The British far right is stalling — so why is nobody talking about it?

It has been a truly torrid summer — and not just because of the unprecedented heatwave. Britain's political climate, too, has hotted up, with its newly minted revolving-door politics producing the country's seventh prime minister in 10 years.

But the real story has been the loutish behaviour of Britain's increasingly lumpenised far right after it went on the rampage attacking asylum seekers and provoking race riots in parts of the country. Yet this may also be a sign of its growing desperation to remain in the news amid indications that it has begun to run out of steam, having exhausted its one-point anti-immigration agenda.

Much of the media, however, continues to play up the story of the far right's extraordinary rise and how it represents the failure of multiculturalism and the bankruptcy of mainstream liberal and centrist politics.

A whole new vocabulary has grown around this narrative, with terms such as 'resurgent', 'unstoppable' and 'relentless rise of the extreme right' being routinely used, even by left-leaning publications such as the Guardian, New Statesman and Independent.

All this has fed the impression, particularly outside Britain, that the far right is on a roll. But behind the headlines and hype is a different reality — one in which its best days may already be behind it. The reason is simple: so long as it was seen as an underdog bravely battling the 'establishment' to preserve Britain's Christian values, it was given an easy ride. But its success and accompanying fame have brought greater public scrutiny, and it is now failing embarrassingly to withstand it.

Skeletons have begun tumbling out of the closet, revealing a story of grubby deals, the murky pasts of rank-and-file members and the sheer incompetence of some of those elected to positions of power.

Even as I write this, Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, Britain's largest far-right party, is facing an inquiry by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards over accepting £5 million from Thailand-based cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne, as well as benefits in kind from convicted fraudster 'Posh' George Cottrell, ahead of the 2024 general election, without declaring them to the relevant authorities.

Farage, the infamous architect of Brexit — Britain's suicidal decision to leave the European Union 10 years ago — is no stranger to murky controversies and allegations of sleaze, not to mention racism. His party's flagship policy of deporting all foreign nationals is deeply rooted in xenophobia.

Indeed, much of his flock — a ragtag collection of dubious businessmen, sleazy venture capitalists and unruly street fighters — appears cast in his own unapologetically shifty mould.

Many of its recent recruits now occupying top positions are Tory defectors who jumped on Farage's gravy train after their party lost power two years ago — a defeat they blamed on its "soft" line on immigration. In other words, it was not xenophobic enough for their taste.

The party's recent electoral successes — it has eight MPs in the House of Commons, including Farage himself, and controls a number of local bodies — have exposed it to the sort of media and public scrutiny it escaped when it was perceived as an agent of change confronting a liberal establishment out of touch with ordinary working-class Britons.

Now that it has itself become part of the establishment, with Farage dreaming of becoming prime minister, it has nowhere to hide. Chinks have begun to show, resulting in a sharp decline in its popularity after a series of scandals and missteps — not least Farage's brazen attempt to avoid scrutiny over his financial dealings.

A party that until very recently was widely projected as a government-in-waiting, polling ahead of Labour and the Tories, is now trailing Labour and struggling to stay ahead of a revived Conservative Party under its new leader, Kemi Badenoch.

According to the latest YouGov poll, Labour has overtaken Reform UK for the first time in 18 months, as some of the party's 2024 voters return to the fold. Labour is now two points ahead of Farage's outfit. A YouGov survey for The Times found that Labour was backed by 24 per cent of voters, two points ahead of Reform UK on 22 per cent. It was Reform's lowest score since March last year.

'Its (Reform's) initial dramatic rise in the number of people saying they would vote for the party in a general election peaked at an average of 32 per cent last September. Since then, its standing has declined... By the beginning of last month it was down to 27 per cent,' the survey noted.

Reform's problems are part of a larger crisis brewing on the right. The movement has begun to fracture, with what was once a largely homogeneous force splitting into competing and increasingly cannibalising groups. This happens to successful political tendencies eventually, but rarely this early in their evolution.

Reform itself has split, with one of its erstwhile leading lights, MP Rupert Lowe, leaving to form Restore Britain, which positions itself further to the right of Reform and is snapping at its heels as it eats into its support.

Both Reform and Restore Britain are essentially one-man bands, heavily reliant on the clout, charisma and financial resources of their respective leaders. Until now, Reform was better placed because Farage is undoubtedly a more compelling political figure than Lowe. But if — as looks likely — his troubles linger for too long, the party could be in serious trouble, particularly if he is formally censured by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards over his financial affairs.

Individual parties apart, the right as a whole is facing an existential crisis because of its limited and overlapping agenda, focused almost solely on immigration — an issue also being pursued with considerable vigour by the two mainstream parties, Labour and the Conservatives.

Indeed, the latest figures suggest that the government's approach is working, with net migration now at its lowest level in years. This has left the right with few other credible policies to sell to its supporters. In sheer desperation, its leaders have therefore started talking about restricting welfare benefits, social housing and free health services to British nationals, while the rhetoric of 'British jobs for Brits' has grown louder.

Gordon Brown, the former Labour prime minister, tried a similar tactic to shore up his sinking leadership, but it did not work. Labour lost the next election. There is little reason to believe it will work now.

To cut a long story short, for all the media hype, the British right appears to have exhausted much of its potential and its appeal has plateaued. In a sense, it has become a victim of its own success — and will need to reinvent itself, as French and Italian right-wing parties have done, by diluting some of their hardline policies and softening their rhetoric to broaden their appeal.

The alternative does not bode well. Remember the British National Party (BNP) and English Defence League (EDL), headline far-right acts not too long ago? Both are now defunct, having splintered into smaller groups and faded from public view.

Reform and Restore Britain could be headed the same way if they do not change course — and quickly.

Hasan Suroor is an independent commentator. More by him here