BBC political editor Chris Mason eyes pretty much glazed over while he spoke about Nigel Farage on the broadcaster. It looks like the concerning way the BBC has boosted the far right demagogue over many years is only intensifying:
Chris Mason, “Nigel Farage is a man who is a master of political storytelling”
“Never before have we seen a man as rich, with a megaphone as large, so willing to get stuck into politics abroad here in the UK”
“Little wonder Nigel Farage’s domestic political rivals are fretting… pic.twitter.com/6MsxBFRImq
— Farrukh (@implausibleblog) December 17, 2024
Nigel Farage: a ‘master’ of prejudice, not politics
Mason said:
Nigel Farage is a man who is a master of political storytelling… Little wonder Nigel Farage’s domestic political rivals are fretting frankly
The BBC has relentlessly platformed Farage over the years, a peddler of xenophobic material. On Question Time, Farage is the highest frequency guest by some number – at 35 appearances. Recent polls showing Reform within a few percentage points of Labour and the Conservatives demonstrates that such media platforming coupled with Keir Starmer’s woeful performance so far has had a major impact.
One of Farage’s key moments was the racist ‘Breaking Point’ poster during the Brexit referendum campaign in 2016. He stood before this just a few days before a far right terrorist murdered pro-refugee MP Jo Cox. The poster resembled Nazi propaganda:
If Nigel Farage wants to talk about incitement remember that 8 years ago Farage unveiled his racist Breaking Point poster.
Then hours later Jo Cox was murdered by a far right lunatic incited by rhetoric like Farage spewed. pic.twitter.com/BCHzb9w6bz
— Socialist Opera Singer (@OperaSocialist) July 14, 2024
Former general secretary of Unison Dave Prentis said at the time:
This is scaremongering in its most extreme and vile form. [Farage has] descended into the gutter with their latest attempt to frighten working people.
To pretend that migration to the UK is only about people who are not white is to peddle the racism that has no place in a modern, caring society.
Reform: no answers
It’s not just scaremongering that characterises Farage and his party. In a clue that Reform would do nothing about the housing crisis, their new treasurer is billionaire property developer Nick Candy. This is a man who has made a fortune off the artificially and financially inflated housing market. Reform MP Richard Tice is also heavily invested in property and the commercialisation of the housing essential.
From 1995 to 2020, the ‘value’ of UK housing wealth increased from £1 trillion to £5.7 trillion. What’s ridiculous is that banks create new money to fund large mortgages that, in turn, inflate the price of housing. The creation of new money is centred on debt to private institutions. Are people from Reform who are making large sums from such a set up the people to change it? That seems unlikely.
It’s worth noting that the Labour chancellor and prime minister are both landlords, renting out their homes, which have dramatically increased in value over the years.
What’s clear is that the BBC presenting Farage as some kind of alternative is not only void of fact, but as the dehumanising poster from the referendum shows, it’s dangerous.
Featured image via implausibleblog – X
By James Wright
This post was originally published on Canary.