This article appears as part of the Unspun: Scottish Politics newsletter.

It appears that while Nigel Farage knows he won’t become the UK’s ambassador to the court of Donald Trump, he’s quite happy to be MAGA’s voice in Britain.

Indeed, Farage seems more than willing to bully his own nation on behalf of Trump, and even to use military might as the means to carry out that bullying.

Farage’s strategy is obvious: to destabilise the UK government by amplifying Trump’s threats against Britain and thereby ride to power at Westminster. 

Why else stick the knife into your country? The lure of becoming Prime Minister Farage, the UK’s very own mini-Trump, must be hypnotising.

It all centres on the byzantine deal regarding the Chagos Islands. The agreement sees the UK relinquish sovereignty of the archipelago in the Indian Ocean and cede control to Mauritius.

As part of the deal the UK will maintain a 99-year lease on Diego Garcia, site of a huge British-American military airbase.

Marco Rubio, Trump’s pick for Secretary of State, has said the deal poses a “serious threat” to US national security, claiming Mauritius is allied with China.

Farage has now waded into the affair, making some astonishingly damaging statements. He claims Trump’s cabinet team is “horrified” by the deal, and added: “We have to be an ally to Donald Trump. Allies don’t betray the military of the United States without which we’d be defenceless.”

Farage went on: “Without a good military relationship with America we are in very big trouble.”

He also preened himself somewhat claiming Trump would “love” to see him become Britain’s Ambassador in Washington, and with faux humility offered to be a “bridge” between the UK and the US.

Read more Unspun from Neil Mackay:

We need to pull our focus out somewhat to a global level for a proper perspective on what Farage is saying here.

With Trump back in the White House there is every chance that Ukraine is forced to negotiate with Russia. The likely upshot would be Ukraine partitioned.

European powers may also try to prop up the Ukrainian military if America pulls its support.

Additionally, Trump will play hardball with Nato nations over defence spending. He has also, don’t forget, said in the past that he would “encourage” Putin to attack Nato allies.

In the very near future, Europe could find itself confronted with an empowered Russia, without American support. Nations like Poland and the Baltic states fear if Putin can get a victory in Ukraine, then they could be next.

Amid this geopolitical turmoil, Britain will find itself pulled in two directions. Will we side with Europe, or will we side with the United States?

Under Harold Wilson, Britain had the guts to refuse involvement in America’s Vietnam War, but we’ve been slavish followers of American foreign policy ever since, as the disgrace of the Iraq War proves.

Trump hates the European Union and Nato, and he admires Putin. The UK could find itself caught in the crossfire.

This is where Farage has clout. He can operate as Trump’s amanuensis in Britain, repeating his talking points, getting headlines by pushing his threats.

Listen to the words Farage used. “We have to be an ally to Donald Trump.” Not to America, but to Trump.

“Allies don’t betray,” he says. One wonders who exactly is doing the betraying here. You might expect a big, bold British patriot like Farage to back the UK no matter what – not so apparently. It seems Farage is more loyal to Trump than he is to his own country.

And implicit in what he says is a threat. If we annoy Trump, then we are in “very big trouble”. What will Trump do? Subject us to tariffs? Those may likely come anyway. Leave us militarily high and dry while Russia stalks the world?

Matters become even more disturbing when we consider the rise of the far right in Europe. We may see an increasing number of governments adopt Trump’s policy line. Just look at events in Romania, with a far-right pro-Russian candidate on the cusp of taking the presidency.

What might happen if Britain became one of the few powers still pro-Ukraine, the last light on in Europe in some grim echo of 1939? Only this time, there’s an angry and dangerous isolationist in the Oval Office, not FDR.

And if Farage beats this drum hard enough and Trump does in some way punish the UK, or make the government in London bend to his will, then it will be the leader of the Reform Party who emerges triumphant. He can either say ‘I told you so’, or ‘you didn’t heed my warning’.

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Reform is already rising in the polls, and like the populist he is Farage knows that a crisis exists to be exploited. Trump creates crises – that’s in his DNA. It looks like Britain is about to find itself slap bang in the middle of a crisis involving Trump.

Does Starmer have the nous and tactics to navigate these deadly waters? Maybe, but even Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord – considered the greatest diplomat in history – would struggle to find a safe route through this minefield.

Farage may well be stabbing his country in the back, but if that is the best route to power then be sure the knife has only begun to sink in. There will be many more cuts, and they will keep coming as long as Trump is America’s president and Farage has the scent of high office.

Neil Mackay is The Herald’s Writer-at-Large. He’s a multi-award winning investigative journalist, author of both fiction and non-fiction, and a filmmaker and broadcaster. He specialises in intelligence, security, crime, social affairs, cultural commentary, and foreign and domestic politics.