Farage has quit his Clacton seat…but will stand in the subsequent by-election (Image: Getty)
To describe Nigel Farage as a Marmite politician would be something of an understatement.
His disciples – and there are many – love him. The so-called Establishment – his sworn enemy – hates him and everything he stands for.
Divisive? Absolutely. Partisan? Of course. Radical? Without a doubt. Dogmatic? Unquestionably.
For many years he was the Patron Saint of Lost Causes – the St. Jude of politics.
But what really cheesed off a very long list of rivals over a great many years has been his ability to stay the course. To them he was – is – a bad penny who just will not disappear.
For much of his life Farage has been a voice in the wilderness, an outsider shouting into the wind.
But that changed in 2016 when Brexit was delivered – the culmination of a decades-long crusade to free Britain from Europe.
It was a democratic exercise so profound and a result so unexpected that millions will never forgive him for it.
The personal cost has been immense.
Farage, 64, divorced, remarried, split from his second wife, beat cancer, survived a near-fatal plane crash and an attempt on his life while campaigning for the UK to quit the bloc.
But to him it was worth it because he delivered the biggest prize of his life and with it Britain’s ability to take back control.
Farage has quit his Clacton seat but will stand in the subsequent by-election (Image: Getty)
Notwithstanding his current local difficulty it is not beyond the realms of possibility he will become prime minister.
And that really has sent the status quo into meltdown.
Farage has made many questionable acquaintances – a few of them have even been jailed – and is not known for being a details man. Neither is he much keen on scrutiny.
So interest in his relationship with George Cottrell – a convicted fraudster known as “Posh George” who it is claimed provided undeclared funding for security and staffing in the year before he was elected as an MP (as well as the use of a five-storey Georgian town house) has irked him.
Farage also faces a parliamentary probe into a £5m gift from cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne.
His flip-flopping over it was a masterclass in tying himself in knots. Was it a no-strings gift? A reward for delivering Brexit? Or to pay for security?
Farage is on the ropes and it shows. He is weary and looking much older than his 64 years.
So what of his decision to stand down as an MP to trigger a by-election in his Clacton constituency?
It is an election in which he will stand.
It amounts to the biggest gamble of his life and one he hopes will force people to put up or shut up.
This is Farage’s gunfight at the O.K. Corral – the people versus the status quo.
With all the major parties saying they won’t contest the seat, victory is assured.
But regardless of the result, Farage still faces two investigations over donations.
It is entirely conceivable another by-election will follow the result of that outcome, potentially meaning two in six months.
The Tories and Labour would surely contest this second fight.
Farage will then claim there are no depths to which the Establishment will not plunge.
And the scrutiny? Well, it will only intensify.
He might not like it but he is fast finding out that as a man with ambitions on running the country nothing is off limits. Including his family.
He has two sons by his first wife Grainne, whom he divorced in 1997. He also has two daughters with his second, German Kirsten Mehr.
What worked in his favour for many years was his apparent irrelevance. The parties he led were sideshow protests. That is no longer the case.
Farage was the outsider in Brussels since the 1990s – four different decades as a Trojan horse. The ultimate turkey who voted for Christmas.
After the EU referendum he said he had won the argument, but the price is that he has no life – and never will.
Farage’s latest flounce is the result of a totting up process of anger at those he is convinced are conspiring against him.
To him it’s a stitch up. He’s been framed.
He often claims that since his election to Parliament he has not claimed a single penny in personal expenses from Parliament. And that really annoyed those who continue to have their snouts in the trough.
When Labour triggered a phoney by-election to hasten the coronation of Andy Burnham no one batted an eyelid and all major parties fielded candidates.
But in Clacton they are sitting it out.
This will only strengthen the popularly-held opinion in Essex that the odds are deliberately weighted in favour of the Establishment.
And the truth is, actually, no one much cares about Farage’s financing, not when Labour’s first two Budgets increased taxes on British workers by £62bn and sent the tax burden to an historic high of 38.3% of GDP.
Or when official forecasts show 240,000 more people will be unemployed in 2026 than previously thought because of this government’s punitive policies.
And especially as welfare spending is estimated to top £333.7bn this year.
Farage hopes that in delivering what he considers to be a put up or shut up ultimatum his problems will disappear.
The reality is they are only just starting.
He called it years ago: he has no life – and never will.
Farage might be a Marmite figure but he won’t stop at anything until his enemies are toast.
He’s been dead and buried before but has proved himself to be a legislative lazarus.
And on past form, you’d be mad to bet against a man who has had more comebacks than Elvis Presley.