The Duran Podcast - Farage Resigns, Makes Risky Bet. Le Pen Guilty But Wins

Episode Date: July 8, 2026

Farage Resigns, Makes Risky Bet. Le Pen Guilty But Wins

All right, Alexander, let's talk about Farage. Is Farage in trouble? Does he have some sort of scandal going on, or allegedly there's some sort of scandal? He's said that he is going to, he's not going to resign from reform, but he's stepping down from his parliament position. Is that correct? Well, I'll say, to answer your question, first of all, I'd say that he is. in trouble. I mean, he has definitely got himself into a very awkward situation. Now, he's the leader of reform. In 2024, he was elected to the House of Commons as an MP. He is the leader of a political

party. What has happened is that before he became, I believe, leader of the reform, and certainly before he became an MP, he was accepting large sums of money from various business people. When I say large sums of money, I mean very large sums of money, up to £5 million from a crypto billionaire, for example, and another significant donations from a person who was subsequently convicted of fraud. you know, interesting, complex people. And he didn't declare these sums. He didn't make public the fact that he was receiving these funds. Now, these were, let me stress, funds paid personally to him.

They were, if you like, gifts. I mean, five million pounds. Very big gift from someone. Now, he says that he wasn't required to declare them. He wasn't an MP. He wasn't at that time directly involved in politics. He was under no obligation to declare these gifts. The problem was Nigel Farage saying something like that,

is that Nigel Farage is always going to be a political person to some extent. And besides, when he did stand for Parliament, I think that the right and proper thing was not to worry about the rules, but just to announce to disclose the fact that he'd receive these gifts. Anyway, he didn't. He's now been found out. There's been a lot of criticism. It has undoubtedly damaged his reputation. Many people who supported reform and have supported him in the belief that he was different from other politicians.

don't like the fact, firstly, that he's been receiving these very large sums of money and not declaring them, and also that he's been hiding behind the rules, which is the sort of thing that lawyers do, not that straightforward man of the people type of people like Farage has previously presented himself to be due. Having said that, he is Farage. He is the most skillful, politician in some respects in Britain today. And today he did something which is outside the expectations of normal politics. Most people thought that because of this scandal, he would announce that he was pulling out of politics. I know that there were a lot of expectations that that was what he was going to do. he did something completely different.

He said that he was going to resign from Parliament and then trigger a by-election in his constituency, which is Clacton, and then stand again for election to Parliament in that constituency, and that he's going to ask the people to support him. And of course, he's giving his own accounts of all of these various financial things that have happened, He says that it was to protect him from harassment, that he's not been treated properly by the political class, that this is his way of fighting back. I'm not sure it's going to work, but it's something unexpected. It's classic Farage.

If anybody can make it work, it will be him. So the one guy that gave him, these were gifts? I mean, I don't understand what, so the one guy was indicted in the U.S. jailed for eight months in the U.S. in 2017 after pleading guilty to a charge of wire fraud. Yes. I mean, were these for services rendered? Because everything I'm reading right now, Alexander is saying gifts. What kind of person gives these?

I've never received these types of gifts. I mean... Well, Alex, you're absolutely right. I mean, it doesn't look good. I mean, I don't think anybody should pretend that it does. Many people are using much stronger words. They're saying these are not gifts. They're bribes.

I mean, I say that. I've heard people say that. That's BBC. CNN is saying gifts. Everybody else is saying gifts. Farage is giving his own explanation. for them. I mean, you can take his explanations for what they are. You could say that these are admirers who gave this money to Farage because they admired him

for all that he has already achieved in politics, his campaign for Brexit, his success in delivering Brexit, all of that. He also says that these. was provided to him because of the enormous harassment that he's received, which is true, by the way, and in order to protect him from the harassment that he's been receiving. So he's giving explanations whether people will find these explanations convincing is another matter. What he's trying to do is he's trying to put his case essentially to the British people by calling this by-election in Glacton in his constituency.

So it's a very high-risk gamble. I mean, if it fails, then he's out of politics. I mean, it would be the end of his career. If it succeeds, then there's a whole set of new problems because he's under investigation. The mere fact that he's won a parliamentary by-election doesn't mean that the investigation stops, even if he's re-elected to Parliament,

It can continue. If the investigation concludes that he's acted improperly, then he is suspended from the House of Commons, which means that there has to be yet another election in Clacton. And I don't know whether he's able to stand in that election. I presume not. So, you know, this is a very, very messy scandal. And, well, quite possibly, Farage is going to provide his explanations for what happened.

But I think that if he had nothing to hide, then he would have been much better advised before he stood for Parliament in 2024 to have declared the fact that he'd received these very large sums of money and to have given his explanations then. Yeah, of course. I received a five million pound gift from this crypto investor in April 2024 before he entered parliament. He could have said, I received this gift for the reasons that you outlined, Alexander, because I've been debanked. He says here because of his personal security in the future. Okay, he could have said these things. True, not true. I mean, he could have disclosed this and then, you know, the people would have voted and that would have that. Exactly. Why was this not disclosed? Actually, the one, the one gift from this Thailand-based British crypto investor was, that one emerged last year. Yes. Yes. So that one was already

out there, I guess, and now more have come to light. He did, he did disclose. This is the other thing, he does appear to have disclosed other gifts that he received previously for the financier who's been convicted in the US. Now, I'm not sure because these gifts might have been of a different character. But anyway, I mean, the point is this, I mean, he may have, and I don't want to preempt this, he may have a legal case, but this is not a court of law, this is politics, he's, he's stood before the British people as the man of the people and all of that. He said that he would talk straight to people. That has been one of the great attractions up to now of Nigel Farage.

Him hiding behind legal arguments also politically doesn't look good. Yeah. So let me read you, yeah, let me read you something from our favorite news source, the BBC. Yeah. But I'm going to read you something about the 12-month rule, and then we'll talk a little bit about LaPen as well. Got some news there. The 12-month rule, Parliament's rulebook says newly elected MPs have to declare gifts or benefits, including accommodation received in the 12 months before their election that relate to their parliamentary or political activities. There is an exemption for gift and benefits that are purely personal, the guidelines say MPs should consider both the possible motive of the giver and the use to which the gift is to be put when deciding whether to make a declaration.

What do you think of that statement? Well, it's a very complicated rule, as you can tell. And no doubt, all sorts of people receive all kinds of things. I mean, we mustn't be naive about the realities of British politics. All sorts of people receive all kinds of gifts from all sorts of people all the time in politics. There's nothing unusual in this. The point is that, again, it's Nigel Farage. He's presented himself as being outside the political class, somebody who acts differently. He might be able to rely on this very convoluted rule and say that he acted properly. He acted within the rule. But the people, wider people, people in the council estates, in the shops and the factories in all of those places, might not look kindly on this. To them, it might look as if Nigel Farage is talking like a lawyer, not like the man they assumed him to be. So this is this is, this is his problem now. Now, having said that, no one should underestimate Farage.

He has extraordinary skills as a campaigner, his ability to explain himself, the enormous goodwill he has from a large section of the British public. As I said, if anybody can pull this off with a by-election, it is Nigel Farage. But personally, I would repeat again what I said. I think he's taking a very, very big risk. And he may very well find when he does stand for re-election that a lot of support and sympathy has drained away. Very quickly, how will that affect reform? I think it will be very damaging for reform. I mean, as far as most people in Britain are concerned, reform is Nigel Farage.

I mean, there are other people in British politics who have similar views to his or who take his views even further, like Rupert, low, for example, who's beginning to win increasing amount of support. But realistically, if Farage is pulled down, then this is going to damage reform massively. And if you think that it's chance that all of this has come to light now, just as a new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, is appearing on the scene, who will probably call an election in a few months. If you think that this is chance, then I have a very lovely bridge to sell you. Nasty, nasty politics, political stuff, very nasty.

Very, very nice. Okay, very quick, Le Pen has been sentenced to three years in prison, two of them suspended. The remaining year will be served under house arrests. Her electoral ban has been altered, which means she is technically eligible to run for president. in 2027, I believe, is the election. Absolutely. So, in a sense, this is a kind of victory for Le Pen. And because to be absolutely clear about this.

And again, I hear I want to be very clear. I think Le Pen and the party were almost certainly guilty of the offense that they were charged with. I'm not making any excuses for them in the sense that what they did was wrong. I mean, they took money from the European Union for the, party's delegation to the European Parliament and they appropriated that money and they used it for other purposes for campaigns within France. The thing I would say about this is that I know quite a lot about French politics. I know quite a lot about French politicians. They are all doing this. There is nothing here that is unusual in French political terms. So Le Pen,

was undoubtedly about this, I have no doubt at all. This was a selective prosecution. And by the way, in principle, selective prosecution should not happen. And if people have been prosecuted for political reasons, then of course the proper thing is for a case to be thrown out because it's a fundamental principle of law that prosecutions must be brought in good faith. I don't think this one was.

So I have a lot more sympathy today, this moment, for Le Pen, in relation with this case, than I do say for Farage over the situation that he is in. Anyway, she was guilty. She's gone through this extraordinary legal process. It was clearly intended to prevent her standing for election as president of France. There was a massive backlash against it. The French understand their politics. and their politicians perfectly well,

they understand that the prosecution was selective. So the judges were under pressure. They didn't want to go back and throw out the whole case. But what they said was, yes, she is guilty, but she could stand for election, but she has to carry this bracelet. she's still a convicted person. There are still certain restrictions on how she can campaign.

So Le Pen now has to make a decision. Does she accept these restrictions? Does she accept the bracelet? Which, remember, is going to make her appear to use a word from American politics. It's intended to make it seem like a convicted felon. to use American political language and apply to France. Does she accept that and nonetheless throw herself into the election and campaign as president of France? Or does she do what she, as previously suggested, if the situation arose, refused to campaign on this kind of basis,

give her protégé, Joseph Bardela the support that he would want, and campaign instead for him. Well, I'm going to express here, my own opinion. She should look at what Donald Trump did. The fact that he was a convicted felon didn't stop him campaigning. He went ahead and fought the election and he won. If Marine Le Pen really believes that she is the sort of person who should lead France, then obviously she should campaign and stand for president of France.

Trump. I was thinking the same thing. That wanted poster of Trump's, right? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, she could use it to her advantage. I just wonder if what Trump did in the United States carries over to the electorate in France as well. Very different culture, very different style of politics. I think, I still think, that it would be the right thing for her to do, politically speaking, and I think it would work in France much as it did in the United States. there is, of course, a fundamental difference, which is that, of course, Marine Le Pen is not Donald Trump. I mean, she does not have his extraordinary skill in campaigning. She's not, by the way, a particularly good campaign.

I think that's one thing to say. I mean, she doesn't have that ability to go before a crowd, to work the crowd in the way that Donald Trump does. She doesn't have that enormous sense of, you know, the French people that. Donald Trump has of the American people. And there is that difference. But nonetheless, it's as if she's serious, if she really believes that she is the right person to lead France, then she should not let a bracelet stand in her way, given the decision that the court is now being forced to make. Yeah, she's been wanting this for a while. I don't see her giving giving it away now.

Absolutely. I do think so. I don't think so. The question for me is, will she use it successfully in her favor? Will she not be able to do it because she doesn't have, as I said, those kind of political skills? It's up to her. But it's up to her. It depends now very much on her abilities as a politician.

All right. We will end the video there. The durand.com. We're on X. We're on Rumble. We're on telegram. Go to the Duran shop, pick up some merch. also check us out on the substack as well. Those links are in the description box down below.

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