Could Farage Be Preparing Another Brexit Comeback?

Brexit has "failed" says Nigel Farage, former leader of Ukip and the Brexit Party and leading force in the Leave movement. He concedes the economy hasn't benefitted and that immigration has not fallen as he and many Leave voters expected during the 2016 referendum. His admission leaves the door open to a political comeback.

- SEAN O'GRADY

Is Farage saying the UK should have stayed in the EU?

Not really. He agrees Britain has not "benefitted from Brexit economically", but blames government policy for deterring businesses from investing here.

He rejects any notion that Brexit voters are disillusioned. "I don't think that for a moment. But what I do think is we haven't actually benefitted from Brexit economically." Opportunities of Brexit haven't been seized as they could or should have been, he believes. "What Brexit has proved, I'm afraid, is that our politicians are about as useless as the commissioners in Brussels were ... we've mismanaged this totally, and if you look at simple things ... such as takeovers, such as corporation tax, we are driving business away from our country... arguably, now we're back in control, we're regulating our own businesses even more than they were as EU members. Brexit has failed."

Where Farage differs from some Conservative Eurosceptics loyal to the government, and indeed Rishi Sunak, is that they think that the sunlit uplands of Brexit can still be reached under the current Brexit deal while he wants more radical solutions. Farage saw Brexit as a necessary condition to complete the Thatcher revolution, to create a low tax, small state, light regulation economy, free from the Brussels rulebook but with an added dose of protectionism. What's lacking is a modern Tory party brave enough to take the risks implied in such an experiment; ambitious Tories such as Suella Braverman (selfstyled Brexit "Spartan"), and Kemi Badenoch make no secret that they'd be willing to for that role - as might Farage himself in some future political realignment.