By Ayesha Begum, Senior Editor
Recently, there have been rumours circulating the internet that Nigel Farage, former UKIP leader ,Brexit Party leader and co-founder, is said to be receiving a knighthood after Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen told Good Morning Britain that he had sent a letter to Boris Johnson, recommending that Farage receive a knighthood, according to Grazia Daily.
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Recently, there have been rumours circulating the internet that Nigel Farage, former UKIP leader, Brexit Party leader and co-founder, is said to be receiving a knighthood after Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen told Good Morning Britain that he had sent a letter to Boris Johnson, recommending that Farage receive a knighthood, according to Grazia Daily.
However, Farage in the past has stated that he would decline a knighthood if offered, so the likelihood of this occurring is arguably low.
The mere idea that Farage had even been considered for something that is supposedly only reserved to the best of the best, including those with a clean record in regards to areas such as racism and xenophobia, is outlandish.
In early December of 2019, Channel 4 released a documentary which details the racism and xenophobia unashamedly apparent in the Brexit Party through a series of undercover investigations. It could be argued that the views of the members of the party do not directly affect the leader of the party, however, there does often tend to be a correlation.
There has already been evidence of Farage’s own discriminatory views as in 2016, Farage was photographed standing in front of anti-migrant ,xenophobic propaganda, produced in favour of the Brexit Party.
This also shows that, as much as people would like to deny their own prejudiced views, migration is a large factor of this whole Brexit ‘game’ ,and it is something that has been used to incite fear and create social conflict.
The fact that such rampant prejudice is visible in this party reflects the leader’s reluctance to address the problem or even acknowledge that this is actually a problem.
Another politician that has been speculated of receiving a knighthood is Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith. Some may be more aware of this news because of a petition that has received over 175,000 signatures (at the time of writing this) condemning this knighthood be given.
The primary reason there is so much outrage over this is due to Smith being the MP that initially pitched the idea of Universal Credit at the 2010 annual Conservative conference.
Prior to Universal Credit, there were six separate types of benefits individuals who were unemployed or who had a low income could claim, including things like Housing Benefit and Child Tax Credit. Iain Duncan Smith rolled all of these benefits into one single benefit to be implemented as Universal Credit by the 2013 Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government in order to simplify the benefit system and encourage paid work.
This may seem like an effective plan at first glance, however, this has meant that individuals are receiving less money as a result in comparison to the previous ‘legacy benefit’ system where these benefits were separately paid. Moreover, initial payment of Universal Credit is made 5 weeks after claiming benefits which can put some into debt due to the long waiting period. After that, claimants continue to wait for monthly payments, even after governments have made pledges to make payments more frequent and pay landlords directly themselves.
Universal Credit is all but effective when the use and dependence of food banks has increased astronomically since 2010, from around 40,000 to 1.4 million. It is all but effective when a single father commits suicide with just £4.61 left in his bank account after a 3 week wait for Universal Credit, arguing that his children would be better off without him. It is understandable as to why the architect of such a system should not be be honoured by the monarchy and receive financial support when he himself has made others financially unstable.
Some may argue that comparing the Brexit Party leader and a Conservative MP is insane, however, they have a lot more in common that some realise, especially when it comes to housing the far right. It should be remembered that it was in fact a Conservative MP that requested that Farage receive a knighthood.
It is strange that select individuals can be given luxuries and have worries lifted from them just for, supposedly, making some sort of viable, long term contribution to society. Surely, that is the objective of all individuals, to help others in some form or another in order to create a better life for everyone, without any incentive or need to be rewarded - it is something that should be expected due to the collectiveness of man, rather than something that is praised due its ‘rarity’.
The only time I can personally think of where a knighthood awarded in unconventional circumstances (as I assume knighthood is not usually given to notorious bigots and those who have increased levels of austerity) can be celebrated is in the television series ‘Merlin’; Arthur Pendragon becomes King of Camelot and, unlike his father and predecessor, knights those who he believes are worthy and are skilled, rather than enforcing exclusive requirements such as hailing from noble families.
In fact, one could argue that knighthood and the whole monarchy that it is derived from is something that, perhaps, is best suited for the past and fiction.
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