In what must rank as one of the most self-pitying, self-obsessed pieces of political rhetoric we’ve heard from a politician since Boris Johnson’s myriad attempts to justify himself back in 2022, Nigel Farage surprised absolutely no-one by triggering a by-election by resigning as MP for Clacton. He is supposedly going to take on “the establishment” in this by-election by restanding and, in so doing, clear his name.

Even if Farage’s anger about media intrusion was real, his recorded video message still felt a little confected. And I’m not sure there’s much sympathy out there for a politician who’s not only telling us he’s enormously wealthy thanks to all sorts of second jobs but that he could be even more wealthy if he quit parliament. As for the nonsense about Britain being a “broken” – indeed a “communist” – country where “men can’t wear watches and women can’t wear jewellery” in the streets, that was presumably for an American audience. And the plug for his investment tips making people impressive returns was simply grifting of the highest order.

Although, there will be voters in Clacton who’ll see the whole thing for what it is (namely, an expensive sideshow which appears to be designed to distract from the allegations Farage is facing), I don’t doubt that he stands a good chance of winning this by-election. But the other main parties now seem likely not to stand candidates. Another option might have been to field a joint candidate – a 2026 version of Martin Bell, the former war correspondent who took on cash-for-questions MP Neil Hamilton in a 1997 by-election and won as an independent with the backing of Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

More importantly, none of this will help Farage wriggle out of the allegations he’s facing. As soon as he makes it back into parliament, the investigation will restart where it left off. He can run – but he can’t hide.

Originally published at https://theconversation.com/why-nigel-farage-is-resigning-as-an-mp-only-to-stand-again-expert-analysis-287017