Nigel Farage has slated rival political leaders for saying they will not field candidates in the upcoming Clacton by-election and said he was being portrayed as if he was “a war criminal”.
In an exclusive interview with GB News, Farage denied that a by-election was unnecessary: “It’s not a waste of money, because I’ve already said whatever the cost of this by-election, we as a party will cover the cost. I’ve written to Rachel Reeves already and said that won’t cost the taxpayer a single penny. So that’s for a start.
“Secondly, it seems that the media and political classes want to paint me out to be like a war criminal, as if everything I’ve ever done is wrong, is bent, is corrupt. I don’t get a chance to properly answer it. I don’t see why I should be judged by them.
“We’ll ask the people here what they think, and if they give me a big endorsement, that sends a big message to the establishment. Both political parties and media, frankly, are not talking about the same things the country is talking about. These last two weeks, never-ending stories about me and Reform.
“Why aren’t we talking about the boats crossing the English Channel? Why aren’t we talking about debt mounting in our country? Why aren’t we talking about rising unemployment? It’s almost as if all of this is a massive distraction for the real problems the country faces.
“I’ve done nothing wrong at all. I’ve broken no laws. I haven’t evaded tax. I haven’t done anything wrong at all. I believe I’m completely within the spirit of the rules. I mean, part of the problem, of course, is those that would be judging will be political opponents, and that is an issue.”
Asked why he could not wait for the conclusion to the parliamentary investigation, he said: “Because otherwise, this could go on for month after month after month of constantly being made out to the public to be some bad dude. Let the people decide.”
On the £5 million gift, he said: “I wasn’t in politics, it had nothing to do with anybody else whatsoever.
“It seems that every single private detail of my life has been accessed illegally and is being put into the public domain. I think it’s unfair. My even my family are being harassed, my daughter’s being harassed by people. I think the whole thing is monstrous.
“If, and I say if, because it’s up to people, we get a resounding big vote victory here, it sticks two fingers up to the establishment.”
He denied that it was embarrassing to be up against Count Binface: “No. In 2019, the Conservatives got 31,000 votes here. What do they do now? They try to stop the Essex County Council elections from going ahead.
“They don’t want a general election, despite a new prime minister, and now they won’t put a candidate up here. I’d say that says a lot more about them than it does about me.”
He added: “It’s an election. Andy Burnham might call an election. I don’t think he will, but he might. No, they are running away from the battle because they know they would be annihilated. It’s as simple as that. And frankly, it’s a bit of an insult to the people in the constituency that they don’t want to stand.
“to vote, or not to vote is a choice. If you want to, you can ignore the whole thing. I sense people will use the opportunity, because if we don’t vote for this, we’re never going to get change, and that’s the point. Our party is a challenge to the establishment. We want genuine change in the country. We’ve got the whole place is going down the drain, frankly, in lots of different ways, and that’s why you’ve got this mass pile on from the entire establishment against me.
“They would love to force me out of the game, they would love to do that, they’d love the whole summer to have free open rein against me, whilst a committee decides whether I’ve broken the rules or not. I haven’t broken the law, that is for certain, absolutely for certain. So, no, I think this is an opportunity for people here to stand up and say something.”
Asked if he was worried about Burnham, Farage said: “No, I’m not. And, funny enough, I was just looking at the figures this morning. Since he became mayor, homelessness in Manchester has tripled, and individual earnings are down by more than most of the rest of the country, so no, I’m not in the least bit worried about Mr Burnham.
“I’m saying to people, well, there are a whole bunch of local issues and national issues. One of the local issues is just houses being built, more and more houses, traffic getting worse and worse and worse, and I think people feel very put upon with that.
“The other big issue in Clacton itself is London boroughs renting properties, even buying properties, chucking people into Clacton, a lot of whom are not particularly good for the community, if I’m being honest, and pushing up the price of rents. That’s really tough for people, tough for an MP to sort out, but it’s really, really tough for people, and nationally.
“Look, last week, a boat dropped a load of illegal migrants on a beach about three miles away from where we are. So, there are lots of local and national issues that I will be campaigning on, and hopefully we can start to have a debate about some of the things in the country that really, really matter.”