Nigel Farage is outraged! The cause of his latest indignation? A decision by the “PC mad, loony” Bank of England (BoE) to remove historical figures from British banknotes, replacing them with British wildlife. A decision, Farage claims, that is the very “definition of woke”.
Fisticuffs over a fiver
Farage’s focus thus far has been on the proposed removal of Winston Churchill from the £5 note. Having regularly invoked Churchill in the framing of his own political arguments, he has been known, on occasion, to misrepresent the former prime minister’s views, not least on Europe.
It is unclear whether Farage is equally concerned about the removal of JMW Turner, Jane Austen or Alan Turing, assuming he’s even heard of them. As for Farage’s attitude towards wildlife, his support for fox hunting and badger culling is perhaps all you need to know.
Manufactured outrage
It will come as no surprise that Reform UK Limited has been joined on this particular soapbox by the Tories. Kemi Badenoch described the decision as “deeply depressing that under Labour our national heroes are considered too ‘divisive’ to be on banknotes”, despite the fact that the decision was made by the Bank of England, not the government.
Writing for The Telegraph, former Conservative cabinet minister, Tom Tugendhat described the proposal as telling “a dismal story of national decline”, adding on X that it amounted to “forgetting who we are, what made our country great and who we can become”.
More surprising was to see leader of the LibDems, Ed Davey, also jump on the bandwagon, claiming this was the “worst time to do this”. He obviously hadn’t read the brief explaining that it would be a “few years” before the new notes enter into circulation.
A relatively modern tradition
With so much fuss being made over his replacement, many would be forgiven for thinking that Churchill had featured on a fiver since the second world war. In fact, non-royals have only featured on British banknotes since 1970, and Churchill only for the past 10 years.
Considering how often we hear cries of ‘patriotism’, or lack thereof, from right-wingers, why did we not hear similar protestations when other historic figures – not least Elgar, of Land of Hope and Glory fame – were removed from our currency. As for Darwin, Shakespeare, Dickens, Nightingale and other famous Britons, I suspect they too would fall under Farage’s inaccurate definition of ‘woke’.
The public choice
What has been completely overlooked by the outrage brigade is the background to the decision, and the involvement of the British public. The BoE’s chief cashier confirmed that banknotes are regularly redesigned “to increase counterfeit resilience”, adding that the new proposals were a way to “celebrate different aspects of the UK”.
As to the involvement of the public, a consultation process asked 44,000 people which themes they would like to see on the next banknotes. The outcome was that 60% chose ‘nature’ as one of their preferred options, with ‘architecture and landmarks’ coming a close second with 56%. Some way behind in third place was ‘historical figures’ with 38%, so you could say that Churchill’s removal was the “will of the people”. A small detail that Farage has chosen to overlook.
The wrong focus
With the wealthy in our country continuing to get richer at the expense of the less well off, if there’s an argument to be had over banknotes, this isn’t it. Farage’s fabricated outrage only serves to stir up discontent, the only thing he’s any good at. It does nothing to solve the problems of those whose only concern regarding British banknotes is whether they’ll have enough of them to pay their bills.
Farage, with his many sources of income and seemingly unlimited expenses and donations, does not have those worries. Nor, it seems, will he ever understand what it feels like to be in that precarious position. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a few banknotes short of a full wallet.
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