From the outset, Wales and the United States of America might not appear natural bedfellows.
One is a nation of some 334 million people living in an area that spans an entire continent, the other is a mountainous country home to fewer people than Los Angeles.
But owing to the aspirations of a populist political leader hellbent on straddling both sides of the pond, they soon could become quite tightly aligned.
Nigel Farage has known that Wales is fertile ground for his party for quite some time.
Ahead of the July General Election, he launched the party’s manifesto in Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales, saying they chose to launch outside of England because Wales shows everyone “exactly what happens to a country when Labour is in charge”.
“Schools are worse than in England, NHS waiting lists are longer than in England, Covid restrictions were even tighter than in England and now Welsh motorists are being soaked by literally hundreds of speed cameras to enforce the deeply unpopular new 20mph blanket speed limit in towns and villages”, he added.
“Since devolution, the Welsh have been ignored by the London political establishment and let down by the Labour administration they elected.
“Meanwhile, the Tories have been the official opposition almost solidly since 2016 and have achieved zilch, which probably explains why we are neck-and-neck with them in the polls in Wales.”
This week, Farage upped the ante as he targeted the 2026 Senedd election as being the stage for what could prove to be a major political upset.
A poll conducted by Survation, which surveyed 2,006 adults living in Wales, found that 30 per cent of respondents said they would use their Senedd vote for a constituency representative to vote Labour if the election was called now, with Plaid Cymru on 21 per cent, Reform on 20 per cent and Conservatives on 17 per cent.
He predicted the party will be the “main challenger” to Labour at the next election in 2026 as a result, holding a conference in Newport to “mark the beginning” of their efforts to present a fresh choice to voters who have been “badly let down”.
“Wales needs Reform”, he added.
Reform UK won 14.3 per cent of the vote in the UK election but returned just five seats for their efforts.
In Wales, the outcome would be very different.
Like Scotland and Northern Ireland, elections for the Senedd are carried out using the proportional electoral system, meaning Reform UK would get greater representation if the polls proved to be accurate.
They have pledged to use any gains to, essentially, recast the country in Donald Trump’s image, with a policy platform that looks remarkably similar to the one that propelled the former president back into power.
They will slash taxes to stimulate growth, get rid of climate initiatives such as net zero and look at the media ecosystem.
And just like that, a mini-America is born, and Farage’s seemingly unstoppable march on British politics takes another leap forward.
Related: Nigel Farage in America again and everyone says the same thing
