Brexit Party is turning into the Lib Dems

The Brexit party policy launch kicked off to the tune of Kanye West’s “Power”. While many people might not naturally associate rap with Nigel Farage it’s a good pump-up tune, and Kanye’s prominent support of Donald Trump also adds to the fit. Still one wonders if it was a mistake, or a sly joke, that as “Power” played for the second time and Farage stood up to speak the iconic line, sampled from King Crimson, “21st century schizoid man” blared out before the song cut out.

Unusually for a Nigel Farage event that was one of the few touches of humour to the proceedings.  Farage was in unusually disciplined form declaring “This is not a manifesto” as he touted the Brexit Party’s “Contract With The People”. While he could not resist the sly revelation the term manifesto had been avoided as word association tests suggested people associated it with “lies” he also insisted this was something different. This was the start of a “political revolution.

Unlike with some parties, the Liberal Democrats, there were no illusions that it would be able to form a government. The aim wasn’t to win this election but to start a long campaign to push its fringe ideas into the mainstream (like UKIP did before).

However, in Farage’s pitch to voters the Brexit party came across as curiously similar to the Liberal Democrats in many ways-perhaps an evil twin from a mirror dimension. When Farage argued the people had lost faith in a sclerotic political system biased towards existing interests and there had to be a “political revolution” to change this he seemed to be invoking Corbyn. However, in the concrete proposals made were startlingly similar to various long held Liberal Democrat positions-a proportional voting system, House of Lords and honours system reform, a written constitution, and referendums on any proposal that garners 5 million signatures.

This strange political convergence is of course the result of the invidious position that all minor political parties in Britain find themselves in. When locked out of power the injustices of the current parliamentary system are all too manifest. This classically liberal set of positions was given a Faragist spin and turned against a mix of Brexiteer targets that the country’s liberals cheer so loudly.

To stop their referendum proposal immediately resulting in the second referendum they’ve been fighting tooth and nail Farage clarified that once a referendum had occurred the subject could only be revisited in the same way after ten years. House of Lords reform likely seems so pressing as it represents a final hurdle able to delay Brexit. The written constitution was to put some form of proper limit on what he currently condemned as a “political Supreme Court”, a sinister phrase if there ever was one. Similarly, civil servants should be required to sign a pledge of political neutrality. The BBC should be phased out as a public institution by cancelling the license fee.

Of course, Farage admitted none of these proposals would happen any time soon. The Brexit party had no chance of forming a government, and neither Labour nor the Conservatives have any incentive to change a system that suits them so well. Instead, these promises represented a long-term political commitment with the Brexit Party campaigning to create public pressure for change.

For this the Brexit party would need to a least somewhat popular political force, and given its current miserable polling this looks none too likely. Still Farage tried to put a brave face on things. Again like the Liberal Democrats, Farage was keen to tackle charges that the Brexit party was splitting the vote on their side the political argument.

As is if the Brexit party’s polls persist their insistence that they’re not splitting the vote is all too true. However, pretending that the Brexit party was still a potent political force Farage argued only the Brexit party could win Labour Leavers who would never be able to bring themselves to vote Conservative. As such if anything the Brexit party was helping the Conservatives by digging into the Labour vote in key marginals. Meanwhile, Conservative Leavers in Labour heartlands would do well to vote for the Brexit party giving a core of MPs able to keep Boris Johnson honest in his dealings.

What the Brexit party would strive to be keeping Johnson honest on is unclear. One area he mentioned was immigration where he argued that while the Conservatives proposed points system was far better than Labour’s position it failed to impose a cap on numbers. Here Farage proposed limiting numbers to 50,000 with some flexibility allowed through work permits.

However, on the vital issue of the Brexit deal itself Farage temporised. Having overplayed his hand when he seemed to insist anything other than WTO terms was utter treachery and looked ready to savage Johnson’s deal Farage is now insisting that Johnson’s touted Canada+++ deal represents a “clean break Brexit” as well. The key was no regulatory alignment and no foreign courts like the European Court of Justice. Of course, the fact that the Canada deal included the non-national Investment Court System and good deal of regulatory alignment was skated over.

But then managing to sublimely skate over contradictions has always been Farage’s forte. Who else would to jam together Labour “revolution”, Lib Dem constitutional reform, and a Tory Brexit and try to take credit for inventing all them?

“This is not a manifesto” declared Farage as he brandished the Brexit Party’s manifesto, reminiscent of the surrealist René Magritte’s declaration “Ceci n’est pas une pipe”.

Sparking political revolution by “heightening the contradictions” of the system has long been a tactic of certain left-wing revolutionaries. However, only Farage has had the political genius to try spark a revolution by contradicting himself. Power seems very far away indeed for this 21st century schizoid man.