When Nigel Farage angrily denounced the BBC and insulted one of its presenters for raising questions about his alleged schoolboy racism, those who have been studying the tactics of the right noted that his behaviour felt familiar.

“Is it out of the Trump playbook? I think that’s exactly what’s going on,” said Steven Barnett, a professor of communications at the University of Westminster. “This is becoming his new modus operandi, turning defence into attack. It’s exactly the tactics White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt , uses. There are a lot of journalists in this country who just aren’t used to it.”

In the weeks since the Guardian published its investigation into Farage’s teenage years , the Reform leader’s response seems to have mirrored the well-established path deploye

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