Emily Maitlis

And what we so often see with Farage is what the journalist Adam Bienkoff calls a ramping up of racialised rhetoric.

And I do think the question that you posed a second ago, what on earth has Southampton got to do with Makerfield, is everything right now.

Because there are people who are looking at Farage, who frankly hasn't been that present for the last few weeks.

He's been chased by these allegations of the £5 million donation, the house that he might have bought before it or after it.

He's been chased by people who just frankly like to have a bit more accountability of the money that's been coming into his party.

He's been chased by people who want to try and understand the reform candidate they've put up.

the disgraceful, really grimy comments that he's made about women, about his position on Brexit, about Covid, about conspiracy theories.

There are a lot of things that Farage probably doesn't want to answer right now.

And so he's leaning in to the place that he feels most comfortable, which is this very...

Put very careful dog whistle, which means go and do your thing and remember who we are.

And I guess one of the questions we're asking is, is this because they're feeling politically squeezed right now in a seat that they thought they would have won quite easily?

And this is where it gets complicated, because last night I spotted, I think...

Three iterations of what we would call populist right parties, all trying to work out who they were throwing shade at and who they were now siding with over this exact issue.

Rupert Lowe's Restore Party has come down, I think, on the side of Kemi Badenoch.

Against Nigel Farage.

You've got the tweet.

Yeah, I mean, Kemi Badenoch has played, we should say, a very straight bat on this.

She has effectively supported the prime minister's position.

The tragedy is unacceptable.

The policing was unacceptable.