Little Guy', is so transparently dishonest that surely nobody is fooled.  But then again, part of his success has been based around selling himself to voters as 'one of them' - despite the fact that, even before that five million quid - he was a very wealthy individual from a privileged background - he's a public school boy - with a prior career in the city.  But this time, he may have overstepped in this regard: 'ordinary' people don't get cash gifts of that kind.  Moreover, he won't be up against 'The Establishment' in this by-election - he'll be up against Count Binface, who could be heading for a record share of the vote in a by-election.  It'll certainly be more than the ninety five votes he got at the Makerfield by-election.   It's all pointless, anyway.  If Farage wins and resumes his position as MP for Clacton, then the Standards Committee investigation into the five million will simply resume and could result in another by-election being forced upon the voters of Clacton.