Yesterday (October 7th), a car mounted the pavement outside the Natural History Museum in London (one of the most popular in all of the United Kingdom with over four million visitors in 2016). Eleven people were injured, with nine taken to hospital for leg and head injuries. Almost all were released with minor injuries less than 24 hours later.

In a year that has already experienced several terrorist attacks in major cities across Europe (including more than one in London involving a car), there was initial speculation that this was the case once more.

However, without knowing all the facts, one would assume that not jumping to conclusions would be the most sensible course of action. After all, what good would that do in a city that has already been put on high alert too often this year?

Nigel Farage thought otherwise and was very quickly letting his opinions be known on Fox News, declaring that while there was “nothing official”, this was “clearly” being treated as a terrorist attack by the Metropolitan Police. He also added that “we have 3000 suspected terrorists living in the UK,” just in case Fox News viewers were not sufficiently terrified by the state of affairs going on across the pond.

Not long after Farage's scaremongering, the Met.

Police did indeed release a statement, stating that the incident is being treated as a “traffic collision” and have since released the man responsible pending further investigation. Farage was forced to backtrack on his allegations, though still maintaining that the police presence indicates “the state of high alert the country finds itself in.”

Who is Nigel Farage?

While giving his unverified opinions on Fox News, Farage was described as a “Brexit leader” and, while not true in any real sense, it is the issue that has come to define him.

Farage began his political career in earnest in the early 1990s. He was a founding member of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), a right-wing party whose main objective has been the removal of the UK from the European Union. He was the leader of the party from 2006-2016 (a time that included a couple of brief resignations and a lot of scandals), resigning for good shortly after the Brexit vote passed last year.

What can America expect from Farage?

While he has failed to be elected seven times to UK parliament, he has been a Member of European Parliament since 1999. However, following his resignation as leader of UKIP, Farage has been increasingly active in the USA, having been an early supporter of the Trump presidency (he was famously photographed with Trump, celebrating shortly after his victory in November, in a golden elevator – solidifying his status as a real 'man of the people'). Hillary Clinton even has an opinion on Farage, outlined in her new book, What Happened, and it is not positive.

Farage is now a regular contributor on Fox News and even turned up last week at a rally for Roy Moore in his bid to become the Republican senator from Alabama, introducing Steve Bannon.

Moore's own questionable policies (anti-Islam, anti-abortion, pro-gun, pro-fundamentalism etc.) may not directly reflect those of Farage, but they are indicative of his slimy, political 'flexibility'. He may have tried to avoid comparisons over the years to the more militant right-wing groups in the UK and Europe, but he has also endorsed France's Marine Le Pen and spoken at a rally for Germany's far-right party, Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Farage has carefully tried to construct himself as an everyman, in spite of his private school education and early career as a city banker. He is all too happy to lap up the praise for Brexit (though he almost immediately left Britain and British politics after it happened), despite the fact that he has never held any elected political office in the UK.

Be wary, America, and don't be tricked into thinking that this is a man who has achieved his objectives in the UK and is now looking for a new challenge stateside – he is a commentator on the political fringes, raging against the march of progress and glorifying an imagined past. Nigel Farage is searching for what has remained elusive to him over the past 25 years in the UK: relevancy.
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