Time to ennoble Nigel

SPORTING Union Jack socks and Spitfire cufflinks, Nigel Farage was the unofficial standard-bearer of the campaign for Britain to leave the European Union. With the referendum won, he announced that he would step down as head of the scrappy UK Independence Party, which he has led on and off for ten years. The main candidates to succeed him later this month agree on one thing: for his role in liberating Britain from Europe, Mr Farage should be elevated to the House of Lords.The thought of the arch Brexit rabble-rouser donning an ermine robe has invited horror and ridicule. UKIP, which David Cameron branded a bunch of “fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists”, has never been allowed to nominate a peer to the upper house of Parliament (though it has three ex-Tory defectors there). It is far more reactionary than any other party represented in the Lords. Mr Farage is a cheerleader for Donald Trump; the front-runner to succeed him as party leader wants referendums on the death penalty and abortion.