Alexander Rooney is Chairman of the Clwyd East Conservative Association.
There’s a quote that’s been bouncing around my head lately:
“When small men begin to cast big shadows, it means the sun is about to set.” – Lin Yutang
In British politics today, that long shadow belongs to Nigel Farage. And unless we act decisively, the sun may well be setting not just on the Conservative Party, but on the very seriousness of British political discourse.
Farage is a man of big gestures and bold claims, but behind the curtain, it’s all noise and no plan. His brand of politics is designed for television soundbites, not policy detail. He promises the moon, while openly admitting he hasn’t worked out how to pay for the rocket.
Consider his recent statements. On immigration and tax, he boldly proclaims sweeping reforms without the faintest idea of how they would legally or economically be implemented. When pressed on details, he shrugs. “We’ll work it out,” he says. That might fly in a pub debate. It doesn’t cut it when you’re asking for the keys to Number 10.
Farage isn’t building a serious movement; he’s building a mirror. He reflects public anger without offering structure. He capitalises on economic anxiety, cultural confusion, and genuine frustration with Westminster, only to weaponise it for personal gain. This isn’t leadership. Its performance.
What makes this so dangerous is not the scale of his vision, but its emptiness.
We live in an era where populism thrives on vacuum. And in that void, people like Farage rise. Not because they’ve earned it, but because others have failed to communicate a compelling alternative.
And this is where we, as Conservatives, must shoulder our share of the blame. We’ve allowed the narrative to be hijacked not just by the left, but by the reckless fringe of the right. While Labour stumbles with half-truths and historic revisionism, Farage is busy pretending that government is a talk show. All headline, no homework.
But Britain doesn’t need a showman. It needs statesmen.
What the British people want and desperately need is a politics rooted in British pride. Not nationalism. Not jingoism. Just a deep, steady belief in the values that built this country: resilience, fairness, pragmatism, and duty. This is the politics of Churchill, who once said:
“The price of greatness is responsibility.” It’s the politics of Thatcher, who reminded us: “Being powerful is like being a lady — if you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.”
We don’t need louder voices. We need steadier hands.
And that’s exactly what’s beginning to stir within the Conservative Party again. Under Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick, Chris Philip and other new voices in the shadow cabinet, we are seeing a move back to real Conservative values: policies shaped not by PR firms, but by subject matter experts. Housing policies designed by those who’ve built homes, education reform from those who’ve led classrooms, justice reforms crafted by people who’ve lived and breathed the system, not just studied it.
This is where our energy must go. Not fighting the noise but outpacing it. Not dancing to the tune of populists, but outworking them, outsmarting them, and ultimately, outlasting them.
We must be clear: the British people are not stupid. They know when someone’s selling them magic beans. But what they are craving is a reason to believe in politics again. We owe it to them to provide one.
That means being unapologetically proud of being British, not in a way that excludes others, but one that invites them to uphold the same values. If you live here, contribute here, raise your family here, and believe in the British way of life, then you are us. And you’re welcome.
But if you seek to undermine it, through extremism, exploitation, or a sense of entitlement rather than responsibility, then you do not belong. It’s that simple.
Farage’s shadow only grows in the absence of strong light. It’s time we shine brighter.
