Nigel Farage hit with drink as he hits the campaign trail in Britain
Of During Person England Via A In On Launch Clacton, Farage, Leader Face Reform Nigel For Drink Parliamentary Sea, And Images His Election Getty Party's Picture: The Clacton Ben Of Uk, Throws Campaign Appointed Eastern Newly In Candidate Stansall A General The
Nigel Farage was hit with a drink on the UK election campaign trail as he set out his goal for Reform UK to effectively take over the Conservative Party.
The Reform UK leader said he would be a “bloody nuisance” in Westminster if he succeeds in becoming an MP at his eighth attempt.
Addressing hundreds of supporters at a rally in Clacton-on-Sea after announcing he would stand for election there, Mr Farage said the Tories should “pay a big price” for betraying the promises of Brexit.
The veteran Eurosceptic suggested a “chunk” of the Conservatives could join his party and compared the situation to Canadian politics, where Stephen Harper had been elected as a Reform MP but went on to head a “new Conservative” government.
Mr Farage on Monday U-turned on his previous suggestion he would not stand in this general election, opting to fight in Clacton and being installed as Reform leader in place of Richard Tice.
Addressing a rally at Clacton Pier, Mr Farage hit out at the Tories over the handling of Brexit: “We made an offer to the British people, we could get back our independence and control of our borders.
“But what has happened? The Conservatives have betrayed that trust. They’ve opened up the borders to mass immigration like we’ve never seen before.
“And they deserve to pay a price for that, a big price for that.”
Mr Farage said the general election was already effectively over: “That breach of trust from the Conservatives means they are finished, they are done.
“We are going to get a Labour government. Whether you like it or not, we are going to get a Labour government – the question is, who is going to be the voice of opposition?”
He urged voters to “send me to Parliament to be a bloody nuisance”.
“A Labour government won’t make any real changes at all, we need radical surgery in this country,” he said.
The Reform UK leader was hit with a drink, which appeared to be a milkshake, as he left a pub where he had gone following his Clacton rally.
He was seen with the drink splattered over his suit jacket as he was escorted to his campaign bus.
Mr Farage had previously suggested he could be open to talks with the Tories, but suggested he could not work with them in their current form.
Instead, he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain his goal was to take the Conservative Party over, rather than join it.
“You can speculate as to what’ll happen in three or four years’ time, all I will tell you is if Reform succeed in the way that I think they can, then a chunk of the Conservative Party will join us – it’s the other way around,” he said.
He pointed to Canada, where “Reform did a reverse takeover of the Conservative Party, rebranded it and Stephen Harper – who was elected as a Reform MP – became the Canadian prime minister for 10 years”.
He said: “I don’t want to join the Conservative Party, I think the better thing to do would be to take it over.”
Mr Farage’s return to the political fray came as Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer prepared for their first televised showdown of the campaign at 9pm on ITV.
The Tories appear on course for a heavy defeat on July 4, according to projections by pollsters, with YouGov suggesting they could be reduced to just 140 seats.
