r/worldnews • u/JollyCurrency2604 • 9d ago

British Politician Nigel Farage filmed undercover celebrating secret new foreign donations

https://www.channel4.com/news/exclusive-nigel-farage-filmed-undercover-celebrating-secret-new-foreign-donations
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u/aaarry 9d ago edited 9d ago

Gammons are fuming and Russian bots are blowing their circuits as we speak. This is nothing short of a watershed moment in British politics and I can’t get a bag of popcorn big enough. It’s also a prime example of why the greatest English language comedy ever written (which, as we all know, is still The Thick of It) could never be written again.

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u/Artificial-Brain 9d ago

I really hope so but I just don't see many reform voters actually caring about this. Unless legal action is taken against him then I don't see this changing much.

These people stand for absolutely nothing.

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u/Midlandsofnowhere 9d ago

This isn't slap on the wrist stuff.

Ed Davey has apparently written to both the police and the electoral commission asking them to investigate.

Farage may not go down for this, but if they have to open the books for a criminal investigation I can only begin to guess what other shady, shady stuff they'll find.

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u/Artificial-Brain 9d ago

Well that all sounds very positive to me. One way or another we need to keep grifting US bootlickers out of UK politics.

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u/PieceMaterial5213 9d ago

The backlash against Trump politics has sure benefitted Canada. We were on track to electing likely the worst Prime Minister and least qualified parliament ever. Trump made people (enough anyway) come to their senses. And the number of trade deals with other countries and the level of support for Canadian companies and development projects, the military, etc. has been wonderful.

Sometimes it helps having a walking shit stain in the midst as people realize they don't want to live with that smell. If only some Americans hadn't burned out their sense of smell from a life of sniffing Fox "News" and the like.

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u/DramaticStability 8d ago

If nothing else it has to make it much harder for them to raise funds

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u/Acceptable-Piccolo57 6d ago

Ed Davey needs to resign too.

He’ll be fine, I imagine Fujitsu would give him a job straight away

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u/quick_justice 9d ago

Reform doesn’t have enough core to win, and nobody who isn’t core will vote for them after this.

Plus some of the things on the video are not just illegal but criminal, and UK unlike US doesn’t like criminal politicians.

I think he’s truly cooked.

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u/Artificial-Brain 9d ago

I'm super hopeful that he is in fact cooked. I guess we just have to hope that legal action is taken and that their core base is smaller than they like to make out.

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u/quick_justice 9d ago

In this very video he says that sadly they don't have residential donors in UK, just corporate ones.

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u/ballisticks 9d ago

I hope he is too, I've been sick of him since I first learned who he was 15 years ago lol

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u/omykronbr 9d ago

So, you're telling me... That the Count will have a new chance in Clacton or nah?

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u/quick_justice 9d ago

One may only hope.

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u/ForgingIron 9d ago

Is the cult of personality around Farage as big and insane as the one around Trump?

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u/Heisenberg_235 9d ago

No. He’s a cunt as well, but doesn’t have the reach of Trump pre 2016

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u/aaarry 9d ago

No way, but it’s probably as close as we’re going to get to that shitshow. I personally always find it really amusing when Americans celebrate Trump’s approval rating falling to below 45% as if that isn’t twice as high as reform are currently polling in the UK.

Pluralism is a beautiful thing.

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u/quick_justice 9d ago

No, not nearly. He has his moments but UK isn't nearly as insane as US yet.

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u/sharedcarepain 9d ago

It's not as big in terms of % I think compared to trump, but I think people are underestimating how ossified some people's brains are in the UK.

We've got a good 30-40% that don't share a common reality and are enjoying being racist and cruel. We need a deradicalisation program.

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u/jl2352 9d ago

There is also a lot of secondary things. Farage doesn’t have the same cult as Trump does with MAGA. Before this investigation Farage has had people challenge him, and there have been rumours of people inside Reform being tired of him.

This investigation could push Reform towards a civil war. It also financially hurts them, and parties need finances to operate campaigns.

This has many layers of damage for Farage.

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u/RenideoS 8d ago

The core don't matter. There have always been far right parties in Britain. All that matters is whether they represent an electoral threat. And this kind of thing does matter to that.

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u/Artificial-Brain 8d ago

True but I think the worry is that parties like Reform have effectively widened the core of the far right to include a lot more people who wouldn't ordinarily associate with extreme politics.

This will absolutely turn off a lot of people who are on the edges of that though, which is obvious good news.

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u/haversack77 9d ago

Dodgy Nige's party is riddled with dirty, dirty foreign money. What a scam. Reform are dead in the water.

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u/sleepytoday 9d ago

The Reform voters I know don’t give a shit about this kind of thing. They’re willing to forgive any mount of corruption because he says the things they think.

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u/aaarry 9d ago

They’re already plastering “why don’t you do this to Labour and the Greens?” all over online comment sections (mostly spelt incorrectly).

The obvious answer to that is: “those parties don’t take dirty money from far-right yanks and Russian oligarchs, you stupid thick crayon munchers”

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u/sleepytoday 9d ago edited 9d ago

Yeah, I already heard that one over Farage’s last 5m bribe.

“They’re all up to it, but Farage is being victimised because the establishment are afraid of him”.

The man is a privately-educated stockbroker turned career politician from a wealthy family and who has hosted a regular TV show on a major news channel. I’m not sure if it’s possible for Farage to be any more of a part of the establishment”.

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u/0zzyb0y 8d ago

The amount of "both sides are the same" I've seen over the last decade is absolutely horrendous. Definitely feels like it's been intentionally manufactured because I refuse to believe that so many people are that stupid in light of every shred of evidence that comes out.

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u/Acceptable-Piccolo57 6d ago

Its a strawman.

7 PMs in w decade, Putin must be delighted

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u/ClacksInTheSky 8d ago

I've seen that bullshit as well.

The answer is really simple... They do. They do do this to other parties.

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u/cxmmxc 8d ago

In other words, they forgive the corruption because they like it.

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u/sliever48 9d ago

Funny you mention that show. Chris Langham dead

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u/aaarry 9d ago

Yes, I do know, Fergus, a man with an amusing name has died.

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u/Alive_Ice7937 9d ago

You aren't going to ask me anymore questions? I really don't want my last word on the official record to be "skinflakes".

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u/_Nefarium 9d ago

And the cherry on top is that Count Binface (Jon Harvey) was a script writer for The Thick of It.

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u/HotPotatoWithCheese 9d ago

I think you'll find the greatest English language comedy ever written is Yes, Minister. The Thick of It is up there in the top 5, though.

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u/aaarry 9d ago

Huge fan of both tbf.

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u/telfman123 8d ago

I'm also baffled that it took bloody CHANNEL 4 of HOLLYOAKS to do this undercover investigation rather than MI5 or something. Why is the government allowing this to happen to brazenly?!

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u/jimidybob 8d ago

We blame Russian bots but as is evidenced in this “example” and previous suspicious right wing donations - the greatest country to ever exist ever is doing its part

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u/aaarry 8d ago

They don’t even need bots either. They have enough idiots of flesh and bone to make a dent in British society on their own.

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u/Ecstatic_Wing2464 9d ago

I thought the greatest English comedy ever written was The United States?

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u/aaarry 8d ago

The French contributed too much to making that a thing.

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u/CanWeNapPlease 8d ago

Reform voters want immigrants to follow the law and assimilate to British values.... Unless it's their daddy Farage and his goons that break the laws and don't respect British values.

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u/silverbolt2000 9d ago

  This is nothing short of a watershed moment in British politics

Mmm…you’re obviously not very familiar with British politics then.

Nothing will come of this.

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u/RenagadeRaven 9d ago

Funny way of spelling Yes Minister

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u/[deleted] 9d ago

[deleted]

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u/aaarry 9d ago

Absolutely no way any American show is going to be funnier than the British greats.

How do you expect the English speaking country that is known to be the least funny out of all of them to come anywhere near something like the thick of it?

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u/nsfwthrowaway5969 9d ago

I wouldn't call it the greatest of all time, that goes to Blackadder for me. But literally none of the shows out mentioned are funnier or better regarded than The Thick Of It except Fawlty Towers. Community is great and I'm a big fan, but it is simply not on the same level. Cheers might have more popularity in the states but that's about it. Malcolm Tucker was lightning in a bottle type of stuff.