On 7 July, Nigel Farage stepped down as an MP. As a consequence of this, he was no longer an MP, and could no longer perform the duties of a Member of Parliament.
Anyway, here he is complaining about the consequences of his own actions:
NEW: Nigel Farage hits out at Andy Burnham for not inviting him
“It’s now clear that Burnham is conspiring behind closed doors to foist further tax rises on the country. The fact Davey and Badenoch are going tells you all you need to know… this is the uniparty in action” https://t.co/Wt6mSbpwPG
— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) July 28, 2026
Farage reaping
As we reported, many believe that Farage stepped down as an MP to draw attention away from his ongoing financial scandals. If so, it didn’t really work, because the move attracted more attention if anything – especially as his main opponent is a man who pretends to be an alien with a bin for a head:
Labour, Tories, Lib Dems and Greens: I demand you stand down in Clacton. I will be a unity candidate and pledge to build at least one affordable house.
Nigel Farage says he wants The People versus the Establishment. So be it.
Leave him to me.
— Count Binface (@CountBinface) July 7, 2026
You’ll note that Farage isn’t the only political leader left out. Andy Burnham failed to invite Zack Polanski of the Green Party too, and understandably so. Polanski isn’t an MP; he’s a London Assembly Member. Similarly, SNP leader John Swinney and Plaid Cymru leader Rhun al Lorwerth aren’t MPs either.
To be a bit fairer to Farage’s position, the not-invited parties do have sitting MPs. As such, Burnham could have invited a representative of each to attend talks. We know that Burnham will speak to representatives too, because he’ll be doing so with the Tories:
Kemi Badenoch can’t make it, so Shadow Health Secretary Stuart Andrew will attend instead
— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) July 29, 2026
It’s still funny that Farage is upset that the government didn’t invite him personally, anyway, because this is a mess of his own making.
Numbers
Being less fair to Farage again, it’s perhaps understandable that Burnham only approached the Tories and Lib Dems when you look at the number of sitting MPs each party has:
The truth is that Burnham doesn’t need to speak to anyone. Speaking on this, Sky’s Sophy Ridge said:
Andy Burnham has a House of Commons majority so he technically doesn’t need opposition party votes – but things could be very tricky without them (remember the “death tax”?) and many other PM’s dreams of lasting social care reform have been crushed by political reality
Burnham says this is the one issue he’s prepared to expend his political capital on… and judging by the early signs he might need to
The Tories are unwilling to back any proposal which involves a tax. Reform politicians and the Daily Mail being similarly incensed about the idea of a “10% levy on ALL inheritances to fund social care”. We suspect people would accept have a 10% tax on their estate if it spares their loved ones from years or decades of free care work, but we’ll see.
Ed Davey of the Lib Dems, meanwhile, has suggested his support may be reliant on the Tories backing it, stating:
The current system is broken. I think everyone can agree to that. I just hope that all parties can go into these talks in a way which is desperately trying to find a solution.
I mean, we’re so determined to make this succeed, if we can find a proposal that both Labour and the Conservatives sign up to, we’ll back it, even if it’s not our preferred option.
Nobody
While it’s funny to laugh at Farage making his involvement impossible, it’s very possible Burnham wouldn’t have invited him either way. Reform doesn’t have that many MPs, and Farage is clearly going to act as a spoiler no matter what’s on the table.
We’ll see what happens when Farage returns to Parliament anyway (if he’s able to beat the bin).
Featured image via the Canary
By Willem Moore
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