Former Olympic swimmer Johnny Weismüller played Tarzan of the Apes in twelve film adaptations (the first dating back to 1932) of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ iconic novel. In one of the episodes of the franchise, a young British aristocrat (Lord Greystoke) travels to Africa with his pregnant wife on a mission from the British crown to investigate how another European colonial power (he refers to Belgium) is enslaving the black population. . The English, of course, are the good guys in the film.
In the jungle of British politics, the character of Tarzan corresponds to Nigel Farage, historical leader of Euroscepticism and the extreme right in this country, who was instrumental in Cameron’s call for the Brexit referendum almost eight years ago, and therefore of the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union. That he has failed in seven attempts to win a seat as a deputy is the least important thing. He has a case to be seen as the most influential British politician of the last decade.
Farage has just played a kind of modern Tarzan in the English version of reality television The Jungle of the Famous, which he has used as a platform for his return to the political and media spotlight after a period of relative obscurity, since he supported Boris Johnson to win the 2019 elections and make a hard Brexit a reality. During this time he has presented a program on the GB News channel (the British Fox), and has been the honorary president of the far-right Reform UK party.
But the change of electoral cycle that is approaching, with the probable arrival of Labor to power, is too juicy an opportunity for it to waste. Immigration is not the main concern of the majority of voters (it is in third place after the cost of living and healthcare), but it is of an important bloc, working class and socially conservative, mainly from the north of England (the so-called “red wall”), which gave a decisive push to Brexit and he knows how to handle it.
If Farage were to take charge of Reform UK as a true executive leader instead of just an honorary president, dedicated to exploiting xenophobic sentiments on the part of his compatriots as in the Brexit campaign, the far-right formation (polls now give him between a 8% and 11% of votes) could do a lot of damage to the Tories. He would surely not win any seats because of the electoral system, or at most a couple, but he would steal votes from the Conservatives to the point that he would lead to a landslide for Labor, with a majority of more than two hundred seats.
Is that what Farage, who is at heart an ultra Tory, wants? Maybe yes, if he has become bored with life as a television presenter and reality show contestant, and if his great ambition – as is speculated – is to eventually take over the leadership of the Conservative Party to, from the opposition and taking advantage of racist tendencies in vogue, turning it into the British version of Vox, the Brothers of Italy, the German AfD or Marine Le Pen’s National Rally.
His current block of followers, like those in favor of leaving Europe, are people of a certain age, which limits their radius of electoral action. Apart from making money (one and a half million euros), his objective in going to the Australian jungle to eat camel hooves, sheep vagina, kangaroo anus and fish eyes was to approach the much younger audience of that type. of programs and put a stake in Flanders.
At the moment, Reform UK lacks the infrastructure for a full-fledged campaign, but patrons who gave money in the referendum to leave Europe could give it to Farage so that he can field candidates in the majority of constituencies and make a big deal, a lot of money. , to the Tories. In the recent Tamworth by-election, votes stolen from the Conservatives gave the seat to Labour, a pattern that could be repeated in many places in the north of the country.
Farage’s popularity among right-wing voters is much higher than that of Rishi Sunak, the current prime minister, and 70% say they would like him to return to active politics. One in nine people who supported Johnson in 2019 assures that next year they would support the far-right leader, neck and neck with Donald Trump. 37% of Tories would be willing to give their ballot to Reform UK if it is their leader.
Without Farage there would not have been the Brexit consultation, nor would the United Kingdom have left the EU and experienced the chaos of the last seven years. He believes the upcoming election will be another referendum, this time on immigration. And in that movie, he wants to be some kind of xenophobic Tarzan.
