For intolerant Farage supporters, grown-up debate has clearly become a farce

Much heartened by the onslaught of criticism I’ve been receiving from Telegraph readers, I am returning to the subject of one of Clacton’s parliamentary candidates. Two weeks ago I got myself into a vat of boiling oil for saying we should turn our heads to the wall from Mr Farage’s sort of bitter and divisive populism. My column was greeted with such outrage and affront that I knew I was onto something.

I’ve learned how to spot the emergence of a herd opinion, by how its members begin copying and repeating each other’s words and memes. Thus I was accused repeatedly of  “elitism”, “sneering”, “condescension”, “drivel”, “having an affair with a married man” and not being in tune with readers’ views.

Elitist? If that means admiring excellence, yes. Having an affair with a married man? I’m a journalist, not a sodding nun. Moreover, I don’t have to be in tune with the opinion of every reader. They may be wrong. A good test of a politician is whether they bring out the best in people. This is generally true of One Nation Tories like Benjamin Disraeli and Winston Churchill, who comprehended that the party had a left, centrist and right-wing, all of whom had to be placated.

Mr Farage brings out the worst. Perhaps this is because much of his creed plays on fear. As Shakespeare said, “of all base passions, fear is most accursed”. As my recent experiences indicate, many of his supporters run scared of free speech. Mr Farage’s success, therefore, would be a victory of sorts for those whose idea of freedom of expression is that there are two kinds; the right kind and the wrong, and they are the arbiters of both.

Attacking him has become as perilous as the asp at Cleopatra’s breast. I have always guarded my amour propre by assuming my opponents were decent and vaguely attached to the truth. I had not realised that it is now unacceptable to a certain constituency to say that Mr Farage is wrong.

Take his recent remarks about Putin. The Reform leader said in an interview on Friday that he admires the way he has “taken control of running Russia.” Putin is no better than the worst of the Tsars, Lenin, Castro and Ceaușescu. According to Mr Farage, this maniac is to be admired for seizing the governments of his country, even if that involved the murder of his opponents and the suppression of the press. As for the West provoking Russia, a historically expansionist country, into invading Ukraine by enlarging NATO contrary to an agreement, no such undertaking was ever made. No treaty signed by NATO allies and Russia has ever included provisions on NATO membership. Any Russian concern about NATO enlargement beyond a united Germany was not on the agenda in 1989, as Mikhail Gorbachev later confirmed. But judging by the fractious conversations I have had with Farage supporters, the herd disagrees, employing exactly the same memes.

“I’m not talking to you. You’re part of the f- - - ing elite”, said a Reform-supporting cabbie who picked me up yesterday.  In the Faragists’ desert of intolerance, grown-up debate has become a farce. Our justice system was founded on the premise that laws should protect us all, irrespective of our views or position. If freedom of thought is not similarly protected, democracy is a self-limiting disease with suicidal tendencies.

Mr Farage himself has the persuasive skills of an Odysseus reborn. It is a pity then that many of his supporters would disgrace a race of alley cats. Doubtless, due to a defect in myself, I have an incapacity for resentment or intolerance. In the face of another man’s good fortune, or in the fact that I live in an area where there are as many immigrants as British natives, I am inert. A sceptic of all politicians and ideas, especially my own, I have never suffered a pang when the ideas of an opponent have prevailed. Thus I am never envious and it is impossible for me to empathise with those who are.

Faragism is immovably grounded on humanity’s baser instincts. This is not to say I have no sympathy with the view that the Tories have made a bit of a Horlicks of things. Avoidable blunders on immigration, transport, the delay of Brexit, net zero and the unforgivable sin of remaining in power too long and not defending our culture.

When statues of historical figures with alleged links to the slave trade were being torn down during lockdown (which I opposed, unlike Mr Farage), the Tories, under Boris Johnson, failed to distinguish themselves. But support for the Conservative Party is like that for the monarchy. The Tories, in their long history, have thrown up some bad apples, but this does not mean we should turn to acrimony and populism, becoming a nation of far-right Priti Patel nationalists who seek to leave the European Court of Human Rights (which would make us a pariah state like Russia and Belarus). This is Dignitas politics. I increasingly feel we expect too much from our governments and believe they have a panacea for our ills that does not exist.

Mr Farage, on the other hand, over-promises and has shown himself to be a man with a weakness for control. He would earn my respect far more if he would deter his herd from disposing with our great tradition of civil discourse.