After seven failed attempts, the United Kingdom’s leading Brexiteer has finally secured a place in the UK’s lower house.
Amid Labour’s landslide election win —
— Nigel Farage and his anti-immigrant, Eurosceptic Reform UK party have taken at least four seats.
“We’re coming for Labour … be in no doubt about that,” Farage declared after winning the seat of Clacton in the southeast England county of Essex.
Here’s what we know about one of the UK’s most disruptive politicians.
Was Nigel Farage a Conservative?
Farage has dedicated his career to attacking European integration and the issue triggered his split from the Conservative Party.
When the Conservative government signed the UK up to the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, the foundation for the European Union, Farage quit the party in disgust.
In the three decades since, Farage has been a relentless campaigner for Britain’s exit from the European Union.
In 1999, he was elected as a member of the European Parliament and used the platform to share his Eurosceptic views and frequently insult the parliament and its members and processes.
He also co-founded the UK Independence Party, or UKIP, to campaign against the European Union.
UKIP ended up having the largest number of members in the European Parliament of any UK party — ironic, given it was a forum to which the party was ideologically opposed.
Farage
several times before finally stepping down in 2016 when he successfully campaigned for the UK to vote for Brexit.
“During the referendum, I said I wanted my country back,” he said at the time. “Now I want my life back.”
The European Parliament, where Nigel Farage was a long-serving member, approved the Brexit deal on 29 January 2020 in Brussels, Belgium. Credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
However, Farage remained in the European Parliament until 2020 when Brexit was finalised.
His farewell speech to parliament was cut off after he broke the rules by waving Union Jack flags.
What is the Reform UK party?
Brexit marked the beginning of a new chapter in Farage’s political career.
As the UK negotiated its exit from the European Union in 2019, Farage launched the Brexit Party, whose single aim was
Reform UK is a rebrand of that party, with an expanded platform.
While the right-wing, populist party closely resembles its predecessor, it’s set its sights beyond the single issue of Brexit.
Reform UK promises to stand up for “British culture, identity and values” and in particular targets immigration, which it blames for many economic and social issues.
The party’s core pledges are to freeze immigration, “stop the boats”, cut taxes and slash energy bills.
What is Nigel Farage’s connection with Andrew Tate?
Reform UK’s leader has expressed admiration for Andrew Tate — the controversial influencer and self-described misogynist — on more than one occasion.
In an event in Clacton the day before the election, Farage mused that he is “part of a similar phenomenon” to Andrew Tate, who has encouraged violence against women who don’t “obey” men.
Tate was
of rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.
“We are trying to stop young men being young men,” Farage said, as he described what he saw as widespread “emasculation” of the male population.
In a podcast interview in February, Farage called Tate an “important voice” for the “emasculated”.
Farage also appeared at the event alongside boxing champion Dereck Chisora, a man he called a “fantastic role model”, despite the latter’s 2010 conviction for assaulting his then-girlfriend.
Is Nigel Farage a Trump supporter?
Former US president Donald Trump — also the current Republican front-runner for November’s election —
2016 was an important year for both politicians, with Trump winning the presidential election and Farage successfully campaigning for Brexit.
After Trump’s win, Farage
(then-UK prime minister Theresa May had spoken with him on the phone earlier that week).
Nigel Farage spoke at a campaign rally for Donald Trump in Jackson, Mississippi, in the lead-up to the 2016 US presidential election. Credit: Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
Trump responded by — unsuccessfully — campaigning to make Farage UK ambassador to the US.
In June, Farage claimed Trump had “learned quite a lot from me” saying the former president had been “watching my speeches in the European Parliament for many years” before he decided to run himself.
“I think we’re very different but I think we think the same on many things,” he said.
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