Smug Reform leader Nigel Farage is back in the US, basking in the Donald Trump glory and making sure everyone knows how chummy he is with the new president-elect.
The Clacton MP had already posted a video on Monday of him watching Trump talking about his “friend” at a rally. And on election night yesterday he posted another in the back of a car as the 78-year-old’s victory looked ever more certain. “I’m on my way to Mar-a-Lago”, Farage wrote.
That’s in addition to Farage’s previous visits Stateside to support Trump or the Republicans, including speaking at a 'Keep Arizona Free' summit in August, and a dash to be close to the former president after his assassination attempt in July.
In fact Farage will have jetted off at least five times to the States by next month - he is due to speak at the Young Republican Club gala dinner in New York on December 15.
Meanwhile, back in his constituency on the far less glamorous Essex coast, residents are wondering when their MP will open an office, agree times and places for surgeries or establish a Clacton phone number so they can contact him.
According to Farage’s own representatives, he has been to the seaside town he is supposed to represent just ten times - just 82 miles from London compared to the 3,500-mile trip over the pond.
It’s perhaps no coincidence that the last time was the day before he jetted off again to the States - perhaps fearing how his constituents might think seeing him on another continent again, pictures of Farage “out and about in Clacton” are pinned to the top of his X account.
On another occasion, on September 27, the MP posted “Office day in Clacton”, holding up a newspaper in what looked like an attempt to prove he was actually there.
Again, it was just a day before he jetted off to the other side of the world, this time to speak at a Nomad Capitalist Live event in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.
“Looks more like a desperate hostage photo,” one user commented. “Did you have to run to the airport for the flight to Malaysia after you posed for that?”
“Your visits to you paymasters are so rare that you need a newspaper to record it for you to show proof,” wrote another.
Farage’s first visit to America after the General Election was just days after he was sworn in as an MP, when he flew over after the Republican former president was shot in the ear at a campaign event in Pennsylvania.
He was ridiculed after declaring on Parliament’s Register of Members’ Financial Interests that the purpose of the trip was “to support a friend who was almost killed and to represent Clacton on the world stage”.
During the trip, between July 17-19, he also attended the Republican Convention alongside Liz Truss.
The £32,000 jaunt, which included flights and hotels, was paid for by a private donor, George Cottrell, a British aristocrat and former UKIP fundraiser who was jailed in America for offering to launder money for drug lords, and who has bankrolled other costs for Farage, according to the register of financial interests.
A month later he was off again, this time to speak at the Keep Arizona Free Summit in Scottdale, Arizona, on August 24, for which he received £25,000.
Again, a few days before jetting off he posted a photo of himself next to Clacton pier on August 21, writing: “A glorious day in Clacton”.
And the following month he returned to the US, where he was the main speaker at the right wing think tank the Heartland Institute’s 40th anniversary Benefit Dinner on September 13.
And again, he made it to Clacton a few days before, where he attended an event at Frinton Golf Club among other places in his constituency.
Back in the US now to celebrate Trump’s election victory, it’s not known how long he intends to stay or when he might be back in Clacton to help constituents with their much more mundane issues. This morning he posted a photo with the president-elect, with Farage wearing a bright red ’TRUMP’ baseball cap.
Disgruntled social media users were quick to react. “Farage only does it for his own publicity does f*** all for his constituents,” wrote one.
Another replied: “Nigel Farage seems to have forgotten that he isn't in charge and doesn't get to tell anyone else what to do. Perhaps he could make himself useful by visiting Clacton?”