Farage Apology? Never!

Farage’s refusal to apologise is often explained as ego or bloody mindedness. That still understates what is going on. This is not a man misreading the room. It is a man performing for a business model.

The evidence is no longer a single accusation or a hazy memory. It is dozens of former pupils and staff independently describing the same behaviour. The response has followed a familiar sequence. It did not happen. If it did, it was exaggerated. If it was said, it was banter. If people were offended, that is on them. Each step is a retreat, not a rebuttal.

There is an obvious alternative, and we have seen it work. Public figures have apologised for youthful stupidity, owned it plainly, and moved on. Justin Trudeau apologised for blackface. Gordon Brown apologised for homophobic language he used when young. David Miliband apologised for student political material that used antisemitic language. The pattern is always the same: it happened, it was wrong, I am not that person now. In most cases, the story dies because there is nothing left to argue about.

Farage knows that playbook and refuses it, because apologies break populism. His brand is grievance and defiance. He is never wrong, only targeted. Any concession punctures that persona and invites awkward follow up questions about judgement, pattern, and how youthful attitudes relate to later rhetoric on migrants, Islam and British identity. Denial shuts that down. Apology opens it up.

His base also punishes contrition. Refusal is read as strength. Criticism is proof of an elite stitch up. From a narrow electoral perspective, the incentives are clear.

But there is more. Reform is drifting uncomfortably close to responsibility, and the results are not flattering. Reform run councils are struggling. Several mayoral candidates have become embarrassments through incompetence or scandal. Governing requires delivery. Opposition only requires noise. The closer Reform gets to power, the more exposed its lack of seriousness becomes.

Then there is the financial incentive. Farage does not make his money by governing. He makes it by being permanently outraged on the outside. Media contracts, speaking fees, donations, clicks, attention. All of it depends on conflict, not competence. Being a martyr is lucrative. Being accountable is not. A softened, apologetic Farage is a less valuable Farage.

Seen through that lens, the behaviour stops looking irrational. It is deliberate polarisation. Waverers are sacrificed. The base is hardened. Reform stays loud, aggrieved and safely insulated from expectation. Failure can always be blamed on others, while the revenue streams keep flowing.

So yes, there is evidence. Yes, there is a clear exit ramp. And yes, he knows it. The refusal is not an accident. It is self sabotage with a purpose. Better to remain a well paid irritant on the outside than risk exposure, responsibility and boredom on the inside.

He demands apologies from everyone else as a condition of respectability. When it is his turn, he discovers that apologies are weakness, history is irrelevant, and responsibility is for other people.