The claim "People working in the City were not earning a lot of money for doing nothing" is Nigel Farage's defense against the interviewer's suggestion that working in the City of London was "another gravy train." Farage started his City career in 1982 as a commodities trader and worked through the 1980s, a decade that saw a dramatic transformation in City culture due to the "Big Bang" deregulation of October 1986. The evidence reveals two very different eras within the 1980s: **Pre-Big Bang (1982–October 1986):** Multiple sources describe the pre-Big Bang City as a "cozy, tightly knit club, where old school ties prevailed and outsiders were excluded" with "long lunches" being "the order of the day." The BBC reported that "the late start, long lunch, early finish went out the window" only after Big Bang. The Los Angeles Times described "a lifestyle of getting in late - the gilt market didn't open until 10am - having a long and boozy lunch, and going home early." A Reuters retrospective quoted a veteran saying "It was a very civilized place to work." Fixed commissions meant brokers faced little competitive pressure. This era — which covered the first four-plus years of Farage's City career — was widely characterized by exactly the kind of relaxed, comfortable culture that the "gravy train" label evokes. **Post-Big Bang (October 1986 onward):** The culture changed dramatically. Twelve-hour days became commonplace, long lunches ended, and competition became cutthroat. Six-figure salaries proliferated. Sources consistently describe intense, demanding work environments. For this period, Farage's characterization has more support. Farage himself later acknowledged that "some of the City excesses of the 1980s in the cold light of day do look pretty appalling, [but] it was huge fun." Additionally, a Financial Times source quoted in City AM said of Farage specifically: "This suggestion that he was a very wealthy man in the City is probably a bit of a misnomer" and "I don't think he was anywhere near as successful as some people are portraying." The claim generalizes across an entire decade that contained two starkly different periods. For the post-Big Bang period, the assertion that City workers worked hard and weren't simply collecting large paychecks for minimal effort is well-supported. For the pre-Big Bang period — which covered roughly the first half of Farage's 1980s City experience — the evidence supports the opposite impression: a cozy, leisurely culture with long lunches, late starts, early finishes, and limited competitive pressure, where connections mattered more than merit. The claim as stated is a blanket denial that doesn't account for this significant qualification. **Sources:** - Christian Science Monitor, "Fuse is lit in London's 'City'" (October 1986), https://www.csmonitor.com/1986/1021/obang-f.html - BBC News, "London insiders remember Big Bang" (October 2006), http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6081314.stm - BBC News, "How the Big Bang changed the City of London for ever" (October 2016), https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37751599 - Los Angeles Times, "The 'Big Bang' Rocks London" (October 1986), https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-10-27-fi-7568-story.html - Reuters, "London's Big Bang at 25, origin of today's financial universe" (October 2011), https://www.reuters.com/article/business/londons-big-bang-at-25-origin-of-todays-financial-universe-idUSTRE79Q4CB/ - City AM, "I'm A Celeb star Nigel Farage had failed London company before politics" (December 2023), https://www.cityam.com/im-a-celeb-star-nigel-farage-had-city-career-including-failed-brokerage-that-went-insolvent/ - City AM, "Farage's revenge on the banks proves he is more Trump than Thatcher" (2023), https://www.cityam.com/farages-revenge-on-the-banks-proves-he-is-more-trump-than-thatcher/