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Farage quits parliament to force high-stakes by-election · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: Nigel Farage, the leader of the right wing populist Performed
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  Speaker 1: UK Party, has resigned as a member of the UK Parliament.
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  Speaker 1: Farage has faced weeks of mounting allegations about his finances,
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  Speaker 1: including an investigation over a five million pound gift from
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  Speaker 1: a cryptocurrency billionaire. In a pre recorded statement, Farage insisted
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  Speaker 1: he has broken no laws and he accused the media
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  Speaker 1: of endangering his family's privacy. His resignation will trigger a
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  Speaker 1: local election and Farage has filed to fight for his seat.
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  Speaker 1: Let's get more on this now from DWS burget Mass
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  Speaker 1: in London. Burgett, should we read this resignation as Farage
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  Speaker 1: acknowledging a mistake or is this just him grabbing the
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  Speaker 1: media spotlight and trying to strengthen his political profile.
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  Speaker 2: In a way Terry, it was quite a bit of
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  Speaker 2: a bombshell announcement that really kept these Westminster people on
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  Speaker 2: the edge of their seat because the speculation was could
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  Speaker 2: he maybe really resign from public life over these continued
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  Speaker 2: investigations that he's facing over his financial affairs. But no,
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  Speaker 2: he did say that he would resign, but then he
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  Speaker 2: also said that he would stand again and this next
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  Speaker 2: in the coming by elections. So basically what I think
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  Speaker 2: what he's trying to do is trying to gain the
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  Speaker 2: political momentum, basically trying to be exonerated by voters. So
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  Speaker 2: there are continued questions about his finances. But in case
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  Speaker 2: he did win these elections, basically the same seat that
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  Speaker 2: he has at the moment, but just stepping back and
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  Speaker 2: then being re elected, so that would make him he
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  Speaker 2: could argue that he has the trust of the voters
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  Speaker 2: and whatever the parliamentary watchdogs decide, it's kind kind of
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  Speaker 2: irrelevant because he has already been elected again. So I
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  Speaker 2: think it's it's in a way of drawing attention away
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  Speaker 2: from these allegations over being unscrupulous with donations and trying
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  Speaker 2: to regain the political momentum.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, So for US's resignation will trigger a by election,
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  Speaker 1: and as you say, he plans to run again. Win.
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  Speaker 1: Is victory though likely to be straightforward for him or
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  Speaker 1: could there be surprises?
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  Speaker 2: Of course there could there could be surprises. He does
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  Speaker 2: have a comfortable majority and reform his party that he
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  Speaker 2: is the leader of. It's it's in leading in the
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  Speaker 2: opinion polls and the victory that he had in his
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  Speaker 2: constituency and collect on the seeds are neglected. Many people
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  Speaker 2: would probably say little town on the English coast, and
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  Speaker 2: he had a comfortable majority, and I think he is
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  Speaker 2: leading in the opinion polls, but then again you can
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  Speaker 2: never be sure if those maybe yeah, a progressive alliance
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  Speaker 2: maybe against him. He is Also there is another party
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  Speaker 2: who was outflanking his party on the right, so and
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  Speaker 2: Immigration Restore Party, and they have been basically up and coming.
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  Speaker 2: So there has been this slight loss of momentum that
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  Speaker 2: Nigel Farage and his Reform Party had enjoyed since the
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  Speaker 2: last general elections. And one part of the loss of
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  Speaker 2: the momentum was also the continued speculation about Nigral Ferrag's
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  Speaker 2: personal wealth and what kind of donations he's accepted and
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  Speaker 2: why he hasn't declared all of them, and so all
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  Speaker 2: of this creates some sort of uncomfortable background for Nigel
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  Speaker 2: Farrage and we will hope that through this stepping back,
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  Speaker 2: but then he will hope that he will be re
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  Speaker 2: elected again that he can basically regain this momentum for himself.
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  Speaker 1: So there are allegations swirling around, are there outstanding legal
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  Speaker 1: questions regarding Farage?
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  Speaker 2: Here?
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  Speaker 1: And does resigning as an MP and maybe being reelected
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  Speaker 1: do anything to resolve the matter.
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  Speaker 2: So as it stands, Niro Ferras is investigated by the
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  Speaker 2: Parliamentary Watchdog and he has u he's facing allegations about
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  Speaker 2: money that he has not declared. This is according to
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  Speaker 2: newspaper reports that he has declared and not declared where
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  Speaker 2: he has used it for staff and for housing and
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  Speaker 2: for his security. But there is already another investigation and
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  Speaker 2: as far as I know, unrelated to this new one,
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  Speaker 2: which is about a five million pound donation by a
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  Speaker 2: Thailand based crypto billionaire, and Nigro Feras has argued that
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  Speaker 2: this was a personal gift and it didn't have to
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  Speaker 2: declare it. But the Parliamentary Watchdog is on his case
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  Speaker 2: and if he does step down then this investigation might
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  Speaker 2: be holded. But in case he's the MP again, these
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  Speaker 2: questions will not go away. They will come back, and
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  Speaker 2: some observer even say there are possibly more investigations into
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  Speaker 2: his personal world, which is quite something. He's one of
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  Speaker 2: the highest earners or in the Westminster Parliament. He has
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  Speaker 2: several properties, he's very successful, has been a very successful
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  Speaker 2: business man also in the past, so he has even
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  Speaker 2: though he defines himself as an outsider and outside the establishment,
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  Speaker 2: but he does have quite a bit of personal wealth
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  Speaker 2: and is coming under increasing scrutiny how he has amassed.
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  Speaker 1: It, bigot, thank you so much. That was dws Burgert
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  Speaker 1: mass in London.