One Party After Another

Michael Crick

Simon & Schuster, £25

Nigel Farage is arguably “one of the most significant figures in modern British politics”, says Robert Shrimsley in the Financial Times. He forced David Cameron to grant a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU, ultimately leading to Britain’s departure from the bloc; his dramatic political comeback in 2019, just in time for the European elections, effectively destroyed both Theresa May and her Brexit deal. Still, there is a sense that his impact hasn’t properly been acknowledged “by the political establishment he despises”, with Boris Johnson, and even Dominic Cummings, now seen by many as the decisive factor in Leave’s success. Michael Crick’s book seeks to make the case for his more central role.

Even the most dedicated follower of politics and current affairs will have to accept that biographies of modern politicians “are usually pretty dreadful”, says Dominic Sandbrook in The Sunday Times. The good news is that Crick’s book is an exception, “weaving together Ukip records, news clippings and countless interviews to splendidly gossipy effect”. The author is “not blind to Farage’s cynicism” and clearly relishes the “seedier aspects” of his career, such as the “boozy expense-account lunches” and the “teardrenched screaming matches between wives and mistresses”. Crick also, however, “pays Farage the compliment of taking him seriously” and clearly respects his subject’s “heartfelt ideological commitment” and “enthusiasm for the unglamorous hard work of political campaigning”.

Indeed, Crick “is so keen to be fairminded that he is too crimped about making judgments”, says Andrew Rawnsley in The Observer. Still, even the strongest critic of the former Ukip leader will enjoy this “gripping and vivid biography”. It shows how individuals, and “random quirks of fate” such as Farage’s survival from a cancer scare that prompted him to go into politics, as well as his neardeath experience in 2010, can “change the destiny of nations”.