Farage's fumble has given the prime minister an open goal

Since his election, Nigel Farage has spoken twice in the Commons - once, on the first day of the new parliament, to announce "We are the new kids on the block"; and another to make his maiden speech, in which he called for a referendum on the UK's membership of the European Court of Human Rights.

- JOHN RENTOUL

Having tried so hard to get in, the new kid on the block doesn’t seem able to use his platform effectively; he seems far happier on social media and GB News, campaigning as if he is an outsider.

On Tuesday, Farage used Twitter/X – rather than a debate in the Commons – to criticise the government over the murder of three girls in Southport. He speculated about whether the murderer was being monitored by the security services and said: “I just wonder whether the truth is being withheld from us. I don’t know the answer to that, but I think it is a fair and legitimate question.”

That is, as Sean O’Grady has pointed out, (“Blame Farage and far right for fuelling Southport fictions”, voices, yesterday) the weasel formula of the conspiracy theorist through the ages. Farage wasn’t saying that the deep state was complicit with the murder of three girls at a Taylor Swift dance class – he was “just asking questions”.