George Parker

In Havering in London after they had taken that council early yesterday morning.

I think that's when I saw him.

And he was, you know, boasting about how the landscape had changed.

And then he looked for questions.

And one reporter, when he was talking about council funding, said, what about your own funding?

And he cut him dead instantly because there is a scandal brewing for Farage if Everett is allowed to mature.

Yes.

I mean, this is the, I think we can call it a scandal, the fact that he was given a gift of five million pounds by a cryptocurrency investor who's lived in Thailand for many years.

It wasn't declared.

It only came to light through the work of The Guardian.

And it's hugely embarrassing.

A £5 million gift is more than many of Nigel Farage's constituents would earn in multiple lifetimes.

You know, it's one of the reasons why I still think that despite the headlines that Farage generates, I still think it's unlikely that he will get into number 10 in a couple of years' time.

I think there are too many

problems in his party, too many problems around his own personal finances in this case.

And even if he gets to the starting line of an election in 2029 as the favourite, you can imagine there'll be massive tactical voting because Farage is very, very popular with some people, but also very, very unpopular with an even bigger group of people.

And even the most recent results this week, the overall projected national vote share for Reform UK was about 28, 29%.

That still, I don't think, would be enough to get him over the line in the general election.

So there's still a long way to go.

George Parker, Financial Times political editor.