Media Falls For Farage's By-Election Stunt; It Won't Save Him Though

Right, so Nigel Farage has resigned as MP for Clacton.Except, of course, he’s standing again.Well nice try sunshine, but you’re kidding nobody.What he’s doing here, at the expense of all of us, because by-elections cost a mint in and of themselves, is trying to replace one question with another. Instead of "Did you break the rules?" he wants the conversation to become "Can he still win Clacton?" They're not the same thing, it’s just the latest grift.Farage is trying to turn an investigation into victimisation and thinks he can sell that from the soapbox. He’s not leaving politics. He’s not stepping away. He’s not saying, “Right, let the process run, let the watchdog do its job, let’s get to the bottom of this.”No, no. He’s saying: let’s have a by-election.Why?Because if he wins Clacton again, he gets to say, “the people have cleared me.”But they haven’t.A by-election doesn’t clear you of failing to declare gifts. It doesn’t clear you of questions over homes, money, donors, crypto cash, or alleged undeclared support your sidekick and chief cigarette break organiser Posh George AKA George Cottrell, a literal convicted fraudster. It just means enough people voted for you.That’s not a standards investigation. That’s a popularity contest, though just how popular you are in Clacton when you’re never bloody there remains to be seen.