What does ‘Boriswave’ mean and what is its political significance?

<p>Use by Nigel Farage is latest example of terms coined by the ‘extremely online right’ entering political mainstream</p><ul><li><p><strong>This article is an extract from our First Edition newsletter. </strong><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global/2022/sep/20/sign-up-for-the-first-edition-newsletter-our-free-news-email"><strong>Sign up here</strong></a></p></li></ul><p>At a policy launch on Monday that would have been considered extreme just a few years ago, Nigel Farage said a Reform UK government would not just <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/sep/22/nigel-farage-roundly-condemned-over-plan-to-abolish-indefinite-leave-to-remain">abolish indefinite leave to remain for those arriving in the UK</a>, but rescind the status of those who had already been granted it, and force them to apply for new visas. He said the policy was necessary for one reason above all: “to wake everybody up to the Boriswave”.</p><p>You might have noticed that term in the past few months: it has been used repeatedly in the mainstream media to describe the sharp increase in inward migration from outside the EU after Brexit, when Boris Johnson was prime minister. But “Boriswave” is not simply a pithy description of a sociological phenomenon but a term coined and popularised among the online far right.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/sep/23/what-does-boriswave-mean-nigel-farage-reform-uk-immigration">Continue reading...</a>