'I won't be cowed': Nigel Farage on death threats, Binface and the fight for Clacton

0:02The Telegraph.

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0:50Parliament is out for summer, and while MPs are sunning themselves in Thailand, we're here in Clacton for a carry-on by-election. We speak to Nigel Farage and the good people of Clacton to find out if the reform leader can beat a bin and a human fish finger. We all know what smokers are like. They do have a tendency to just take the fag out of the mouth, put it on the floor. Are you really the right person to be advocating this campaign? Now, you're going to let us into a little secret. You've got a little system. Let's see it, please. Method. Right. There it is, you see. So you carry your own ashtray?

1:26Yeah. That get heavier and heavier by the day, does it? I can barely walk some days. So there you have it. Nigel Farage keeping Britain tidy one sag bat at a time.

1:48Good morning. Well, this is lovely. Love it. Hello, chap. How are you? Very well, thanks. Really nice to see you in your patch. Really good to be here. It's lovely here. Beautiful day, utterly useless, renewable energy. Can you see? Well, when we came up in the car, I said, that is an eyesore. I'm sorry, I don't want to see that on our shores. No, but look at it. I mean, you say none of them are turning, and therefore it's completely bloody useless. There's 175 of them in front of you. Not a single one turning. But it's OK, because we're saving the planet. I know. Isn't it, Mark? Let Stupid Zero, I believe your colleague calls it.

2:26Something like that, Richard Tice, yeah, he does. Right, let's get Tim and Bertie involved. Have you met the dog? I certainly have. Nigel Farage, we are in your hood. This is exciting. We're on Clacton Pier with you. Now, I'm going to put it to you that this by-election, fighting for your own seat back, is a bit of a Farago, or some might say Farajo. Well, it's real. I mean, there are nearly 80 ,000 people who have got the chance to vote. It's a real election. It's a real election. and they're going to judge me. They're going to judge me on how I've done for the first two years, whether they still want me to be the MP.

3:00It's funny, isn't it? Because Josh Simon stands down as a Labour MP for a highly paid job in Downing Street, calls a by-election, and that's absolutely vital. I call a by-election and the other parties run a mile. Extraordinary. What are local voters saying to you about that? So in the very Tory areas, there is almost incredulity that the Tories aren't standing. Because don't forget, in 2019, Giles Watling, the MP, got 31 ,000 votes, 72 % of the vote. One of the safest Tory seats in the whole of the country. They just can't understand what they haven't got a Tory to vote for. What about Labour voters?

3:38Any sign of those? I can't find any. No, literally, the old Labour vote, the old Labour vote has come to me en masse. Where is Binface? This is the question we're trying to answer. He seems to be running scared. We can't find him. We might be able to interview him remotely next week. I thought this was going to be... Initially, when this all happened, you have to agree that even you didn't quite foresee that other main party candidates would back out, and it could have been you versus the bin. We've now got countless independents in. So has that changed the complexion of it? First of all, on bin face, you can beat bin face, right?

4:14Well, I think Howling Lord Hope. This is his 30th by-election. I mean, he's a veteran, great campaigner. There's no doubt the pubs in Klaxon will do very well because he's here. So I think it's a fair bet that the Monster Raving Loonies will actually beat Bimface. But we'll see on the day. It could be tight. I don't know. No, I was astonished. I mean, I did think... I mean, I knew Labour would struggle to save their deposit here, literally struggle to save it. But I thought the Tories might try and mount a serious campaign. But they haven't. And also, it's quite funny, because for two years in a row, with Essex in control of the County Council, They tried to delay the elections.

4:51They're not standing in this election. But the big one, they don't want a general election. And I find that unbelievable when we've got Burnham in saying he's going to make the biggest changes to politics in 40 years with no mandate. He's quite popular, though, Burnham. There's some new polling out from YouGov suggesting he's the most popular new prime minister since, da-da-da, Theresa May. Well, but that could hamper your chances of becoming the next prime minister if this new guy who I'm nicknaming, admittedly, Eyelash McGraw, is more popular than Nigel Farrow. Well, if you're suggesting to me that he's on the same trajectory as Theresa May, the happy days won't last very long, will they?

5:27And what does it all add up to? I mean, a little giveaway here, a gimmick there. We don't really know what he's all about. And I think the biggest thing of all is the sums just aren't going to add up. They're going to be in real trouble very, very quickly. I don't know, Nigel, a politician quite like you who gets the response that you get in the street. We were just walking here, and I assume this wasn't a set-up. A lady stops you at the traffic lights to say, I've only ever voted once before and it was for you. I love you. Save my country. The flip side of that is you also, of course, get a lot of hate.

5:59Yeah. And you must, in the wake of the killing of Anne Whittacombe, and obviously you've got to be careful what we say because it's an open case. Are you feeling... How do you feel in yourself about your personal security and about your ability to walk freely among the people? Do you know, there are those on the right of the spectrum who broadcast and who write columns, who say things about the left that might be mildly disobliging. But there are lots of people on the left in broadcast and print media who say things about figures on the right that are nothing short of insightful. And this has been going on for a very, very long time.

6:37I've been at the forefront of this now since 2013. I've been attacked more than anybody. I think we looked at my online threats. sort of, I think it was 400 death threats in the last seven weeks or something like that. No, I mean, clearly it's worrying. I mean, obviously what the public see are, you know, milkshake chucked in your face or something like that. The public haven't seen a fraction of the things that have happened to me over the years. And, yeah, I mean, I'm obviously concerned about it. I'm concerned not just for myself. I'm concerned for other senior figures in reform. But you know what?

7:13But if I'm, I mean, look, do you know what I want to do? Walk down that street there. Do you see it? It's packed with people. I want to walk down that street. I want to get people's instinctive reaction. And they can shout abuse at me, and that's fine. I'll have a laugh back with them. But if I'm prevented from walking down that street for fear of being physically attacked instantly, then something in our politics, fundamental, will have been lost. So, you know what, Tim? My answer is I'm not going to be cowed back. I also feel that when a left-wing person is attacked, we very rightly say that is appalling.

7:46They must be memorialised. We must clamp down on this kind of hatred of politics. When a right-wing person is attacked, I feel like everyone goes, it's complicated. Well, you mentioned the death of the ghastly murder of poor Anne. You know, I went two days afterwards, laid a wreath just below Hator. Hator, sorry. And I gave a little speech about her, her remarkable life, how even when you were on the same side as her at times, you could feel the wrath of Anne's opinions. And somehow I was condemned for politicizing the murder, which I absolutely didn't do. Yet, you know, when Joe Cox was murdered, that was all the fault of the Brexiteers.

8:33So we're not having an equal and opposite argument. Especially the next day, John Bercow and other senior politicians went to her constituency. Yes, yes. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, we're not doing things properly. And look, you know, I think women, I certainly grew up in an age when people on the left and on the right would have a really vigorous argument in a pub, but would absolutely respect the right of the other person to have a different point of view. And we're moving away, way, way from that. I talked about media earlier. I think the education system has an awful lot to do with this as well.

9:06So, you know, it is a real problem. And, you know, I'm scared that we're going to finish up in a situation where nobody with small C conservative views will consider going into public life because of the fear. And, I mean, with me, to be honest with you, the absolute final straw is, you know, my daughter's address and house being put on. I'm really sorry, but for a national newspaper to do that is despicable. and there's another member of my family that's actually been hounded by the press and I'm not going to talk about it, it's so awful. Would that happen to Zach Polanski? I don't think it would and nor should it.

9:45You have to find his address because it moves on the river. It moves on the river. There might not be all of the council tax paid necessarily. But, I mean, do you want to invite more and more of this? We've got this by-election, we're going to have to weight the outcome of the investigation into the£5 million donation. in your mind that could lead to a second by-election well well let's just let's just be let's just get a sense of context on this shall we i haven't broken my law i haven't avoided or evaded tax i haven't misused any public money my personal expenses since i became a member of parliament for claxon two years ago are zero i haven't claimed a penny i don't need it i've got outside income i've got business interests i don't need it um what am i guilty of well possibly not filling in a form possibly not filling in a form now my lawyers were clear with me there was no need to some in parliament take a different view so i think you know getting a sense of perspective what i'm supposed to have done wrong is quite important sure absolutely but you're saying that you're in a way the victim of a witch hunt and therefore we could conclude that perhaps the parliamentary standards commissioner will not side with you and there could be a recall petition so i'm just i just want to clarify for our audience because i think they're confused we could have this by-election yeah and then you could end up fighting another by-election in a few months time you're prepared for that because it also of course attracts more attention to you well a time that's difficult for reform mps for all of the reasons you just outlined look let's see what the result is here in a couple of weeks time if i get a thumping endorsement here from the people and they really really try and push and make them vote again i think they i think parliament itself will look very silly.

11:24Sure. Can I also ask you about Clacton itself? Because we've had a lot of debates since Andy Burnham came to power about a north-south divide, and he wants to improve things for all postcodes. And some southerners have said, well, hang on, does that mean we're going to be paying for improvements to the north? Tim and I have discussed quite a lot on the Daily Tea that we think the divide these days is actually between city and town, and more specifically, seaside towns that seem to have been left behind. Now, I must say, I haven't been to Clacton before. We've come here, it's full of life, but there are pockets of deep poverty in this town.

11:55There are difficulties, and there is difficulty for people here to actually find work. What would you do to change that situation if you were Prime Minister? Well, you're right. And, I mean, Butlin's closing down at Jaywick has been a disaster for that area. You know, a couple of thousand good jobs, gone, very difficult to see what replaces it. And, actually, if you look at the big roundabout at the start of town at half past six in the morning, The traffic jams are enormous because it's people driving out of Clacton to go to work in Colchester or Chelmsford or Cambridge or wherever else it may be.

12:28The seaside town has had a very, very tough ride. Many of them, of course, are fishing towns. This one's not, but many of them are fishing towns. And literally our European engagement has just destroyed those industries. is Clacton can thrive, but it has to have good weather and it has to have a lot of tourists. And this year, I think at the minute, the omens are good. The omens are better. So, yes, we've got deep pockets of deprivation. We've also got some extraordinary areas of old money and old wealth. So, look, we have to encourage work. We have to encourage jobs. But if I talk to the traders here in the constituency, running their own little businesses, there were loads of them, loads of them.

13:12They're not taking on youngsters because minimum wage for under 18s has gone up by 28%. The peer behind me, I mean, he was most summers taking on up to a couple of hundred youngsters who'd come and work in the summer holes. That's down to 150 this year. Just one little example of what government's done. So make life easier for business, make life easier for wealth creation, remove some of those barriers would be at least a start. Am I right that it's the anniversary of the pier? 155 years young on Saturday. Will you be performing in any capacity? Well, give me the microphone, I'll cover it. I'm sure I could have a go, you know.

13:50They've been playing your songs, Superman. I could do a bit of Sinatra for them or something. Yeah, 155 years, and there will be, just after dark, a huge fireworks display on the end of the pier, and it's going to be good. It's six and a half acres, that pier. It's six and a half acres, and there's everything on it from temp in bowling to climbing frames to the old-fashioned tuppney machines and it's uh it's it's you know it actually is a really really fun place i'd say this miles of sandy beaches and the weather's rotten piers entertainment pavilions and people come for a day here they love he does politics he does tourism he can sing he can dance well well one of my biggest jobs you know clacton has got a famous mp or an infamous mp or had um until a couple of days ago and one of my big jobs has been to try and put it on the map and say to people give it a go come for a day out you might be surprised but final question then nigel when people say about you listen i mean because you're in your element here i can tell i know you well enough you're out on the campaign stump you're meeting the public you love it you're taking the fight to the establishment you're slagging off Labour and the Tories you know it's all great fun when people say he's a bloody good campaigner but can he actually run anything what is your response to that criticism?

15:09I've built a political party from zero to being the biggest political party in the country with structure, organisation and I've done it as the CEO tell you what that's not a bad track record who's tending all this is beautiful this is all the local council would do it it's stunning remind me who is the council run by whom So it's actually no overall control at the moment. Oh, OK. But it is a local district council, right? Tendering District Council for this peninsula. There were two members of parliament. There's myself and Bernard in the adjoining constituency. And our real worry, and this is absolutely true, is that if local government reorganisation goes ahead, this district council will disappear.

15:49Yeah. We'll be chucked into a big unit tree, an amorphous mass, and the decisions will get made many, many miles away in the interests of big towns and cities. But that would be completely anti-Andy Burnham's devolution agenda. It's the opposite of devolution. And, look, if he wants to have his mayors all over the country, fine. All right? That's fine. But to get rid of district councils will, for rural areas and seaside areas, literally be a disaster. So, therefore, you have a little bit of alliance with the new Prime Minister in that you would like more localism, you would like more local control over local areas, which Telegraph readers will be completely agreeing with you.

16:27They don't want the decisions all contracted out because even a county council doesn't know individual areas within its council. So we have Clacton Town Hall up the road. Everyone knows that's where the planning decisions get made. Everyone knows they're the people in charge of the civic pride of the place. And there is a genuine feeling and connection. And look, no one agrees with everything the local council does, but at least it's there. You can touch it. Yes. And if you move it away to Braintree or whatever, it'll just be awful. Also, crucially, you might have councillors that live a couple of roads down.

16:59You can raise things with them. If it's out of reach in a different area. It is a shocking idea. And the other thing is, why would you break historic councillors up into three, four or five? Yes. Of these just literally amorphous unitaries. It's a dreadful idea. As I say, Mr Burnham will support you on the mares, but please, please rethink all of this. And also, as we look out to the coast, have you ever donned your swing trunks and got into this water here? I have, actually. And? I have, actually. Is it cleave? It's pretty good. Is it? It's rated, I think last year, the beach here was rated the second best in the country.

17:34So, I mean, the beaches here are lovely and they're very chalet. Have you got the lungs for swimming? Just about. Just about. But tragically, tragically, several people this summer already have died. Well, two girls in Essex I've just read this morning. because people are trying to cool off. It's extremely dangerous. And one thing the government have done is they've really slashed Coast Guard. Right. You had a lot of people working for Coast Guard on minimum wage but happy to do it. And they've taken that away. And we're now seeing a very diminished Coast Guard. It's almost like we've got a Labour government made up of urbanites who have no sense or feeling for the countryside or the seaside.

18:15Do you see yourself as an urbanite or a country gent? I've never been an urbanite. No. And I'm from the country. But it's because of your city past, right? People see you suited and booted and kind of like City of London type. Yeah, I mean, of course my career was in the city, but no, no, no, no, no. My heart's always on the seaside or in the country. So, yeah, I'm not an urbanite at all. I'm country. I doubt I'm a gent, though. Do you think now there's a new Prime Minister, there will soon be a general election? And are you ready to fight it? There should be a general election, because I've said already, You can't, without a mandate, put in the biggest change in politics for 40 years.

18:53There's a chance that he gets to a Labour conference, sets out the vision and puts it to the country. But there's equally a chance that he bottles it. And if, since the day you left university, all you've pretty much ever done is be in politics as a career and you finally become the Prime Minister, are you really going to risk it all? I don't think he'll do it I think he should do it but if he did would you be ready? Yes You've got the candidates We have had four days a week parliamentary assessment centres up and down the country going now for several weeks We are preparing everything for a November election if it's to happen Now Nigel, when we were last at a reform press conference you launched your Keep Britain Tidy campaign and Richard Tice was saying how you were going to literally clean up Britain one street at a time and then I suggested well I don't know whether your esteemed leader is up for that because you do smoke quite a lot how many how many fags do you smoke a day do you know far fewer than I used to far fewer what you're on 40 a day now you're on 20 something like that anyway and I said probably in the ballpark all right fair enough and I said well hang on we all know what smokers are like they do have a tendency to just take the fag out of the mouth put it on the floor are you really the right person to be advocating this campaign now you're going to let us into a little secret you've got a little you're a little system let's see it please method right there it is you see what so you carry your own ashtray yeah that get heavier and heavier by the day does it i can barely walk some days so there you have it nigel farage keeping britain tidy one fag bat as a time

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22:22We're in the local Spoons and I'm speaking to, what's your name, sir? John. John. And you have a vote in this election, do you? Yeah, at Frinton. In Frinton? Yeah. And who are you going to be voting for? I'm undecided between bin face and fish finger. So I can tell that Nigel Farage is notable by his absence in that list. Why would you rather vote for a bin or a human fish finger than the leader of the reform party? I think principal, really. What's he calling an election for? You know, we're fed up with elections in this country. He's just had an issue for any, because they're wearing his daughter.

22:57But you're not instantly attracted by the F factor, the Farage factor. He can talk a lot, yeah. You know, if he did what some of the things he did, yeah, maybe they would be good for the country. Yes. I do think some of the things he says are correct, but not all of them. Yeah. But then you don't, if you wanted to continue voting for Conservatives, you can't really, because you don't have a candidate. No. Have they made a mistake there? I don't think they've made a mistake. I think Conservative and Labour have made a mistake. Yes. They're very silly to not help people here. Why are you supporting Nigel Farage in yet another vote when he's already won this seat?

23:36Is this whole by-election a bit of a joke? No, I don't think so. No? Not really, no. What they're doing to him, I don't... You know, in Parliament, what's going on? No, I don't. Do you think he's the victim of a witch hunt of sorts? Definitely. Charlie, what's your view? Yeah, he is. I mean, to be honest, everyone attacks Nigel all the time for everything. Every time he's going to be calm. Reform's always brought up in any argument. Yes. To be honest, this country, unless Nigel gets in, and obviously in a general election, this country's down the pan. So it's between a bin and a fish finger. Where are you coming down, John?

24:20Come on. Well, I think I'd probably go with Binface, because he was first and the other one, the fish fingers are going to split the vote now, and he shouldn't have done it. Can you believe we're talking in these terms about fish fingers and bins? Yeah, the 21st century, innit? Can I just say for the record, I'm from an ice cream family, Tomine City Ices. It's made its way by the way it's made. Often licked, never beaten. I am not under any circumstances having a Mr Whippy. if we're getting an ice cream, we're getting a dairy ice cream, not one that comes out of the machine. Can I just say that now?

24:57We're now joined by John Stevens of the Rejoin EU Party. John, what's it like to take on Nigel Farage in Cacto? Well, I've taken on Nigel Farage before, a long time ago, in Buckingham. I beat him when he was running against the Speaker in 2010. Is that correct? How many votes did you get and how many votes did he get? I can't remember the exact numbers, but I got a thousand or so more than him. Oh, well done. Put him into third place because, well, then I always knew that Nigel was a big danger to anyone who's a very good piece. And I think if it had just been him and Birka, Birka was so unpopular at the time because he'd become Speaker of Labour votes and it was a Conservative seat.

25:40He had a lot of Conservative officers. And I think if it had just been him, he would have gone into Parliament. I was very determined to stop that so I ran against him. Buckingham, very different kind of place. This is the heart and guts of the Brexit rebellion, isn't it? Douglas Oswell getting elected here, Nigel Farage getting elected here. So what kind of reception does someone running on Labour like yours get? Well that's why a pro-European should run here. Because a large number of people now, ten years after the referendum, recognise that Brexit is a mistake. and what I'm doing is asking people if you think Brexit was a mistake tell the man who brought it to you that it wasn't it's a clear vote I mean I never imagined this situation but there's an opportunity now to ask a clear question to the man himself and that's what I'm trying to do because if we get any sort of serious anti-Brexit vote here you'll get it right across the country because of course the other candidates tend to be called clicks like Super Ted, He-Man, there's a small train going past two units.

26:46Their joke cabinet, what's missing is a serious gap. So clearly you're trying to set this up as a binary choice. If Nigel Farage is defined by Brexit then vote for me because I am the clearest. If you think Brexit is a mistake this is your chance to say so. And polling suggests that if Nearly 70 % of people now think Brexit was a mistake. Probably about 30 % of people in Clacton think it was a mistake. But there's a tension, isn't there, between people thinking it was a mistake, maybe a majority now do, and people actually wanting to go back into it. For sure, that's true. Of course that's true.

27:23But nevertheless, the first step towards repairing a mistake is to admit it. And I feel that nations like people, people who've made mistakes, should correct them as soon as possible, because if you don't correct your mistakes, they get worse. But the beginning of correcting a mistake is to recognize that it's been made. And this isn't in a partisan sense of, you know, leavers versus remainers. We've got to get over that. Because actually, the Brexit disaster, as I would say, the referendum, that result was as much the consequence consequence of mistakes made by Remainers as it was mistakes made by Rebels in my head.

28:10Now hang on, there clearly are some dividends because for instance the government's cutting VAT that's something which being outside of the EU allows us to do. Do you not recognize that? Well no, that's not true. One example of something that Brexit's given us the power to do. No, that's not true. You can fix your VAT rates on, I mean for example we have zero rate children's stories and things, children's plays. No, that's not true that the EU doesn't set a standard VAT rate by the boss of the EU. There are different VAT rates in all sorts of EU countries. No, that's not a case. Right. The trade deals?

28:43Well, what trade deals? The trade deals we've had have been pale copies of the ones that we had when we were in the EU. I mean, the essence of trade deals is the power of your market in a negotiated position. The trade deals we've got and not a patch on what we have inside you. You know, they're, what, less than one, half a percent of GDP in terms of benefit. Whereas we've cost, I mean, depending on who you believe, and all these measurements are very uncertain, obviously, but it's somewhere between 4 and 8 percent of GDP. Okay, part of our identity is also our constitution democracy and our jealous safeguarding of sovereignty.

29:24sovereignty. So one might say, one can be a perfectly good European in the sense that we trade, we recognise we have the same culture as those countries. We just think that it's an element of our identity that we take our parliament very seriously and we don't want to share too much of our sovereignty. Well, if we really took our parliament seriously, we wouldn't be having a large part of our politics suggesting that a dustbin can be an MP. I mean, the tragedy is that we don't actually take our politics that seriously. I mean, one of the problems, there is no question that there is a challenge to democracy around the north, in the West particularly.

29:57And this is something that is very worried. And it's particularly true in the United States. And we may know in November whether the United States is a proper democracy. And the links between the MAGA movement in America and reform is one of the things that worry has been most. And the big difference between continental Europe and Britain and America in this context is that the continentals know, East and Western Europe, know that democracies can die. They know what dictatorship really is. They know the warning signs. I'm much more confident about the future of democracy on the continent, remember, than I am in Britain and America, because we believe that, as you've just said, our parliamentary democracy, our sovereignty and all of this, it's beyond question.

30:45That makes you vulnerable. You don't see the dangers. I am staggered by how America, with its constitution, as they're celebrating with, well, not quite 250, I don't know if it's a constitution, but of independence. They're celebrating the separation of powers. They all seem to be breaking down. They really do. And the links between that movement in America, which is anti-democratic, particularly when you get to the backers of it, to high tech, and it's Peter Thiel. They are plugged in completely with Parage's movements and all these people who want to turn us into a cryptocurrency last week. John, this was fascinating, but I just spotted Kamila waving at me.

31:29I think I'm picking chips around. Oh, right. Thank you so much. I really enjoyed the chat. Not at all. Not at all. Tim, we couldn't come to Clacton Pier without going on one of the rides. Of course we could. Oh my gosh, I want to get off. It's tiny. It's tiny and old and terrifying. We could have been on that. I hadn't thought this through. Why are we not on that one over there? Because I don't like heights all that much. Well, neither do I. It's the going down that hits you. No, the going down's better. Right, okay. What if it stops at the top and we're just dangling? At least we're not going to be upside down like those poor people.

32:01We're in Clacton. Yes, we've had a good day here, haven't we? We've spoken to punters. We have, yes. What do you think has been the general mood about the election? I think a degree of disinterest. Yeah Uninterest Yeah Not much interest I mean the people Who are walking around With reform badges on I mean they're They're very keen They know what they're doing They're saying listen They agree with him They agree with Faraj It's Faraj versus The establishment Yes And we're behind him Every step of the way Yes But then the guy In the spoons Who was saying This is ridiculous I'm having to choose Between Faraj Abin And a fish finger I mean you can sympathise With him too right Yeah Like what's this all about Why are we doing it Yeah It does feel like the fag end of the Brexit revolution, doesn't it?

32:45Because this constituency is the heart and the guts of the populist revolution. It all began in 2014 with Douglas Carswell, defected from the Tories to then UKIP, which triggered, he triggered a by-election. He won. And that was really the beginning because that then forced David Cameron to adopt his position on Europe. And it became the basis for the growth of UKIP. so this is really where it all begins and for it to i'm not saying i'm going to say it's going to end i mean farage isn't going to lose but for it to all sort of climax in farage versus a talking bin yeah i don't know what that means a talking bin a fish finger and 31 others yeah the other thing that shone through here is as you say this was a resolutely tory true blue seat okay in the pre-carswell era what was their highest vote share i mean it was just in the 70s it was enormous right and this decision to not stand a candidate which we initially thought oh oh it stopped i think that means it's stopped it's not broken don't worry we can't go around a couple of times more can we just a couple of times more for the film thank you um i think um this once uh absolutely resolutely conservative seat yeah for them not to stand a candidate initially it looked clever because it was then farage versus abin but because there were all the other independents there.

34:08We have spoken to voters down here who wouldn't have minded a Tory to vote for and they haven't been given one. And equally, if Andy Burnham thinks he's so great, if he literally is the next messiah, why hasn't he got a Labour disciple here? Well, I think it's more, that question is more valid for Labour. But for the Tories, you know, in every war, you pick the terrain on which you fight your battle. Yes, this is Farage's terrain. We all know that the Brexit vote, the reform vote is in large part a conservative vote, so you'd be competing to cannibalise a right wing vote. And you're going to get humiliated whatever you do, so probably best to stay out.

34:45We know that he still faces hostility here. As we were filming with him, one woman crashed her car because she tried to call him a word that rhymes with banker but begins with a W. Just send a couple of people out. She won't be doing that again, am I right? So he remains a divisive figure, but let's be perfectly honest, if he can't win again here, where can he? He also has the use of the word banker is appropriate. He has issues with questions around donations, but also questions about how much time he actually spends in the constituency. Although the thing is, he wouldn't even have to visit and people know who he is.

35:22There's no escaping Farage's celebrity status in Galacton. Exactly that. Right, well we're off for some fish and chips, an ice cream, possibly a sick bag at this stage. Yeah, I don't want to think about foods. I don't think anyone's ridden this since it was put up in 1978. I don't think it's been ridden since Farage's entire life. Oh my gosh, I left my stomach somewhere down by the sea. We'll be back on Monday, 5pm.

35:59Thank you.

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