Nigel Farage doesn’t want to talk about the disaster of Brexit

“I’ve changed my mind. It’s allowed, you know. It’s not always a sign of weakness. It could potentially be a sign of strength.” That was Nigel Farage announcing his return to frontline politics last Monday with words he might come to regret.

Because if he can change his mind about standing, then doesn’t it follow that the rest of us have the right to change our minds about the thing Nigel Farage has spent much of his life wanging on about – namely Britain leaving the European Union?

Given that Brexit is his life’s work, the new man on the Clacton omnibus seems strangely reluctant to discuss it now. Perhaps that’s something to do with polls showing that most Britons would now vote to Rejoin (51% to 34% for stay out in a Deltapoll survey taken between May 31-June 3).

Up to one in five 2016 Leave voters already admit to having changed their minds, and some of those will undoubtedly be in Clacton. It’s still, as Emily Maitlis told Farage the other day, one of Britain’s most economically deprived areas despite all the benefits he boasted Brexit would bring.

Not that this seemed to bother Farage either. Invited to “apologise for what Brexit has done to Clacton”, he answered “no thank you”. Told that “Brexit has cost every household £2,000″ his dismissive reply was, “oh, put a nought on, put a nought on”.

Farage is understandably eager to brush the abject failure of his fake panacea aside. He wants to move on, declaring this an “immigration election” (it isn’t – the cost of living, health and the economy in general all rank higher with the public) while promising to deliver zero net migration without being able to say how.

Farage shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it. At the Friday night leaders’ debate from which he has unceremoniously evicted the hapless Richard Tice (so long, and thanks for all the cash), he won’t be questioned about the disaster he owns when Brexit true believer Penny Mordaunt and Angela Rayner, of the don’t-mention-Brexit Labour Party, are speaking.

But happily on Friday he will also be up against the quick-witted and sharp-tongued Stephen Flynn of the SNP, whose willingness to call the Brexit dog’s dinner for what it is – and to apportion the blame for it – is going to be most refreshing in this dishonest election campaign.

Maybe Farage will say the Tories have betrayed Brexit – in which case, he should be reminded that he agreed with Boris Johnson’s proposed deal with the EU and pulled his candidates out of the 2019 election as a result. If anyone is responsible for the current nightmare, it’s him.

Being attacked over Brexit, and the audience’s reaction to it, might just come as a shock to Farage. He fancies himself the people’s favourite but is approved of by only 24% of Britons and disapproved of by 64%, almost exactly the same numbers as Jeremy Corbyn (24% to 65%).

But never mind Nigel, you can always admit you got it wrong. It’s allowed, you know. It’s not always a sign of weakness. It could potentially be a sign of strength.