What is Nigel Farage, the eternal ghost of British politics, looking for?

Barely a year ago, Nigel Farage seemed set on staying on the sidelines of British politics. “Do I want to be an MP? Do I want to spend every Friday in Clacton for the next five years?” wondered the former Brexit campaigning heavyweight. Shortly after, he announced he would not be running for parliament because he was too busy helping Donald Trump win the US presidential election.

But as he has done so often before, Farage then changed course. In 2024, he finally won the seat of Clacton-on-Sea, on the Essex coast. Judging by the stunning result of his Reform UK party in the local elections on May ¹ , he could go even further now – and end up as leader of the British opposition, or even prime minister.

No other British politician comes close to rising from the ashes. While other Trump allies, such as Canada's Pierre Poilievre and Australia's Peter Dutton , have paid the price for their ties to the US president, Farage is thriving. At 61, a chain smoker and heavy drinker with a penchant for boozy lunches, he is the epitome of a survivor.

Fifteen years ago, Farage nearly died in a plane crash when the advertising banner for his UK Independence Party (UKIP) campaign became tangled in the tail of the plane he was flying. The crash left him with life-threatening injuries that he suffered for years.

Politically, he survived several internal clashes and six Conservative leaders who tried to destroy him. Yet even as Ukip's cause gained popularity, the former commodities broker balked at the idea of ​​"dealing day in, day out with low-class people" and not being able to earn a comfortable living.

He has repeatedly withdrawn from party politics, including after the 2016 Brexit referendum ( “I want my life back” ), and again in 2021, when the UK formally left the European Union ( “It’s over… I’ve achieved the one goal I set for myself: independence for the UK.”)

He found new tools for himself. After leaving UKIP, he founded the Brexit Party , then Reform UK . While Elon Musk recently called for his replacement as leader of