Nigel Farage’s most controversial moments: from ‘racist’ comments to plane crash

“As difficult as it is, I can’t let millions of people down, I can’t do it, it would be wrong,” Farage, 60, said. “So I’ve decided that I’ve changed my mind, let me know, it’s not always a sign of weakness, it can be a sign of strength.

“I will stand in this election.”

Farage has courted controversy throughout his time in politics and the public eye, from campaigning for Brexit to appearing on the ITV reality series I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!

Dubbed “the man who ruined Britain” for his role in the 2016 Brexit referendum and regarded by many as a far-right figure, he is no stranger to scandal.

Farage is no stranger to controversy from an early age.

While at the south London private school Dulwich College, Farage became active in the Conservative Party after being inspired by a visit to the school by Tory MP Keith Joseph.

But in 1981, an English teacher reportedly wrote to the principal asking him to reconsider his decision to appoint him prefect, citing reports of his fascist views. Another teacher is accused of saying that at a Joint Cadet Force camp organized by the college, Farage and others “marched through a quiet Sussex village at night shouting Hitler Youth songs”.

The principal and vice-principal reportedly denied claims of extreme views. The latter said Farage enjoyed provoking left-wing teachers who he thought lacked a sense of humor.

Farage then said: “Any accusation (that) I am involved in right-wing politics is not true.”

Around a third of sixth form pupils at Dulwich go on to study at Oxbridge. Farage is not one of them; after getting mediocre A-level results, he turned down university and took a job in the City to “make a lot of money”, according to his biography.

Farage joined the UK Independence Party (Ukip) in 1993 after years as a prominent Eurosceptic.

In 1994, he asked Enoch Powell, who he once described as one of his idols, to support Ukip but was turned down.

He was elected party leader in 2006 with 45 percent of the vote.

However, Farage managed to take the party from the political fringes into the mainstream by building a coalition of angry voters from normal party lines. Ukip made significant inroads in the 2013 local elections, the 2014 European Parliament elections, and the 2015 general election.

In the process, he supported prime minister Cameron to promise the Brexit referendum 2016. Opponents strongly criticized his focus on immigration (more on that later), especially the campaign poster showing the line of asylum seekers with the words “Breaking Point”.

Just hours after Britain voted to leave the EU, Farage has admitted that one of the main promises of the Leave campaign – an extra £350 million for the NHS every week, famously featured on the Brexit tour bus – was a “mistake”.

Farage resigned as leader of Ukip in December 2018, later forming the Brexit Party. It topped the polls four months later in the 2019 European Parliament elections.

Ukip then saw its share of the vote and membership plummet, almost all of its representatives being elected. Then it drifted further to the right, the anti-Islamic message.

In 2014, he said the “fundamental principles” of Enoch Powell’s Rivers of Blood anti-immigration speech were correct.

In a 2014 interview on LBC, Farage said he felt “uncomfortable” when he heard people speaking another language on London transport.

When LBC radio presenter James O’Brien asked why he objected to Romanian migrants but not Germans – like his Hamburg-born wife Kirsten – Farage replied: “You know the difference.”

Farage also suggested he would be worried about living next door to Romanians.

In the same year, Farage also blamed immigrants when he was more than two hours late for an event, claiming they caused traffic on the M4.

“It has nothing to do with professionalism,” he said of the delay. “What we have to deal with is a country where the population is through the roof, especially as immigration opens the door, and the reality is the M4 is not as navigable as it used to be.”

Two months later, he defended Ukip candidate Kerry Smith for using the word “ch**ky” to describe Chinese people.

“If you and your friends are going out for Chinese, what do you say?” he asked.

In 2017, Farage came under fire for his antisemitism after an LBC interview in which he described what he called the US “Jewish lobby” a concern of his.

Farage was attacked for his 2016 anti-immigration poster, which depicted a line of refugees, the majority of whom are non-white and male, under the slogan “breaking point”.

It was branded “disgusting” by then-chancellor George Osbourne, who said it “wears” Nazi propaganda.

Boris Johnson, who led the official Vote Leave campaign, said the poster was “not our campaign” and “not my politics”.

Farage also called for a ban on people with HIV migrating to the UK. Asked who should be allowed into the UK, he said: “People who don’t have HIV, frankly. That’s a good start. And people with skills.”

In 2015, he also said NHS money spent on new immigrants with HIV would be better spent treating other taxpayers with serious conditions.

One of Farage’s most famous moments was on Election Day in 2010. A two-seater Ukip campaign plane crashed after his “Vote Ukip” banner got caught, causing the plane to nose down.

Before the plane took off, Farage allegedly joked: “I hope the plane doesn’t explode and crash.”

Farage was seen walking off the plane covered in blood before being taken to Horton Hospital in Banbury.

He later admitted that he would have died in the accident, from which he emerged with a fractured neck vertebrae and broken ribs.

Regarding women and work, Farage said in 2014: “If a woman with a client base has children and takes two or three years from work, it is worth far more to the employer when she returns than when she leaves because her clients. for him.

She added: “Perhaps because I have had many pregnant women over the years, I have a different view (on maternity leave).”

“If we all got caught up on what we said last night after drinking, nobody would be here,” he said.

In 2014, Farage also said breastfeeding women should “sit in the corner”.

On his political idol, Farage said in 2014: “As an operator, but not as a human being, I would say Putin. The way he plays everything about Syria. Brilliant.”

Since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Farage’s views on the Russian dictator seem to have mellowed.

“Vladimir Putin is a nationalist Russian. He wants to return – at least I thought he wants to return – the Russian-speaking region (Ukraine) to his country,” he said.

“Those provinces in Ukraine, well, they speak Russian … I always thought we were dealing with logical people, but now I don’t think so.”

He said the invasion was “disgusting” but also “predictable”, and blamed Putin’s actions on the European Union and NATO for causing them.

Farage has consistently pledged his support for former US president Trump – and even became the first British politician to meet him after his 2016 victory.

During the 2016 US presidential election, Farage said he would vote for Trump if he could.

Asked on BBC radio on June 4, 2024, if elected to Parliament whether he would be on the other side of the Atlantic campaigning with Trump in the autumn, Farage said: “I obviously can’t spend much time in America if it’s in Westminster. .

“It doesn’t mean I can’t go, but it will definitely be a change in priorities.”

In July 2023, Farage obtained internal documents from private bank Coutts, owned by NatWest, which showed the reputational risk committee had accused him of being a “racist” and a “disrespectful grifter”. They decided that their policy was “contrary to our position as an inclusive organization” and notified them of their intention to close the account. NatWest chief executive Dame Alison Rose admitted she had misled BBC reporters into believing Coutts had taken the decision solely for commercial reasons, which led to an inaccurate article.

The scandal eventually led to the resignation of Dame Alison in July 2023 and the departure of Peter Flavel, Coutts’ chief executive, soon after.