Nigel Farage has just resigned his seat to force a by-election in Clacton. The establishment, his allies say, is trying to destroy him. Perhaps – but have they misjudged their target?

Gawain Towler, Reform UK's director of communications from 2019 to 2024 and now a member of the party's governing board, joined CapX editor Marc Sidwell in the immediate aftermath of Farage's dramatic announcement. He argues the campaign against his former boss is misreading both the man and the country.

Towler admits the drip, drip, drip of negative stories – the donations controversy, the billionaire friends, the standards investigation – are damaging, and that Farage was at best unwise to leave his flank exposed to attack.

He sees the bad press as an artillery barrage from the establishment: wear down morale, make ordinary Reform-minded voters reluctant to associate with a movement under constant fire and hope Farage decides the fight isn't worth it. Farage, instead, has decided to fight. Will voters be admired or appalled?

What the establishment may be missing, Towler says, is the English sense of fair play. People cannot abide the appearance of the entire machine turning on one man – and the more that narrative takes hold, the more it risks generating sympathy rather than aversion.

But the central question that will define the next phase of British politics is this: can a movement built around one figure survive – or strengthen – if that figure's relatable, clubbable image is damaged by his ties to the wealthy and doubts about whether he's willing to play by the rules?

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