Nigel Farage stays in the Conservative party

[Deleted]

Pretty self-explanatory. What if Farage doesn't leave the Tories in the early 1990s? 

[nobodyimportant]

The question is, why does he not leave? Is it because the Tories take a path that is more appealing to him? Is it because his own views shift to become more in line with Tory orthodoxy? Or something that has nothing to do with views in which case what is stopping him leaving later?

[Deleted]

Farage's actions do not exactly suggest a team player. He would not have been able to take over the Conservative Party and would have left as soon as that became clear regardless of anything else

[greenchristian]

Jun 10, 2024 18:38:04 GMT swingometer said:

Jun 6, 2024 19:34:45 GMT @weld said:

Pretty self-explanatory. What if Farage doesn't leave the Tories in the early 1990s? 

Not possible, in order for him to stay the Tories would never have signed up to Maastricht, given he felt that strongly about it, without that UKIP would never have come into being, he’d never have become an MEP, Reform UK wouldn’t exist, so in the end, he’s just a normal member like the rest of them. I don’t know whether he’d be selected as a parliamentary candidate, he has the charisma for it but would his banking career get in the way?

UKIP was founded by Alan Sked. Farage didn't join until later.

[tomc]

As previous comments have pointed out the premiss is not really reasonable. If Farage did stay in the Conservative Party but the party was otherwise the same as in the actual timeline then I doubt he'd be an MP and certainly not prominent.

The only interesting aspect is what happens to UKIP. The party will still get founded and whilst Farage dominated even early on being clearly the most able of the three 1999 MEPs there was enough demand for an anti EU party that it would still have grown. Perhaps Kilroy-Silk would end up leading it in the early 2000s which would likely make it less Thatcherite economically.