Courtesy of Watergate, -gate has become a productive suffix in political terminology.
Dozens of scandals have rated that attachment, such as Winegate, Motorgate, Koreagate, Irangate and so on. If Nigel Farage and his Reform Party aren’t careful, they may give rise to a new coinage, this one having the advantage of adding up to a real word: Elongate.
Farage’s emetic sycophancy to Elon Musk may not be illegal, but I’m afraid it’ll compromise British conservatism for a generation to come. The other day Farage actually acknowledged that Musk, American tycoon cum politician, would give a “reasonable-sized” amount to his party ($100 million has been mooted), provided it would be “legal and above board”.
The other day I mentioned that in this case, and in an increasing number of others, legal doesn’t equate moral and decent, quite the opposite. A major British party, especially one hoping to form a government, shouldn’t be in hock to foreigners, be they businessmen or especially politicians, and Musk happens to be both.
As an aside, though I wouldn’t describe Musk’s capital as ill-gotten, much of it has been acquired in ways no conservative should countenance. He exploited a niche carved in the motor trade by the climate craze. Not only did Musk pioneer the production of electric cars, but he also accepted billions in government subsidies, thereby catering to the agenda promoted by the Left.
Since Mr Farage is such a stickler for legality, that didn’t break any laws. But such opportunism has nothing to do with conservatism that Farage likes to proclaim.
In all forthcoming elections his party will attack Labour for its suicidal policies, including its obsession with net zero. Any Labour candidate worth his salt will be able to counter with a reference to Musk’s money, much of which was made by taking advantage of what Reform candidates will be castigating as a Leftist swindle.
I for one would dearly love to hear Farage’s diatribes should it become known that, say, George Soros, donated $100 million to Labour. The Left, he’d scream, have sold themselves to the globalist deep state, and Labour has forfeited the right to be called a British party. And that invective would be justified – as much as Labour’s attack on Reform would be if the latter took Musk’s global-warming dollar.
Yet it’s not just Musk’s financial assistance that Farage seems to be counting on. He claims to rely on the global-warming billionaire he calls a “bloody hero” as a bridge to young voters.
“Reform only wins the next election if it gets the youth vote. The youth vote is the key,” explained Farage. “Of course, you need voters of all ages, but if you get a wave of youth enthusiasm you can change everything.
“And I think we’re beginning to get into that zone – we were anyway, but Elon makes the whole task much, much easier. And the idea that politics can be cool, politics can be fun, politics can be real – Elon helps us with that mission enormously… The shades, the bomber jacket, the whole vibe. Elon makes us cool…”.
He certainly does. And someone like Tony Blair can appreciate coolness as a vote-getting quality. In fact, when he got elected, Blair said that his ideal was “Cool Britannia”. He then proceeded to embark on an orgy of constitutional vandalism that makes him the most damaging PM in British history, although Starmer may have something to say about that.
An appeal to “youth enthusiasm” is a hallmark of Left-wing politicians. Trotsky, for example, described the young as the “barometer of the nation”. That barometer then promptly fell off the wall, broke, and millions of Russians have been cutting their feet on the shards of glass ever since.
My firm conviction is that people responsive to “the shades, the bomber jacket, the whole vibe” shouldn’t be allowed to vote, but then I’m not canvassing for votes, and Mr Farage is. I’m sure his party’s polling has identified the young as a key group, and whatever old conservatives like me think about that doesn’t – and shouldn’t – matter.
What should matter, however, is that, for all his cool vibe, Musk is a foreigner, and a foreign politician to boot. He should be welcome to seduce American youngsters with his attire (ridiculous for a man in his 50s, by the way), but using him as political bait in Britain is outrageous. If it’s not illegal, it ought to be.
However, if Musk succeeds in his mission to cut the size of the state, that will set an example one hopes Britain will follow. “I’m hoping he gives us the blueprint, and the blueprint is how to cut the administrative state,” says Farage, and this statement is unobjectionable.
Reform is the only party that has any hope of introducing economic conservatism in Britain, mainly because it starts with a clean slate. For the Tories to justify their other name, the Conservative Party, they’d have to repudiate everything they’ve said and done over the past 34 years.
A hugely charismatic leader could perhaps achieve that, but Mrs Badenoch, for all her otherwise sterling qualities, isn’t one of those. Nor can I see any Tory on the horizon who could give the party a vigorous enough shake to make it come to its senses.
Faced with a vapid Conservative opposition and an actively subversive Labour government, Reform can make serious headway by preaching the conservative sermon. But it should do so on its own, without taking huge donations from ‘cool’ foreign billionaires, politicians and billionaire-politicians.
Mr Farage, however, is showing few signs of fastidiousness in accepting patronage from, or offering lickspittle sycophancy to, trans-Atlantic figures whose constitutional purview is protecting American but not British interests.
If as a result a scandal breaks out, and Farage’s detractors start talking about Elongate, I hope you’ll remember who coined the term. If this is of service to the Lefties, the conservative in me will be despondent. But the linguist will find it hard to suppress a self-satisfied grin.