ARE the wheels coming off the Farage bandwagon?  There are certainly signs that they could be, with the Reform leader’s by-election gamble the latest indication.

The hard right has failed to win the last three by-elections where it had been tipped for victory – Gorton and Denton and then Makerfield for the Commons and Caerphilly for the Welsh Senedd.

In each case, the majority opposed to the hard-right agenda united behind the candidate most likely to see them off – Greens, Labour and Plaid Cymru respectively.

That majority was helped by Nigel Farage’s choice of candidates who could only charitably be called eccentric – bigoted and ignorant might be more accurate.

In Clacton Farage himself will be the candidate on a populist anti-establishment “they’ve all got it in for me” platform. The progressives in the town must urgently consider how best to intervene.

Reform has also been beset by the rise of Rupert Lowe’s Restore on its right flank. That has become a home for the overt racists and fascists, as well as for Elon Musk’s endorsement. 

Farage therefore could face a political fight on two fronts in Clacton, if Restore field a candidate. 

His panic move comes as he is under serious pressure over his undeclared funding. His receipt of £5 million from crypto-capitalist Nigel Harborne is already being probed by parliamentary authorities.

His explanations have shifted from declaring it a donation to provide for his security to being a thank you payment for his championing of Brexit to being none of anyone’s business.

To this embarrassment can be added the news that he failed to declare repeated gifts from convicted fraudster George Cottrell, despite some of this largesse being apparently used to support Reform campaigning.

This is not only being examined for potential breach of Farage’s obligations as an MP but also for compliance with electoral law.  Reform and Farage himself strenuously deny any wrongdoing.

These revelations reinforce the perception of the Reform boss as a grifter more concerned with his own lifestyle than advancing a political agenda. They puncture his populist pretence, coming as they do on top of his already vast earnings from hustling gold bullion and presenting on GB News.

Farage has increasingly dropped his faux bonhomie in responding to legitimate questions about his funding, revealing a snarling entitlement he normally strives to conceal. And he has abandoned his once-ubiquitous press conferences to avoid media inquiry.

Clacton voters should seize the opportunity to bring Farage’s political career to an end and allow him to spend more time with his money – clearly where his heart is.

Whatever Clacton decides, there can be no complacency about the continuing threat from Reform. It continues to lead the national polls, even if its numbers have dropped somewhat.

Moreover, amidst the by-election setbacks referenced above, it managed to advance strongly across the country, London excepted, in the May local elections, gaining over 1,400 seats.

Most importantly, the discontents which have powered the hard right’s rise remain potent. Stagnant living standards, decaying communities, a shortage of housing and failing public services are all fertile material for demagogues like Farage to utilise and channel in the direction of antipathy towards migrants.

There can be no let-up in the drive to make the case for the real change in political direction which alone can address the multiple crises besetting working people.

We cannot rely on Andy Burnham as a panacea, especially when his agenda remains largely undisclosed. Instead, we need to take the fight to Clacton and communities and workplaces across the country to reject the racist and authoritarian poison of the hard right and its leader.