Jon Wheatley

Over the last 36 hours, we have witnessed the very soul of Nigel Farage — his essence. It has been over a month since he went into hiding, since serious questions began to be raised over his undeclared £5M donation. A month since he appeared in front of TV cameras or underwent any questioning at all. At 8am yesterday morning, Farage released a video, from a field somewhere, calling for rage. Calling for an end to the mythical two-tier policing. Make no mistake, those were very carefully chosen words — he understood what he was unleashing, and his wish was granted last night in Southampton. On Tuesday, the Home Secretary made a statement to the House regarding the murder of Henry Nowack. There was, as always, an opportunity to question Shabana Mahmood — was Nigel Farage in attendance? No, of course not. Today, Farage was granted a question at PMQs — the showpiece spectacle of the political week in which the country's news and politics fanatics tune in to watch — was Nigel Farage in attendance? Yes, of course he was. He had somehow found his way into work after missing 77 separate votes in Parliament because … he would, at least for three minutes, be the centre of the country's political attention. His question was about the murder of Henry Nowack and the violence that erupted [on his command] last night, but he would not condemn it or call for calm. Instead, he 'suggested' that this rioting might escalate. This afternoon, he has performatively written to the BBC because someone on Newsnight dared to accuse him of inciting the violence — playing his perpetual victim card. Again. And there we see the soul of Nigel Farage — a craven, desperate for attention, evil, petty and pointless man. END RANT.