A Christian Reform UK councillor has told Premier Christian News that Nigel Farage’s victory in the Clacton by-election shows he has been “honest and transparent with the public” amid scrutiny about donations.
Stephen Reed, deputy leader at Derbyshire County Council, said it showed the party’s leader was “popular” and “on track” having won nearly 64% of the vote. Farage increased his vote total by around 1,000 compared with the general election, although no major parties took part. Count Binface, the nearest challenger, won 27% of the vote.
Farage believed the result “speaks for itself”, having called it a “people versus the establishment” election, where constituents could decide whether he acted improperly over gifts received without being declared before becoming an MP.
Voters ‘the ultimate judge’
Speaking as a parliamentary investigation re-opened, the councillor said that a “witch-hunt” against Farage would continue despite the “cowardice” of Westminster parties in not contesting the election.
Reed added: “Nigel said: 'Enough's enough. I'm not going to be tried in a theatrical theatre of media and politicians. Let the people decide.' And that's what's happening. He's taking it to the people who are the ultimate judge.
“At the end of the day, whether it's this investigation or another one, because they want to take Nigel out, they will find something else, and there will be investigation after investigation, probe after probe, and committee after committee to try and find something on him. And Nigel’s conducted himself above board, and he's been honest and transparent with the public. So, what more can you ask for? It's better than Keir Starmer hiding the [Peter] Mandelson investigation.
“I think there’s one thing in politics that we as Christians sometimes do. We put our politicians on a pedestal next to Jesus Christ and expect him to have exactly the same characteristics. We actually have to look at that and say our politicians are human. None of them are ever going to be perfect. But I look at Nigel, and he’s an honest man. He’s been transparent with people. He's also a private family man, and when it starts to cross over that line from his public life to his family life, he does draw a line, and this is where this has got to now.”
Rev Andy Fitchet, Methodist minister and Christians on the Left vice chair, told Premier that Farage’s re-election “does not mean that the rule of law is being suspended and he is no longer accountable by the rules that are set out by parliament.
“If anybody else [had accepted the gifts], he would absolutely be calling for them to resign. But because it's Nigel, he just thinks it's one rule for him and one rule for everybody else.”
Despite winning 63% of the vote, Fitchet pointed to it only being eight percentage points higher than the result achieved by Andy Burnham in the Makerfield by-election: “everyone stood against him and threw the kitchen sink. They literally just threw a bin at Nigel Farage this time, and the bin managed to get nearly 10,000 votes.”
Truth in politics
Asked about the polarisation that some have accused Farage of promoting in British politics, Reed said the Reform UK leader was guided by the Christian principles of truth and family.
“Nigel actually says it plain, whereas a lot of politicians want to hide the truth of what is actually going on in the country. Nigel is holding up a mirror to Westminster and saying ‘this is the actual state of the country. Immigration is an issue, here are all the other social issues.’ Nigel is actually walking out those biblical values about truth and integrity.”
Fitchet believed it was positive to see a number of Christians involved in politics and in parliament, pointing to how many on the left “have this conviction that we see what Jesus teaches and we want to implement that not just personally, but also within our politics.”
“If the vast majority of people were in church, they're going to be hearing of a Jesus who says, ‘let's build a bigger table, let's not put up walls.’ Anything which is less than saying, ‘welcome, and we're going to care for you and we're going to look after you, regardless of who you are, just whatever circumstances you arrive,’ for me does not fit with an understanding of what I see Jesus doing in the Gospels, which is a much more much more important debate to be having. Rather than church numbers or whether or not we are ‘still a Christian country’. If we don't look like it and act like it, who cares?”, he added.