Nigel Farage Named The Times' 'Briton Of The Year'

Nigel Farage Named 'Briton Of The Year'

The Times have crowned Nigel Farage their Briton of the Year.

Well, at least it wasn't Dapper Laughs.

The Ukip leader was lauded for recovering from crashing in a plane to become a mainstream political force in 2014.

In all fairness, the impact of Farage on UK politics cannot be ignored, despite the best unintentional efforts of some members to draw ridicule.

The Times writes: "The established political parties have not been able to ignore Ukip, however, whatever they may think of its more toxic members.

"Just as in the first half of the parliament Mr Farage’s threat to the Tory vote forced Mr Cameron to promise an EU referendum, his advances in 2014 have forced Mr Miliband to pay more attention to the concerns of heartland Labour voters who worry about immigration."

This year saw Ukip win the European election and secure two defections from the Tories in the shape of Douglas Carswell and Mark Reckless.

Explaining who Ukip have resonated with, The Times writes: "Ukip champions people who feel that today’s mainstream parties have all broken promises and in their obsessive targeting of marginal seats have neglected disadvantaged electorates in, for example, seaside resorts or the inner cities.

"Chasing this coalition of the disaffected has made Ukip a less coherent political force but it has certainly made it a more popular one."

Here's what Twitter made of the announcement...

And for a rather lovely analysis of Twitter's reaction, have a read of this.

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