The launch of Farage’s new Brexit Party ‘forgot’ to address one major issue

Nigel Farage and the 'No Brexit Party' logo
Glen Black


Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage has launched his new political party. Farage said the Brexit Party would ask “the electorate… to begin a political revolution in the UK”. But pranksters sabotaged the launch before it even got off the ground.

“He can’t even register his own website”

Anti-Brexit campaigners Led By Donkeys tweeted on the morning of 12 April that Farage “forgot to register the website” for his new party. The tweet included a link to thebrexitparty.com. And Farage isn’t going to be happy about the site:

 

The linked website says

Nigel Farage wants to register a huge victory in the European elections, but he can’t even register his own website.

And it’s designed to parody the Brexit Party, including editing its logo to say “No Brexit Party”. The website goes on to say that Farage’s role in the leave vote created the “biggest, most passionate pro-European movement” on the continent. To this end, it encourages readers to vote against Farage in the European elections taking place between 23 and 26 May.

The Brexit Party’s own website is registered to a .org address. Domain registration details show the .org address was registered on 20 January 2019 while the .com address was registered on 26 October 2018:

Domain details showing dates for brexitparty.org and brexitparty.com

So it appears that Farage’s party did indeed forget to register the address before pranksters got there first.

Meanwhile, Led By Donkeys’ website wasn’t the only parody site created by pro-EU campaigners. Another one appeared at the fitting address of thebrexitparty.eu.

Art

The public response to Led By Donkeys was magic. By midday on 12 April, more than 7,500 people shared and nearly 20,000 people liked the tweet. There was a flood of support for the action:

Meanwhile, others saw it as a sign that Farage isn’t very bright:

Some said they’d donate to Led By Donkeys, who use the money to buy billboard space reminding pro-Brexit politicians of their failed promises:

One person even called on Twitter account Art Decider to find out if this prank was a work of art. The result?

Failed revolution

The Brexit Party reportedly received £750,000 donations in just ten days. And Farage said the party would field 70 candidates in the May elections. These included financial journalist Annunziata Rees-Mogg, who is the sister of Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Farage wrote that the candidates will “put the confidence back into British politics” and that the party will:

not only… support a clean break from the European Union, but also to begin a political revolution in the UK.

But Led By Donkeys has shown the party isn’t even capable of getting its website together in good time. Thankfully, that doesn’t bode well for Farage and his high hopes.

Featured image via Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons and thebrexitparty.com

We need your help ...

The coronavirus pandemic is changing our world, fast. And we will do all we can to keep bringing you news and analysis throughout. But we are worried about maintaining enough income to pay our staff and minimal overheads.

Now, more than ever, we need a vibrant, independent media that holds the government to account and calls it out when it puts vested economic interests above human lives. We need a media that shows solidarity with the people most affected by the crisis – and one that can help to build a world based on collaboration and compassion.

We have been fighting against an establishment that is trying to shut us down. And like most independent media, we don’t have the deep pockets of investors to call on to bail us out.

Can you help by chipping in a few pounds each month?

The Canary Support us

Related articles