Page 96 - Monocle Quarterly Journal Vol 1 Issue 1 Q4

BANKING
“Why position
your person in front of a poster of Syrian refugees which reads not dissimilarly to early- 1930s anti-Semitic propaganda?”
Fortuitously, the CNN anchor Richard Quest was in the building at the time. Quest has a unique style. He has a piercing voice and demeanour and it can be di cult to distinguish as to whether he is asking or telling. In this case he was telling. He was seething.
“You really hate these people,” he insisted Farage agree. “How can you say that you are anti-establishment, that you are against big business, lobbyists, all of it, when you have been part of it for seventeen years?”
“I am the only one with business experience,” Farage argued.
“But you come from big business,” Quest retorted. “You were a commo- dities trader.”
“We are free of Europe,” Farage bleated. “ ey don’t like me.”
On the 4th of July 2016, Nigel Farage announced his resignation from UKIP, citing stress and having “done his bit”. at he “wants his life back”. Commentators have generally seemed pleased he is gone. At least those from Britain who will have the unenviable job of negotiating trade deals with Europe will not include the toxic Farage. But his resignation was a surprise.
Why spend seventeen years insulting the very institution you live and work in? Why position your person in front of a poster of Syrian refugees which reads not dissimilarly to early-1930s anti-Semitic propaganda? Why, after all of the ghting and the booing, after winning precisely what you wanted, why then resign?
e answer is twofold. First, professional heckling is not a proper job. It has dawned on Farage that the ght is over and that he has won. e prospect of ‘proper’ work can seem overwhelming.
e second reason is equally simple. It reveals itself to Farage only in that very moment he takes solace in the bar whilst the adults meet upstairs. What am I going to do now? He is asking himself. Where shall I have my pint? It was fun to be the outsider inside the private club. It was like a bad marriage, but it was a marriage. ere was a kind of symbiotic dependency. But now he is divorced. And he is alone.
94