The hunter is now the hunted and haunted, bad-tempered Nigel Farage a desperate man on the run.Pursued by questions about a secret £5million personal bung from a Reform Party UK donor tycoon in Thailand, Farage could be forgiven for wondering where it all went wrong.Greedily, sneakily pocketing a fortune is one answer. Another is Andy Burnham, Labour ’s Prime Minister-in-waiting explaining how he’d economically “rewire” Britain after thrashing the Hard-Right leader in Makerfield and removing one of Reform’s strongest cards: Keir Starmer.Farage urged voters to get rid of doomed Starmer and they did by voting Labour not Reform. Be careful what you wish for next time, Nige. A third answer is Kemi Badenoch doing better, presenting herself as an official Conservative alternative to Tory tribute act Reform.Andy Burnham, pictured at Radcliffe Football Club in Greater Manchester, will deliver a speech on Monday(Image: Peter Byrne/PA Wire)It’s only one poll but the first arrived predicting Labour headed by Burnham would leapfrog Farage at a general election, signalling the possible end of Reform dominance stretching back to April last year.Labour was also ahead of Reform in a poll on the contest to elect Burnham’s replacement as Greater Manchester Mayor.Reform lose in Greater Manchester and slip behind in national polls and some in Labour, and I’m told a few in Reform too, wonder if Farage might throw in the towel and take his £5m to Trumpland while he might still be welcome.The notion isn’t dismissed as fanciful when tetchy Farage has quit before and returned with the expressed goal of No10. He’s spooked by the official inquiry into that undeclared £5m. Suspension from the Commons and a Clacton by-election are genuine possibilities.Vengeful Far-Right rival Rupert Lowe and his Restore Britain mob – a fourth answer to why it’s going wrong for Farage – are already salivating over the prospect of going chin-to-chin with Farage in his own backyard.Peak Farage is history, Reform’s punctured balloon visibly deflating. Burnham’s up for the fight.Is Farage still? People are beginning to ask and that’s a bad sign for Reform’s leader and encouragement for his emboldened band of increasingly hopeful enemies.
