For the first time I think Farage could be PM… there’s only one thing that might stop him and it isn’t Keir or Kemi
THIS week I looked at Nigel Farage brandishing his copy of The Sun’s Broken Britain issue and I thought to myself for the very first time – this happy chap could really be our next Prime Minister.
Once upon a time, the foes of Farage loved to mock him for repeatedly trying and failing to get elected as an MP.
Member of Parliament for Clacton is the bookies’
Now the Reform UK Member of Parliament for Clacton is neck-and-neck in the polls to be the next occupant of 10 Downing Street.
And the big question is — who is going to stop him?
There have been areas where the Labour leader has done far better than expected, not least in his ability to manage The Orange King.
Amid the rampant madness of the MAGA White House, there still remains the possibility of a UK-US trade deal.
And if that happens, then arch Remainer Starmer could feasibly claim to be the PM who actually made Brexit worth all the effort.
But the small boats will not stop any time soon.
And the borders will remain broken.
And a Labour Government so clueless about what it means to run a business have punished the wealth creators and damned our economy.
The only economic growth we see is among the shoplifting community.
One good reason for voting Labour was that they would end all the strikes and get Britain working again.
As Birmingham rots, that claim now seems laughable and the rats grow fat in our rubbish-strewn second city, where a Labour council and a Labour Government cannot persuade a major Labour donor — the Unite union — to clear the mountains of filth.
Now there is the prospect of a summer of discontent, with railways, civil servants, teachers and more joining their comrades in Birmingham in downing tools.
If Starmer can’t control the unions, why would you ever vote Labour again?
So what about Kemi Badenoch? Can the newish Tory leader prevent Farage from measuring the curtains in 10 Downing Street?
It feels increasingly unlikely. With this Labour Government faltering on so many fronts — immigration, the NHS, the economy — the leader of His Majesty’s opposition should be all over these clapped-out socialists, giving them a good kicking from dawn to dusk every day of the week.
That is not Kemi Badenoch. That is not this Tory opposition who seem worn-out and directionless after all those years in power.
So who can stop Farage becoming PM? Probably only Nigel himself.
He is closer to the President of the United States than any British politician.
That could be an enormous boon for Britain, for Brexit was TOTALLY built on the idea of an intimate trading relationship with America.
Or the relationship could turn out to be a poisoned chalice if Trump continues to lick the boots of a murderous Russian President, and if the US continues to treat the UK like every other bunch of freeloading foreigners.
Nigel Farage has many rivers to cross before he reaches Downing Street.
Floating voters still need convincing about the depth of Reform’s talent pool.
But if the Tories and Labour carry on cocking up, then Farage’s party will increasingly look like the natural home for the patriotic, hard-working, Net Zero-loathing working class.
And then all the chucked milkshakes in the world will never wipe that grin off Nigel’s merry mug.
She’s aged no Moore since Ghost
THIRTY-FIVE years after getting her fingers sticky doing pottery with Patrick Swayze in Ghost, did you think Demi Moore, 62, looked inexplicably unchanged in her Time magazine photoshoot?
As the young lovers say in Ghost – ditto.
Critics need a rocket
MOST astrophysicists agree that nobody has looked as good as Katy Perry in a space suit since Lieutenant Uhura in the original Star Trek.
Is that why Katy and her fellow Blue Origin astronauts got so much criticism on their return to planet Earth? Possibly.
Also, nobody can remember Buzz Aldrin or Neil Armstrong ever squealing: “Oh, look at the moon, you guys, look at the moon! I love the moon!”
Katy and her all-female crewmates on the Amazon rocket just seemed to be having a bit too much fun, hence the comparisons to a bunch of “dolled-up damsels” on a half-cut hen night.
But some of the brutal jibes are bewildering.
Emily Ratajkowski, most famous for her appearance in Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines video, was merciless.
“You say you care about Mother Earth, and you’re going up in a spaceship that is built and paid for by a company that is single-handedly destroying the planet,” raged Emily.
But for all the inane soundbites and slick uniforms, Katy and the rest climbed into a tin can that went into space at speeds of 2,300mph.
That is hardly risk-free.
Let’s be thankful they landed safely in Texas.
Knowing Amazon’s delivery service, it is a miracle they did not end up in the state next door.
Win for women
ON Wednesday, judges in London ruled that a woman is defined by biological sex – meaning that a man can’t just decide to be a woman on a whim.
The ruling is being called a victory for J.K. Rowling, who was pictured puffing a cigar in celebration, and a defeat for the three Harry Potter actors she made stars.
As Rowling has stood up for the rights of biological women, so Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson have been vocal in supporting the trendy trans movement.
“I firmly stand with the trans community,” said Rupert. “Trans women are women. Trans men are men.”
Good for you, Ron Weasley.
But this ruling is surely a victory for all those who firmly stand with common sense.
Billy's boost for us
A DOG stolen amid the horrors of the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023 has been miraculously plucked from the ruins of Gaza and returned to her owners.
Israeli Defence Force soldier Aviad Shapira saw the bedraggled pooch in the rubble when the pet trotted towards approaching Israeli troops.
They claim Billy, a cavalier King Charles spaniel, recognised the troops were speaking Hebrew.
Well, maybe.
My guess is this is a dog who is instinctively friendly to everyone – no matter what language they are speaking, no matter what religion, and no matter on what side of the Israel-Palestinian divide they stand.
I had the privilege of owning a cavalier King Charles spaniel for 12-and-a-half years.
I can tell you that cavaliers love everyone.
And that makes them very easy to love.
Hamas slaughtered 60 dogs as well as 1,200 people on October 7.
But in that place of hatred and human misery, this little bundle of uncomplicated love somehow survived.
And somewhere in Billy’s survival, there is a lesson for the entire human race.
Wills and George's footy memories
ONE of my most vivid childhood memories is going to the football with my dad.
The huge stadium sitting in the centre of the city like some secret floodlit world. All those adults going totally crazy.
So although Prince George and his father William suffered as their beloved Aston Villa were knocked out of the Champions League, I guarantee that night will become a precious memory.
A lifetime from now, when George remembers his childhood, he will think of that magical night at Villa Park with his dad.
I like his Style
HARRY STYLES gets stick for riding his Lime e-bike without a helmet while checking his phone.
Give me a break.
It is not Harry who is a menace to society – it is these e-bikes.
For all of Lime’s pious bleating about users wearing a helmet and not texting, public e-bikes seem totally unregulated.
They are strewn everywhere in London and traffic wardens – so strict with motorists – shrug and do nothing as a plague of e-bikes brings misery to young parents with pushchairs, the disabled and the blind. Now we learn that privately owned e-bikes and e-scooters are causing fires “every other day”.
London Fire Brigade’s Richard Field says: “These fires are ferocious, producing extremely toxic smoke.”
How e-bikes are meant to make our world a cleaner, greener, nicer place is beyond me.
Wish you were here...
YOU can understand the appeal of TV series The White Lotus.
The rich, privileged and beautiful go on holiday in some of the most glorious corners of the world – Hawaii, Sicily, Thailand – and have an absolutely rotten time.
The first series – the one with Sydney Sweeney as a spoilt brat – remains the masterpiece.
But the second series in Sicily – the one with Leo Woodall as a sexually promiscuous thug – and the latest in Thailand – with Aimee Lou Wood as a doe-eyed “trophy wife” – have been such hits that the producers have applied to trademark the brand to cover hotels, bars and travel packages.
Two weeks at The White Lotus – murder, infidelity and an all-you-can-eat buffet.
We are already packing our bags.
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