Labour’s Andrew Tate attack ad won’t hurt Farage

Paywalled postscript: unsubstantiated and unseemly smears

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In a new attack ad to be launched today, Labour are attempting to link Nigel Farage with the controversial online influencer Andrew Tate.

The ad highlights comments Farage made on the ‘Strike It Big’ podcast last year, where he described Tate as “an important voice” for young men. Speaking to three male influencers in their twenties, Farage lamented what he saw as a cultural shift against traditional masculinity, saying:

“You three guys, you are all 25, you are all kind of being told you can’t be blokes, you can’t do laddish, fun, bloke things … that masculinity is something we should look down upon, something we should frown upon. It’s like the men are becoming feminine and the women are becoming masculine and it’s a bit difficult to tell these days who’s what.

This is the latest in an emerging pattern of increasingly aggressive – and increasingly bizarre - Labour attacks on Farage.

Initially, Keir Starmer’s team brushed Farage off as a mere populist. But as the size of the turquoise wave has gradually increased, Labour first attempted to cast doubt on his patriotic credentials. There have also been several attempts to damage Farage by linking him to unpopular figures; last year the Prime Minister accusing him earlier this year of “fawning over Putin”. The link to the Russian dictator has been stressed again recently, with Defence Seretary John Healy countering the suggestion the Reform deserve appointments to the House of Lords by stating that ‘We don’t need Putin apologists’.

Just last month, Labour frontbencher Peter Kyle attempted to claim Farage was on the side of sex offenders like Jimmy Savile, after the Reform leader criticised the government’s Online Safety Act.

This is part of Labour’s new ‘dark arts’ strategy. As reported in The Spectator, Downing Street has recently formed a dedicated “attack team” targeting Reform UK, under the direction of the Prime Minister’s close aide, Morgan McSweeney.

Rather than focusing directly on Nigel Farage, the unit is expected to concentrate its efforts on figures within his orbit to undermine the party’s credibility through its supporting cast. Farage has said he won’t respond, with a source close to Mr Farage describing the move to Christian Calgie as “desperate stuff.”

Tate is a deeply unpopular figure; nearly half the population has a negative view of him, and over two-thirds saying they disagree with what he says. However, the demographic breakdown reveals some striking patterns: nearly 20% of men aged 16–25 hold a positive view of Tate. Notably, 41% of Black respondents and 31% of Asian respondents view him favourably, compared to just 15% of white respondents. But overall, less than two thirds of people have actually heard of Andrew Tate at all.

In doubling down on ad-hominem assaults, Labour risks revealing a startling lack of substantive policy alternatives; by fixating on Farage’s fringe associations instead of debating the real-world challenges facing voters, they cede open ground to Reform UK on substantive policy issues such as housing, public services and immigration. Ultimately, negative campaigning without a positive vision seldom wins hearts or minds, and if Farage has emerged from an attempt at association with Putin – a far more unpopular and better known figure than Tate – he is unlikely to be negatively impacted by his association with Tate. If Labour’s aim is to halt the turquoise tide, it will need more than the “dark arts” of comms and strategy; it requires the one thing Labour are desperately in need of, and that is answers to the most pressing problems of the country that resonate with voters.

Paywalled postscript: unsubstantiated and unseemly smears

Picture the scene: Parliament, 2029.

In a raucous House of Commons an increasingly irascible Keir Starmer, his face reddened with the exhaustion of office and his frame visibly sagging under the weight of his eroding authority, grips the Despatch Box tightly as he fends off a question on why his government has taken the decision to ban all reporting on Channel Boat crossings. He only has one card left to play. We must smash the gangs, he announces; Britain’s border crisis is a national security issue. Only someone profiting from the gangs would disagree.

The implication is clear; a trembling hand of accusation is raised towards Leader of the Opposition Nigel Farage, who lounges smugly opposite. Both know he only has to wait.

Ed Davey, now the leader of the third largest party, peppers the session with puns about his recent splashabout at Disneyland Paris, which he used to show how much Brits are missing out on by staying out of Europe.