Nigel Farage deserves to be Time's Person of the Year

From beating The Monster Raving Loony Party's Screaming Lord Sutch by a handful of votes at the 1994 Eastleigh by election, to being shortlisted as Time Magazine's person of the year, Nigel Farage is one of Britain's most powerful and effective politicians.

With the aftershocks of Brexit and his foresight to build a strong relationship with Trump when virtually everyone had written him off, he has got to be one of the world's top movers and shakers too.

Turkey President Erdogan may claim to have fought off a coup but Nigel orchestrated one. He toppled a Prime Minister and shook an establishment to its core. Even now the shambolic remnants of the Remain campaign cling onto a hazy hope that there may be a second referendum or that we may end up in staying in the Single Market. Such is the anger and passion for Brexit that any politician would be signing their political death warrant if they were to defy the 52% who voted Leave.

Without Farage, there would have been no Brexit and – arguably – no Trump typhoon.

You can credit Hillary with being an atrocious politician, or the most establishment candidate ever, but she was leading for much of the campaign. It was Nigel's message that the establishment can be beaten if you vote to stop it, as we did in the UK, that kicked off the change in the polls.

The white working class areas – that voted Labour or voted Obama because of the dire economic conditions, because they were not being listened to – switched. They don't do traditional, mainstream media, so it's hard to imagine reports of Hillary's FBI investigation affecting that. Besides, the public didn't trust her from the outset, so it's arguable that didn't change many people's minds either.

Instead they looked around, seeing jobs go overseas, seeing wages stagnate, their communities changing without their consent and they thought "no more". They rejected Obama and Hillary's establishment agenda just like we Brits gave our traditional two finger salute to the EU.

For the same reasons – the consequences of open door immigration and rampantly ruthless globalisation – the same communities that went to Trump (having previously voted for Obama) now are abandoning Labour and coming to Ukip in the UK.

This is why the establishment reacted so negatively to the 'breaking point' poster and also why the Remain side lost. The empathetic gap between the ruling class and working class communities is the widest it's ever been. They simply don't feel or see the real consequences of their policies.

He toppled a Prime Minister and shook an establishment to its core

For an advanced G8 and G20 country to admit that its real wages won't reach 2008 levels until 2021 (maybe not even then) is a disgrace. The government should hold its head in shame. But rather than do anything to compensate (their economic growth predictions rely on mass immigration) they just talk about job creation, oblivious that my constituents might have to work two of those jobs to pay soaring rents.

For as long as you continue to supply the market with workers who will accept low wages, you will grind down the living standards of long-standing working class communities. And you will feel it at the ballot box.

2016 has changed politics in Europe and America for a generation. The left behind, economically disadvantaged and politically marginalised people of the West have woken up and broken the establishment. Nigel, well done and thank you.

Tim Aker is Member of the European Parliament for the East of England region for the UK Independence Party.