With his self-imposed jungle exile over, Nigel Farage is far stronger for the experience and, according to his friends and allies, ready to complete the revolution he began and destroy the Conservative Party.
Once he got to the final of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! he had already won whether he was crowned King of the Jungle or not.
And given the truly desperate attempts by ITV to sabotage his outing on the show – the botched fake racism accusation, cutting his air time, even briefing its own show was a viewer number failure because of him – coming third was an astonishing achievement.
The former Brexit Party and Ukip leader turned GB News host can now pocket his £1.5million appearance fee which will keep Coutes happy.
But, more importantly, he will know that he has also used a new platform to win millions of new fans from a very large audience which does not normally engage in politics.
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Red faces at ITV
In the process, the broadcaster ITV had become the latest woke outfit to humiliate itself and fail in an attempt to destroy him, not least in trying to do a “racism” expose on the day voting began.
Trying to run such serious accusations when they knew Farage could not respond because of the contract that they had made him sign for their show has seriously damaged ITV reputationally.
ITV can now be listed with NatWest, the European Parliament, the European Commission, the Conservative Party and many others who, in the words of Farage, are “not laughing now”.
There was though the traditional bitterness of the wokerati Remoaner class on display, perhaps encapsulated best by a Twitter claim that it was all a fix with rightwing Russian bots which got him to the final.
Let us also not forget presenters Ant and Dec’s attempts to dismiss Farage’s viewers as “Keith and Linda and their dog”. Turns out quite a few Keiths and Lindas voted.
What now for Nigel?
The question on everybody’s lips, though, is: “What now?”
The answer to that is either he settles back into his 7pm show on GB News or, the outcome which terrifies almost every Tory MP in the country, he decides to make a return to politics.
Richard Tice, who took over as Reform UK leader from him, is convinced he will make a comeback into politics.
“We are going to finish what we started and destroy the Conservative Party,” he said.
He and others are convinced that the next play in Farage’s uniquely remarkable career is a return to the fray of politics.
Is Farage the new Lenin?
The significance of Farage returning to politics in the current state of chaos cannot be underestimated.
Not since a train rolled into a station in St Petersburg on April 16, 1917, carrying Lenin to the newly exploding Russian revolution can the arrival of a political figure in the midst of political tumult have carried such significance.
When Farage lands on Wednesday Tory MPs will be in full civil war mode over the Rwanda Bill (if it has survived Tuesday’s 2nd Reading vote), letters will be going in for yet another vote of confidence in a Conservative leader and voters will be deserting the Tory brand by the day.
Richard Tice told Express.co.uk: “Nigel coming back will be worth about four points in the polls for Reform UK and some of them already have us on 10 and 11 percent.
“That means we will be in the mid-teens and the Tories will be down to the late teens, we will only just be behind.”
In such a scenario it takes little imagination to work out the wipeout that the Conservatives would be facing, already they are on course for a record disaster of less than 100 seats.
Also, people forget that former Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson triggered the 2019 election because internal polling showed that Farage’s Brexit Party would split the Tory vote handing scores of seats to her party.
She had not banked on Farage saving the Tories by standing his candidates down – that will not happen again though and so far only Priti Patel has thanked him for it from the Conservative Party.
Tice is contemptuous of the idea that a new leader will save the situation, even one like Suella Braverman or Priti Patel who might try to reach out to Reform.
“Voters just will not accept this farce continuing,” he said. “They cannot get rid of another leader and be taken seriously.”
Have kangaroo testicles tipped the balance of British politics?
Tice is convinced Reform UK and the Tories are “already nearing the tipping point”.
Farage’s return to the fight could be what tips the balance.
So, what happens then? Tice confirms that his party is regularly in contact with Conservative MPs on the right.
He said: “I think if we are close then you will see some [Tory] MPs come over to us [Reform].
“They will have nothing to lose, and it is clear what direction the Tories are going in. There are a number of them [Tory MPs on the right] who are just fed up.”
Tice and Farage have never hidden their desire to destroy and replace the Conservative Party.
Could it be that a self-imposed exile in the Australian jungle eating kangaroo testicles in front of TV cameras is what ultimately sees Farage achieve his dream?
