In the past week I've been reading 'The Bad Boys of Brexit: Tales of mischief, mayhem & guerrilla warfare in the EU referendum campaign' by Arron Banks, it's a fascinating book for so many reasons.
Firstly the book is something of a vanity project rushed out by Banks (and his ghostwriter Isabel Oakeshott) in the months following the referendum, but this means (albeit with a touch of bravado) it is contemporaneous , drawn from sources and doesn't have time to alter facts with through an historical looking glass. With that caveat in mind it has become a useful historical document.
Mr Banks was the founder of the influential Leave.EU campaign that sought (and failed to gain) designation as the official Leave campaign vehicle during the referendum, previously he had given a £1 million donation to UKIP after William Hague claimed not to know who he was. He's that sort of figure, some may claim petty, others proud and passionate.
Banks' book is now, a decade later, an historical document that clearly show an understanding of people and politics that far outstripped that of many political operatives and commentators. He understood a demographic group that was motivated to vote for Brexit, subequently for a Boris Johnson government, and every indictator points to the rise of Reform UK by 2029. With this in mind Banks' words were prescient.
For all of the tales of high-jinks in the book Mr Banks' epilgoue is wise: "Individuals like Trump and Farage have given a voice to people who feel ignored by the metropolitan class, with its group-think love of free markets and left-liberal values... We have only seen the beginning and we can only guess at how outsider poltics is going to end up revolutionising our country."
Mr Banks also astutely sums up Nigel Farage saying "For all the apparent bravura, he can be quite risk-averse."
For opponents of Reform UK, and I don't automatically count myself as one (although I am not a supporter either), this is worrying. It shows Mr Farage is politically considerate and astute, but it shows that there are those behind him who understand data, human emotion and take risks accordingly.
Mr Banks' book may yet become an important historic text.