CLACTON-ON-SEA, England—British parliamentary elections have not been kind to Nigel Farage. He’s previously failed in no fewer than seven attempts to win a seat in Westminster, one of which nearly killed him, but he remains undeterred. On Thursday, as U.K. voters head to the polls in the general election, the right-wing populist Reform U.K. leader—promising MAGA-style immigration crackdowns and a “patriotic” curriculum in schools—might just secure a place in the House of Commons for the first time.
He’ll be mounting his most recent effort at a moment when European voters appear to have developed something of a taste for more hard-core right-wing politics. The latest example came in France, where Marine Le Pen’s hard-right National Rally won the largest vote share in the first round of the parliamentary election on Sunday. But whether Britain, a country that overwhelmingly views Donald Trump unfavorably, is ready to embrace a man who seems to be doing just about everything he can to emulate the Republican former president isn’t certain.
On Sunday, Farage held a U.S-style political rally—which is extremely rare in the U.K.—in which he attacked the media, referred to his political rivals with mocking nicknames, and complained about how the left had ruined Doctor Who. Reform’s chief executive Paul Oakden even vowed to “Make Britain Great Again” at the event. In the past week, in an interview with The Daily Beast, Farage said Biden is “a disaster” and that Trump’s “strength” would restore order to a chaotic world.
