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Farage, extra-parliamentary politics and the left
How has Farage repeatedly failed to get elected to Parliament, but always succeeded in influencing parliamentary politics? KEITH FLETT looks at the tools available to the right and left locked outside of Westminster
OUTSIDE PRESSURE: Protesters greet Farage’s battle bus in Barnsley

THE Guardian journalist Aditya Chakrabortty recently wrote a typically to-the-point piece about Nigel Farage, what Faragism really means and why it has an impact.

Farage is standing for an eighth time as a parliamentary candidate in Clacton, having lost on seven previous occasions. He has been elected as an MEP — but as part of a party list that did not specifically require voters to ponder if they wanted to back him personally.

It’s difficult to see Farage being overly keen on up to five years as MP for Clacton. It would significantly constrain his media and money-making roles — and his US jaunts.

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