To think that Nigel Farage is a political genius.

[beingchampion]

Doesn't matter if you think he's a cock, but he'll be remembered for a very long time. You've got to admire his tenacity.

So was Hitler.

Keanu Reeves is the same age as Nigel Farage. Don’t tell me you dont get the face you deserve

Caroline Hirons

if a man compared a female politician's looks to those of a film star in this way, he would be absolutely pilloried both for superficiality and for trite sexism. It's not on to sling mud in this way (even if a campaign is turning dirty). This can loathe everything about someone's politics without going in for cheap jibes of this sort.

Memorable? So was fucking Mussolini.

Anyone impressed by that cunt's rhetoric is a fucking thicko or a racist twat.

Wish he would just fuck off tbh

An interesting what if : Farage was involved in a plane crash on the day of the 2010 general election. He was very lucky to survive. What if he hadn’t????

I guess your desired response is, Brexit would have never happened?

Which of course would be to dismiss the UK's history of euroscepticism while exalting Mr. Farage to nonsensical heights.

Marina Hyde’s nailed it as usual.

amp.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/11/a-vintage-farage-reverse-ferret-forges-leave-alliance-on-his-own-brexit-party?CMP=share_btn_tw&__twitter_impression=true

It isn’t true that no Labour voters would vote Tory. Focus groups in Leave areas are showing a depressing level of support for Johnson. So the Brexit Party remains a risk for the Tories in splitting the Leave vote in Labour seats. Not standing in Tory areas isn’t as devastating as it might seem. Sure, they may have split the Tory vote in some marginals in currently Tory seats. But they will still do this in non-Tory marginals. And the Conservatives will lose seats to the SNP and Labour.
This move also implicitly endorses the Conservative Party as it says that Farage trusts them to deliver Brexit. A message that some would-be Brexit Party voters will absorb.
Labour was already in trouble in some Leave seats. Today’s announcement doesn’t make much difference. We can all only vote in one constituency.

An interesting what if : Farage was involved in a plane crash on the day of the 2010 general election. He was very lucky to survive. What if he hadn’t????

The same really as if Hitler had died - not an awful lot. Someone else would have stepped into the vacuum left behind. They are figureheads for the movement

He's a rather odious pest imo.
But that doesn't necessarily make a person less capable (not at all, unfortunately).

So yes, I guess he's rather capable. But being capable isn't an inherently admirable character trait. Many absolutely horrible and evil people were 'capable'.

He’s a massive bellend, sorry.

You may as well say hitler was a genius!!

Surely only time will tell? At the moment, there seem to be as many of his supporters accusing him of cowardice and treachery as people hailing his strategic genius. He's whipped a lot of people into a frenzy of believing that anything less than no deal Brexit is unacceptable, and that genie isn't going back in the bottle easily if they don't get what they want.

Tell you what is a stroke of genius- the tories have diverted attention away from the last 10 years of economic mismanagement/austerity and are well on the way to persuading millions of former labour voting northern leavers to think they’re a breath of fresh air and really will deliver the magic money tree

I am just coming back on from earlier to clarify that yes I think he is a massive bellend and history will not look kindly on him.

However reading the replies I think I’m interpreting ‘genius’ differently than other people. I don’t necessarily see saying someone is ‘a genius’ is a positive thing. You could be a genius at plotting murders for example.

I think he has a large talent, a genius if you will, for harnessing and channelling public opinion the way he wants it to go. As does trump. As did hitler etc etc.

That doesn’t mean I don’t think he’s evil! But I think there’s a lot of complacency around people thinking, ‘oh, so and so is AWFUL, they’ll never achieve anything’. There’s a lot of awful people around who’ve achieved many awful things. It’s better to acknowledge this and then try to combat it.

katharin, exactly what I mean. Evil genius.

Yes, that was the point of the OP, Farage's 'decision' etc.
CuriousaboutSamphire the OP didn't mention MEPs at all although given this afternoon's news story I imagined the context was that s/he was talking about the GE candidates for MPs. I heard a few MEPs were considering standing, but your post ( They are disaffected politicians, many of whom stepped down from other parties when told they had to vote against their electorate ) implies actual MPs who have stood down during the last parliament. Now you seem to be saying something different.

Anyway, maybe we can agree that the main point of the OP was to exalt and glorify a nasty little racist.

I think he has a large talent, a genius if you will, for harnessing and channelling public opinion the way he wants it to go. As does trump. As did hitler etc etc.
He also has 'a genius' for alienating huge swathes of rational people who are not sucked in by his rhetoric and racism.

He's a twat. He isn't a genius, it's just there are a lot of gullible and stupid people out there, oh, and xenophobic bankers too.

Never trust a man who thinks he looks great in a double breasted pin stripe suit.

*i meant wankers, not bankers, but yeah let's include those too

With the standard set this low there must be a ton of political geniuses out there. What about Stephen Yaxley-Lennon? Nick Griffin maybe??

I think he didn't have enough people or money to field a potential MP for all seats, and he has always known this. I don't think history will be kind.

Well he’s handed Tories the election.
Boris must be over the moon

You seem to have made a spelling mistake, OP. It's c-u-n-t for cunt, not g-e-n-i-u-s

I think he’s brilliant. His communication skills outdo any other MP. Like him or not, I agree OP- you have to admire his ambition and success

He's an obnoxious hypocrite of the first note with political belief that wouldn't shame Moseley. Heaven forbid they don't win many votes in the next election.