Category Archives: nigel farage

Nigel Farage Slams Elon Musk For Backing Rival Right-Wing Party In Makerfield By-Election

Posted on by
Reply

Nigel Farage has hit out at Elon Musk for backing a rival right-wing party in next month’s crucial Makerfield by-election.

The Reform UK leader accused the X owner of trying “to split the right of British politics” by supporting Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain party.

Lowe was elected as a Reform MP in 2024, but left the party to set up his own outfit following a spectacular bust-up with Farage.

Voters in Makerfield will go to the polls on June 18 in what is expected to be a close fight between Labour’s Andy Burnham and Robert Kenyon of Reform UK.

An opinion published at the weekend put Burnham on 43% and Kenyon on 40%.

Restore Britain are on 7% – a level of support which would be enough to swing the seat for Reform if those voters backed Kenyon instead.

Musk made clear his support for Restore by sharing a post on X by Rupert Lowe in which he claimed his party “is under brutal assault by the establishment”.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Farage said Andy Burnham would be “delighted” at Musk’s endorsement of Restore.

He said: “Elon Musk has decided he will try to split the right of British politics as best he can. This is supporting a party that’s one man with a social media account. Quite what he’s trying to achieve, I have no idea.”

Farage and Musk have been engaged in an ongoing feud since the tech billionaire called for him to be dumped as Reform leader last year.

Musk turned on Farage shortly after the pair met at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort amid claims he was preparing to donate up to $100 million to the party.

It came after Farage moved to distance himself from far-right activist Tommy Robinson, who has been praised by Musk.

He said: “We’re a political party aiming to win the next general election. He’s not what we need.”

Responding to Musk’s call for him to be dumped as Reform leader, Farage said: “Well, this is a surprise! Elon is a remarkable individual but on this I am afraid I disagree.

“My view remains that Tommy Robinson is not right for Reform and I never sell out my principles.”

Subscribe to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.

Share Button

‘Establishment Stooge’: Zia Yusuf Unveils ‘Abhorrent’ Plans To Punish Areas Which Do Not Vote Reform

Posted on by
Reply

Reform UK has been slammed after it revealed a new policy to put migrant detention facilities in constituencies and councils not controlled by its own representatives.

Days out from the local elections in England, and devolved elections in Wales and Scotland, Reform’s home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf declared that a Reform government would “deport all illegal migrants in Britain”.

While waiting to be deported, the migrants would be housed in detention centres for a “couple of weeks”.

Yusuf claimed: “A Reform government will not put any migrant detention facilities in any constituency with a Reform MP.

“Nor will we put them where Reform controls the council.

“And of the remaining areas, we will prioritise Green controlled parliamentary constituencies and Green controlled councils to locate the detention centres.”

Yusuf said this meant if Reform representatives were voted in, they would “guarantee you won’t have a detention centre near you” – but, “if you vote Green, there’s a good chance you will.”

Reform called this “an important exercise in democratic consent”.

The senior Reform figure added: “Given Zack Polanski openly advocates for open borders, we look forward to their warm embrace of this policy.”

Deputy Green leader Mothin Ali said: “Reform keep making abhorrent announcements to distract voters from they fact they want to privatise the NHS.”

A Green Party source told HuffPost UK: “The shine is coming off Nigel Farage, his own voters are starting to see him for the establishment stooge he is.”

Green leader Zack Polanski wrote on X: “Reform took a £5m donation and they’re trying to distract you.”

Reform’s announcement comes after party leader Nigel Farage was heavily criticised for pulling out the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg last minute.

The party claimed Farage was campaigning in his constituency in Clacton.

However, his critics suggested he was evading scrutiny after the Guardian reported that he had received a £5 million donation from a crypto billionaire shortly before he decided to run to be an MP in 2024.

The Conservatives also criticised the new migrant policy, as leader Kemi Badenoch retweeted a post from former cabinet minister Simon Clarke which called the policy an “appalling waste of public money”.

Clarke noted that these detention centres would likely be set up in other areas where the public have not voted for Reform – including Conservative seats.

He said: “Zia is proposing the siting of detention centres expressly as a form of political punishment for people and places that don’t vote Reform – not just Green, but presumably Conservative, Liberal and Labour too. (And what about Reform voters in those constituencies?)

“It would almost certainly be deemed an abuse of ministerial power for political purposes, and as such would likely be stuck down in court before ever being implemented, wasting millions for the taxpayer without detaining anyone.

“If it were to go ahead, it would still represent an appalling waste of public money as these sites might well not be in any way suitable for the proposed centres, or near the other infrastructure required.

“What’s worse is that he is doing all this to provoke outrage and draw attention to Reform a few days out from the local elections.

“Reform know what they are doing.

“But this goes beyond a pre-election stunt. It’s declared as a major policy commitment, and should be treated as such.”

Subscribe to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.

Share Button

Farage Dismisses Reform Candidate’s ‘Nazi Salute’ Photo As ‘Fawlty Towers Impression’

Posted on by
Reply

Nigel Farage dismissed a photo of a Reform UK candidate appearing to perform a Nazi salute by describing it as a “Fawlty Towers impression”.

Corey Edwards is Reform’s lead candidate for the Pen-y Bont Bro Morgannwg constituency in May’s Senedd election.

A photo of Edwards appearing to replicate the offensive salute recently resurfaced, though the date and location of the image are unknown.

While launching his party’s local election campaign, Reform Party leader told ITV News that his candidate was doing a “Fawlty Towers impression”.

He said: “The context I have been told, it was taking a Basil Fawlty sketch, and that’s why he did it. He’s a human being.”

Asked if Edwards would remain a candidate, he said: “I get the point – it looks terrible. Things in isolation often do. I wouldn’t approve of it.”

He then compared the incident to what he described “far more serious” case of a Plaid Cymru candidate withdrawing from the race over an offensive social media post from more than a decade ago.

Edwards also issued a statement saying the photo had been “misinterpreted” and that he had made “mistakes”.

“There is a clear distinction between ordinary use of the appalling gesture, compared with me imitating a Welsh footballer’s use of it, or indeed Basil Fawlty’s walk,” the Reform candidate said.

“The Nazi regime was the most barbaric ever and I’d never make light of nor dilute its seriousness.”

A Reform UK spokesperson also told ITV Wales: “We’re not willing to write people off forever because of mistakes they made when they were young.”

The incident is the latest drama threatening to overshadow Reform’s campaign in the run-up to the local elections.

Farage already had to publicly defend Reform’s Scottish leader, Malcolm Offord, after an offensive homophobic joke he made a rugby club dinner in 2018 resurfaced.

Offord later apologised and denied he was homophobic.

At his party launch in Sunderland this week, Farage said: “If we’re going to drum people out of public life for telling a joke at a boozy rugby club dinner that’s amongst friends, we’ll finish up with the dullest group of individuals, looking a bit like, sounding a bit like Keir Starmer.”

He added: “When you take something as it is, yeah, of course it looks awful.”

However Farage said Offord “probably regretted doing it” even on the night, and accused critics of adopting a “po-faced purism attitude”.

Reform also had to drop its mayoral candidate for the Hampshire and Solent 2028 election, Chris Parry, this week, after he compared a Jewish community group to “Islamists on horseback”.

Share Button

Exclusive: Reform UK Asked Rival Party Councillor To Be ‘Paper Candidate’ In Local Election

Posted on by
Reply

A Lib Dem councillor was left stunned after being asked by Reform UK to stand for the party at the local elections in May.

Sam Webber, who sits on Bromley Council in south east London, was phoned out of the blue by the party’s membership team and asked if he wanted to be a “paper candidate” on May 7.

A paper candidate is someone whose name goes on the ballot representing a party but is not expected to win or do any campaigning.

Speaking to HuffPost UK, Webber accused Nigel Farage’s party of “making a mockery of the election nomination process”.

He said: “Is Reform just randomly calling up people across the country and asking them to stand for election?

“Nominations open in five days time. How much vetting will the party be doing on their candidates in that time? This runs the risk people getting nominated who would be ineligible to serve even if they were elected.

“That would see costly and unnecessary by-elections having to take place after May 7, as we saw after the 2025 local elections.

“Reform UK is making a mockery of the election nomination process. As we have seen in authorities like Kent County Council, it would be total chaos if the party gets anywhere near power. I suspect voters will not like being taken for fools.”

Reform has been contacted for comment.

A staggering 65 Reform councillors who were elected at last May’s local elections have since either resigned as councillors, defected or quit the party.

Share Button

After A Week Of Outbursts And A Very Public U-Turn, Is Nigel Farage Starting To Crack Under Pressure?

Posted on by
Reply

Nigel Farage has not had an easy few days.

Fresh from Reform’s loss to the Greens in the Gorton and Denton by-election, the party waded head-first into debates around the UK’s involvement – or lack thereof – in Donald Trump’s war against Iran.

The party leader initially insisted Britain should “do all we can” to support the operation, saying: “The gloves need to come off, we need to accept that we are part of this with the Americans and the Israelis.”

Some senior party members, like his deputy Richard Tice and Reform mayor of Greater Lincolnshire Andrea Jenkyns, quickly backed him.

But top Tory defector Robert Jenrick, now Reform’s Treasury spokesperson, said it was not necessary for Britain to join the bombing – exposing clear splits in the party’s position.

Then, in a major U-turn on Tuesday, Farage told reporters: “If we can’t even defend Cyprus, let’s not get ourselves involved in another foreign war.”

Farage’s sudden change of heart followed a spike in global oil prices, sparking fears of higher mortgage rates, petrol prices and inflation.

Polls indicated a majority (59%) of Brits did not support joining the war, either.

During the same press conference, Farage also hit out at Sky News’ Beth Rigby, after she pointed out that Reform councils have not delivered on their promise to cut council tax.

He angrily shouted: “Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong! Never once in the county campaign, including here in Derbyshire, did I ever say we would cut council tax.”

Farage insisted that Reform’s “national literature” called for an overall cut to taxes, not to council taxes.

And on Friday, he adopted a more defeatist tone, saying he wished his party “hadn’t bothered” to take minority control of the bankrupt Worcestershire Council Council.

Reform had to hike council tax by almost 9% in the area, one of the largest increases in the area’s history, to balance the books.

To rub salt in the wound, just seven days ago, Labour beat Reform with its first council by-election gain in almost a year in Durham County Council.

Farage somehow found time to fight with pollsters, too.

He attacked YouGov after the company’s surveys suggested his party had lower public support compared to other polls.

He claimed it is “plainly deceptive” that more is not known about their methods and called for transparency around modelling assumptions.

It’s worth noting that YouGov’s latest poll put the party on 23%, still four percentage points above the Conservatives.

More In Common’s director Luke Tryl called the attacks on YouGov “unwarranted and unfair”.

Writing on X, he said: “They’re a gold standard in our business, have a great track record and the rest of the industry learns so much from them. Sometimes pollsters get different results from each other, that’s a good thing [and] shows we aren’t herding!”

When approached by HuffPost UK, Reform rebuffed claims this week has been stressful, pointing out they are polling at 30% nationally according to More In Common.

A source pointed out they had three sold out rallies this week with thousands of attendees and deployed the “lowest council tax rises in the country” with an average of 4.32%.

The party claimed it had managed to get greater transparency from YouGov, too.

But questions remain around the way Farage has reacted to scrutiny this week,

Savanta’s political director, Chris Hopkins, told HuffPost UK that Farage was reading off “the Trumpian playbook” by “reacting with hostility to scrutiny and blaming everyone but himself for his party’s fall in momentum in the opinion polls”.

The pollster added: “This week he’s even turned his ire directly towards us pollsters where, not for the first time, he publicly challenges polling figures that he doesn’t seem to like.”

Current predictions suggest Reform is on course to win the most seats when voters next head to the polls, though it is still expected to be shy of an overall majority.

Farage will therefore be under a microscope in the run-up to the next general election.

Hopkins said: “The longer Reform stay at the forefront of British politics, the greater the scrutiny on Farage will be, and if his temperament is being questioned now, years away from a general election, it’ll be interesting to see how he’ll react to supporter expectation and the bright lights of an election campaign.”

The pollster warned that there is also a “general sentiment” that Reform may have peaked after more than a year leading the polls.

“The major challenge for Farage and his party will be to still be sitting atop of the pile when the music stops, especially when so much can change so quickly in British politics,” he said.

A Labour insider said it was clear that “Farage can’t deal with the pressure”.

They added: “The wheels have well and truly fallen off the bandwagon this week, the cracks are beginning to show.”

A Green Party source also said: “Reform were able to play on easy mode, presenting themselves as outsiders to a failing Labour government but the mask has slipped.”

It took years for Farage to assert himself within mainstream politics.

He has managed to hold a confident lead in the polls for more than a year, winning over voters on his promise to offer something different from the “establishment” parties.

But, with a general election expected to still be three years away, can the Reform leader keep his cool – and hold his growing party together – in that time?

Share Button

Exclusive: By-Election Tensions Between Greens And Labour Rise Amid Fears Over Splitting Left-Wing Vote

Posted on by
Reply

“This is a battle for the soul of the nation,” Zack Polanski cried as he addressed a crowded room of Green Party campaigners in Gorton and Denton. “All eyes are on this by-election!”

The party leader is not wrong. While Keir Starmer’s authority over Labour is hanging on by a thread, the Greens and Reform are desperate to prove their sudden boom in support is not just a passing fad.

There’s a sense the Gorton and Denton by-election could be a turning point in British politics, especially if either of the up-and-coming parties – the Greens or Reform – manage to clinch the typically red constituency.

Pollsters believe there’s no clear winner yet, though bookies have slashed the odds for the Greens to win after £90,000 was wagered on the party’s candidate, Hannah Spencer, to win the crunch vote on February 26.

But, as tensions rise, there’s one clear issue which could be make or break for all of the candidates involved: the splitting of the left-wing vote.

While Labour is known for securing the centre-left ballots, the Greens’ growing popularity under Polanski means many disillusioned voters are flocking to their left-wing alternative.

Rob Ford, professor of political science at Manchester University, warned in a Substack post: “Both Labour leaning and Green leaning voters strongly prefer either party to Reform, and would very likely coalesce behind a left bloc front-runner if they knew for sure who that was. But they can’t because there isn’t one.”

He warned: “Both parties are therefore furiously posting leaflets into this information vacuum, but by doing so they only thicken the electoral fog of war that impedes their progress.”

A man walks past a campaign poster for labour candidate Angeliki Stogia in an estate agents window in Longsight on February 11, 2026 in Manchester, United Kingdom.
A man walks past a campaign poster for labour candidate Angeliki Stogia in an estate agents window in Longsight on February 11, 2026 in Manchester, United Kingdom.

Christopher Furlong via Getty Images

Labour deputy leader Lucy Powell escalated tensions last week when she accused Polanski of trying to take support from her party to boost his profile nationally.

“I fear you are being played by Reform and have a different agenda,” she wrote in a scathing letter. “You know as well as I do, that the Green Party just doesn’t have the base or the breadth of support across the constituency to win the seat.”

She accused him of running a disingenuous campaign using misleading bar charts and misrepresenting political academics in their leaflets.

The Green Party leader said he had not replied, telling HuffPost UK: “I don’t think it’s worthy of a response, comparable to a “clear, desperate, scraping the barrel attack line”.

The Greens have also criticised Labour for using “bullshit” polls in their campaign.

“If Labour think they’re in this race, then they clearly haven’t knocked on a single door.”

– Zack Polanski

When asked again if he had a response to Labour’s criticism, Polanski fired back: “I think the rebuttal is that from the moment the firing gun was started, this by-election is happening in the context of a Labour MP who made some deeply problematic comments.”

Andrew Gwynne was suspended from Labour a year ago after it emerged that he had made some offensive messages in a WhatsApp group.

He announced he was standing down in January, leading to widespread speculation about just who Labour would select as their candidate.

Polanski claimed Labour has taken people’s “votes for granted for years”, and alluded to the ongoing fallout around ex-Labour grandee Peter Mandelson’s ties to dead paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

“They blew it before the contest even started,” Polanski alleged. “So it’s always been the Green Party versus Reform.

“If they think they’re in this race, then they clearly haven’t knocked on a single door.”

Labour sources deny this, insisting it was still all to play for and dismissing bookmakers’ predictions.

“It’s us versus Reform,” a party insider insisted.

Reform did not respond when repeatedly approached for comment about who they saw as their main rivals.

Reform leader Nigel Farage, centre right, stands with prospective candidate Matt Goodwin, centre left, and supporters during a campaign visit to Gorton and Denton in Manchester, England, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026.
Reform leader Nigel Farage, centre right, stands with prospective candidate Matt Goodwin, centre left, and supporters during a campaign visit to Gorton and Denton in Manchester, England, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026.

via Associated Press

Polanski admitted in his Bold Politics podcast this week, that his “nightmare scenario” would be for Labour to “do disastrously” but to still take enough of the vote “so Reform get through”.

But, when asked if this means he is worried about the left-wing vote being split, Polanski told HuffPost: “The Labour Party couldn’t be any less a left-wing one than if they were trying not to be at the moment.

“In fact, I would consider them closer to Reform than they are to the Green Party,” referring to government efforts to reduce the welfare bill and its response to the Gaza war.

The London Assembly member – who decided not to run for the Manchester seat and save himself for constituency in the capital instead – went on to criticise Labour for not allowing regional mayor Andy Burnham to run for the seat.

Polanski added that he does not agree with the Greater Manchester mayor on “everything”.

However, he noted: “The fact that he’s apparently too left-wing or too progressive to even be their candidate in this constituency demonstrates how the Labour Party, under any measurable criteria, cannot be considered a left-wing vote.”

Might the Greens have been more open to a deal if Burnham was permitted to run as Labour’s candidate?

Andy Burnham the Mayor of Manchester arrives a fringe meeting during the annual Labour Party conference in Liverpool, England, Sept. 29, 2025.
Andy Burnham the Mayor of Manchester arrives a fringe meeting during the annual Labour Party conference in Liverpool, England, Sept. 29, 2025.

via Associated Press

Polanski said definitely not, but added: “I do think it’s also true that the contest would have been friendly between the Green Party and the Labour Party had Andy Burnham run.”

A Labour campaign insider claimed this comment only proved it’s the Greens who have altered the tone of the contest with Labour, not the other way around.

Meanwhile, a Green activist suggested to HuffPost in passing that their party would not have had a chance at winning if Burnham had managed to thrown his hat into the ring.

Even so, it’s hard to get away from the speculation that the Greens are draining Labour’s support right now.

Polanski claimed one Labour parliamentarian had told him just the thought of him encouraged Labour figures to become more left-wing.

He said: “A Labour MP told me every time some of their colleagues think I’m going to run against them, they get a bit more left-wing and progressive.”

“Labour MPs keep worrying that I’m coming for them,” he added.

While the Greens have secured some Labour councillor defections, the party has not yet managed to persuade any serving MPs over to their side, despite their best efforts.

Polanski shrugged that concern off. He said: “Defections used to really be on my mind because I thought it was a way of increasing our poll rating, increasing our membership, and making those more on the national stage.

“But we’ve got that anyway without [defections].”

Meanwhile, Labour insiders firmly told HuffPost that they were confident their party still had a chance, even as the government in Westminster was in turmoil.

“Keir Starmer is only coming up a little on the doorstep,” a campaigner insisted, furiously downplaying any impact the chaos in Westminster – or Polanski – might have on their chances at retaining the seat.

Both the Greens and Labour have clearly singled out Reform as their main opponents.

But, with briefing rows like these, the biggest threat to both left-wing parties seems to be to one another – especially for this by-election.

Share Button

‘A Shameless Chancer’: Jenrick Slammed After Quitting Tories For Reform

Posted on by
Reply

Robert Jenrick has been branded “a shameless chancer” after defecting from the Tories to Reform UK.

The former Tory leadership contender jumped ship just hours after Kemi Badenoch sacked him from her frontbench after seeing “clear, irrefutable evidence” of his betrayal.

That turned out to be a copy of the speech he planned to make announcing his defection, which was leaked to the Conservative leader by someone in Jenrick’s office.

In it, he said: “The Tories and Labour have forfeited the right to govern the United Kingdom. And the mantle now passes to Reform.”

It also emerged that Jenrick first held talks with Reform leader Nigel Farage last September, and since then has repeatedly denied he had any plans to defect to the right-wing party.

Labour chair Anna Turley said: “Robert Jenrick says the Tories broke Britain. Now he wants to do the same again with Farage’s Reform.

“He’s a shameless chancer who, like the other failed Tories who have scuttled off to Reform, are more interested in their careers than the country.

“With Jenrick in tow, Reform clearly wants to deliver the same chaos and decline he did while in government.”

After he was unveiled at a Westminster press conference by Farage, Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: “This was a conman introducing a charlatan. Robert Jenrick has an industrial-grade brass neck to be complaining about how broken Britain is, when it was him and his Conservative cronies who did such damage to our country and to trust and faith in politics.

“Reform and the Conservatives are two sides of the same coin. Right across the country it is the Liberal Democrats who are leading the fight to defeat them.”

Jenrick used the press conference to launch an astonishing personal attack on two of his former Tory shadow cabinet colleagues.

He said shadow chancellor Mel Stride “was the cabinet minister who oversaw the explosion of the welfare bill” when he was work and pensions secretary.

And he said shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel had “created the migration system that enabled five million migrants to come here”.

However, he praised both of them on X when he was still in the Tory Party.

A senior party source told HuffPost UK: “Knifing two colleagues like that is spectacularly bad form. I hope they duff him up in the lobby next week.”

Share Button

Farage Accused Of ‘Wanting To Bring Trump’s Death Squads’ To UK

Posted on by
Reply

Nigel Farage has been accused of wanting to bring Donald Trump’s “death squads” to the UK amid Reform’s plans to crack down on immigration.

The US president is facing heightened backlash right now after an agent representing America’s ICE – Immigration and Customs Enforcement – fatally shot a woman in Minneapolis.

Trump claimed the deceased woman was “driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer”, before the official shot her in self-defence.

But footage of the shooting suggests the woman tried to back up and drive away when agents told her to “get out of the fucking car”.

The incident has sparked intense outrage in the States and a wider debate about ICE amid Trump’s push to cut back on immigration.

Reform’s closeness with the current US administration means this conversation has leapt across the Atlantic.

As Green Party leader Zack Polanski pointed out, Farage has long suggested he would like to reduce immigration in the UK.

He said: “Farage wants to bring Trump’s death squads to the streets of Britain.

“Together, we will stop him.”

He pointed to a Reform policy document from August which promises to create an “enforcement unit called UK Deportation Command, including an Illegal Migrant Identification Centre”.

Polanski also noted that the Conservative Party previously pledged to introduce a £1.6 billion ICE-style removal force.

He wrote in a later post: “Trump started it.

“Reform and Tories are at it too. And Labour already heading in that direction. All cruel, potentially deadly and does nothing to fix the cost of living crisis.”

His concerns were echoed by other users on X, too…

<div class="js-react-hydrator" data-component-name="Twitter" data-component-id="7353" data-component-props="{"itemType":"rich","index":20,"contentIndexByType":2,"contentListType":"embed","code":"

Reform most certainly want an ICE style immigration system in the UK too.
We must never allow Farage anywhere near power. https://t.co/2CKkvQ9IBi

— Narinder Kaur (@narindertweets) January 8, 2026

","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Narinder Kaur","author_url":"https://twitter.com/narindertweets","cache_age":86400,"description":"Reform most certainly want an ICE style immigration system in the UK too.We must never allow Farage anywhere near power. https://t.co/2CKkvQ9IBi— Narinder Kaur (@narindertweets) January 8, 2026\n\n\n","options":{"_hide_media":{"label":"Hide photos, videos, and cards","value":false},"_maxwidth":{"label":"Adjust width","placeholder":"220-550, in px","value":""},"_theme":{"value":"","values":{"dark":"Use dark theme"}}},"provider_name":"Twitter","title":"Narinder Kaur on Twitter / X","type":"rich","url":"https://twitter.com/narindertweets/status/2009195385907294334","version":"1.0"},"flags":[],"enhancements":{},"fullBleed":false,"options":{"theme":"news","device":"desktop","editionInfo":{"id":"uk","name":"U.K.","link":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk","locale":"en_GB"},"originalEdition":"uk","isMapi":false,"isAmp":false,"isMobile":false,"isAdsFree":false,"isVideoEntry":false,"isEntry":true,"isMt":false,"entryId":"695f9d61e4b05f1e1aabd0f9","entryPermalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/farage-accused-of-wanting-to-bring-trumps-death-squads-to-uk_uk_695f9d61e4b05f1e1aabd0f9","entryTagsList":"nigel-farage,green-party,zack-polanski","sectionSlug":"politics","deptSlug":null,"sectionRedirectUrl":null,"subcategories":"","isWide":false,"isShopping":false,"headerOverride":null,"noVideoAds":false,"disableFloat":false,"isNative":false,"commercialVideo":{"provider":"custom","site_and_category":"uk.politics","package":null},"isHighline":false,"vidibleConfigValues":{"cid":"60afc140cf94592c45d7390c","disabledWithMapiEntries":false,"overrides":{"all":"60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4"},"whitelisted":["56c5f12ee4b03a39c93c9439","56c6056ee4b01f2b7e1b5f35","59bfee7f9e451049f87f550b","5acccbaac269d609ef44c529","570278d2e4b070ff77b98217","57027b4be4b070ff77b98d5c","56fe95c4e4b0041c4242016b","570279cfe4b06d08e3629954","5ba9e8821c2e65639162ccf1","5bcd9904821576674bc55ced","5d076ca127f25f504327c72e","5b35266b158f855373e28256","5ebac2e8abddfb04f877dff2","60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4","60b64354b171b7444beaff4d","60d0d8e09340d7032ad0fb1a","60d0d90f9340d7032ad0fbeb","60d0d9949340d7032ad0fed3","60d0d9f99340d7032ad10113","60d0daa69340d7032ad104cf","60d0de02b627221e9d819408"],"playlists":{"default":"57bc306888d2ff1a7f6b5579","news":"56c6dbcee4b04edee8beb49c","politics":"56c6dbcee4b04edee8beb49c","entertainment":"56c6e7f2e4b0983aa64c60fc","tech":"56c6f70ae4b043c5bdcaebf9","parents":"56cc65c2e4b0239099455b42","lifestyle":"56cc66a9e4b01f81ef94e98c"},"playerUpdates":{"56c6056ee4b01f2b7e1b5f35":"60b8e525cdd90620331baaf4","56c5f12ee4b03a39c93c9439":"60d0d8e09340d7032ad0fb1a","59bfee7f9e451049f87f550b":"60d0d90f9340d7032ad0fbeb","5acccbaac269d609ef44c529":"60d0d9949340d7032ad0fed3","5bcd9904821576674bc55ced":"60d0d9f99340d7032ad10113","5d076ca127f25f504327c72e":"60d0daa69340d7032ad104cf","5ebac2e8abddfb04f877dff2":"60d0de02b627221e9d819408"}},"connatixConfigValues":{"defaultPlayer":"16b0ecc6-802c-4120-845f-e90629812c4d","clickToPlayPlayer":"823ac03a-0f7e-4bcb-8521-a5b091ae948d","videoPagePlayer":"05041ada-93f7-4e86-9208-e03a5b19311b","defaultPlaylist":"2e062669-71b4-41df-b17a-df6b1616bc8f"},"topConnatixThumnbailSrc":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mNkYAAAAAYAAjCB0C8AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","customAmpComponents":[],"ampAssetsUrl":"https://amp.assets.huffpost.com","videoTraits":null,"positionInUnitCounts":{"buzz_head":{"count":0},"buzz_body":{"count":0},"buzz_bottom":{"count":0}},"positionInSubUnitCounts":{"article_body":{"count":8},"blog_summary":{"count":0},"before_you_go_content":{"count":0}},"connatixCountsHelper":{"count":0},"buzzfeedTracking":{"context_page_id":"695f9d61e4b05f1e1aabd0f9","context_page_type":"buzz","destination":"huffpost","mode":"desktop","page_edition":"en-uk"},"tags":[{"name":"nigel farage","slug":"nigel-farage","links":{"relativeLink":"news/nigel-farage","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/nigel-farage","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/nigel-farage"},"relegenceId":3592238,"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/nigel-farage/"},{"name":"green party","slug":"green-party","links":{"relativeLink":"news/green-party","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/green-party","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/green-party"},"relegenceId":3695898,"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/green-party/"},{"name":"zack polanski","slug":"zack-polanski","links":{"relativeLink":"news/zack-polanski","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/zack-polanski","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/zack-polanski"},"url":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/zack-polanski/"}],"isLiveblogLive":null,"isLiveblog":false,"backfillRelatedArticles":[],"signInUrl":"https://login.huffpost.com/login?dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffpost.com%2Fentry%2Ffarage-accused-of-wanting-to-bring-trumps-death-squads-to-uk_uk_695f9d61e4b05f1e1aabd0f9%3Fhp_auth_done%3D1","cetUnit":"buzz_body","enableIncontentPlayer":true,"bodyAds":["

\r\n\r\n HPGam.cmd.push(function(){\r\n\t\treturn HPGam.render(\"inline-1\", \"entry_paragraph_1\", false, false);\r\n });\r\n\r\n","

\r\n\r\n HPGam.cmd.push(function(){\r\n\t\treturn HPGam.render(\"inline\", \"entry_paragraph_2\", false, false);\r\n });\r\n\r\n","

\r\n\r\n HPGam.cmd.push(function(){\r\n\t\treturn HPGam.render(\"inline-2\", \"entry_paragraph_3\", false, false);\r\n });\r\n\r\n","

\r\n\r\n HPGam.cmd.push(function(){\r\n\t\treturn HPGam.render(\"inline-infinite\", \"repeating_dynamic_display\", false, false);\r\n });\r\n\r\n"],"adCount":0,"midArticleAdPartner":null},"isCollectionEmbed":false}”>

Reform most certainly want an ICE style immigration system in the UK too.
We must never allow Farage anywhere near power. https://t.co/2CKkvQ9IBi

— Narinder Kaur (@narindertweets) January 8, 2026

Reform UK was approached for a comment to Polanski’s remarks.

During a press conference on Wednesday, Farage was asked what he thought of Polanski.

He said: “This Polanski bloke has appeared out of nowhere… clearly a lunatic.”

Share Button