THE Westminster political party Establishment — and, yes, that includes the Greens — will not stand in the Clacton by-election caused by Nigel Farage’s Houdini-style stunt to escape from his troubled, possibly criminal, financial affairs.

Created by the same state forces, including the BBC, that now want to break him, Farage is a dangerous politician, but very much part of the same Establishment that have no further need for him — for now.

Desperately trying to steady the good ship “Profit” in conditions of endemic instability the ruling class know the Labour government will toe the corporate, imperialist line, and will continue to do so under Andy Burnham, whom they will support — until, that is, his legitimacy and authority is entirely destroyed, which may well be sooner than later.

So, let’s hope Farage meets the fate he deserves, but let’s also consider the reaction to his gamble. The main political parties claim they do not want to legitimise Farage’s action, leaving the field to Count Binface, one of those regular comedy candidates, to stand.

Rachel Reeves quips Farage will “spend summer arguing with a bin,” the memes and jokes are sparking hilarity. What larks!  

Socialists and communists should not endorse this wizard wheeze by a rotten political Westminster Establishment that drives repression, cuts and privatisation, which is entirely subservient to corporate interests, including from the arms industry and with many taking donations from the Israeli ruling class.

It is an error for socialists and communists to coat-tail the Westminster Establishment parties and the liberal left by associating themselves with this tactic. Have we learned nothing from Trumpism?

Whether in victory or defeat Farage will simply claim he is “the victim of a sneering liberal elite,” including the “hard left”; an Establishment that was “out to get him.”

More damagingly, he’ll tell those who originally elected him in the deprived constituency of Clacton and the millions alienated by the Westminster Establishment — they really weren’t laughing at me you know, they were laughing at you! And, at all your legitimate grievances and concerns, which they have no intention of addressing.

In politics perception is everything. People will tolerate much but will never forgive being laughed at, and certainly not by an Establishment that has abandoned them.  

Reform is not a stable political formation and will split along class lines at some stage. Defeating it requires an alternative, not a comedy routine.

Anyway, has the left entirely abandoned due political diligence — the media currently love-bombing Mr Binface may turn on him before long. He has already been outed as a BBC comedy writer and represents what growing numbers of workers increasingly despise — the smart aleck moralising liberal Establishment looking down their noses at what they regard as the stupid working class.

Is this really what we are reduced to?

Revolutionaries certainly need a sense of humour, and satire is a legitimate — and sometimes deadly — weapon to employ against the powerful.

But Count Binface reflects more that petit-bourgeois English eccentricity which may endear us to Ealing comedies, not the sharp political challenge of satirists like, for example, the Situationists. He doesn’t challenge the Establishment, he embodies it.  

Is this the best we can do? Do we really have nothing to say to the deprived and dispossessed in Jaywick and elsewhere in Clacton? Will they see the funny side?

Class war is also a battle of ideas, and every opportunity should be taken to advocate class politics. Yet insurgent politics and resistance do not necessarily mean playing the electoral game.

If no credible left candidate can be found that does not preclude a serious intervention denouncing both Farage and his games, and the Westminster elite and theirs. Who do you vote for if no left candidate — spoil the ballot paper is one tactic, or don’t vote at all; delegitimise the entire process.  

But, really, what a scandal. Objectively speaking, there has never been more need to hear serious socialist voices advocating a genuine alternative to challenge both the status quo Establishment and spivs like Farage. The voice of class politics.

The left needs to take a good long, hard look in the mirror and, with honourable exceptions, hang its head in shame.

The depth of the crisis on the left was recently brutally exposed by the Your Party debacle. Here was an opportunity to create a real alternative.

So, let’s state clearly what destroyed it, features that characterise so much of the current left: on the one hand, Labourite bureaucratism and, on the other, brain-rotted identitarian sectarianism.

A direct consequence of the moralising tone employed by so many on the left is that a strong impression has been created in the minds of many workers that socialists can only define themselves by what they are against, not what they are for.

For example, the racism of Reform is all too often treated by the left as a moral issue, not a class issue. There is a solid case for immigration that can and should be consistently expressed, but for some, how much easier and satisfying it is to simply condemn people as immoral for even raising the issue? If that does not change the right will reap the advantage.

Remember the old joke about the Spanish civil war: the left had all the best songs, but the fascists won all the battles. Farage may be undone in Clacton, the left may have all the best jokes and even, in the persona of a comic candidate, win this battle.

But history may remember this episode as a real low point for the left. The legitimate question will be asked, as it should be now — are we really so disorganised, divided and devoid of serious class politics we are obliged to rely on a liberal comedian to fight our battle against a class enemy like Farage?

Instead of crying tears of laughter, we should be crying tears of rage.

So, here’s a suggestion — as we face the rise of the far right, an impeding economic catastrophe, a European elite marching us to war and disastrous climate change, it’s now urgent we build a left that rejects liberalism, corporate and state-sponsored identity politics and collaborationism, one dedicated to a return to disciplined, relentless and unyielding class politics.