The former prime minister was spotted in the background of a picture taken at the bash, which was held in a posh London restaurant.
Right-wing Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns posted the snap on X (formerly Twitter last night).
In it, she is standing alongside Farage and his Leave.EU ally Aaron Banks.
Truss, who was prime minister for 49 days before being forced to quit after her mini-Budget sparked economic chaos, can clearly be seen in the background turning towards the camera.
Speaking in February, Truss said she would like to see Farage join the Conservative Party to “help turn our country around”.
Nevertheless, it is surprising to see a former Tory PM attend a celebration being thrown for a man who has stood against the party on numerous occasions and is set to throw his weight behind Reform UK at the upcoming general election.
Her presence at the event did not go on-noticed on social media – with some users unable to resist the temptation to refer to the fact that Truss was outlasted by a lettuce during her brief stint in No.10.
Nigel Farage is threatening to eat a whole Easter egg on Sunday to stick it to “NHS luvvies” in the latest piece of performative outrage about “wokery”.
It follows Dr Andrew Kelso, the medical director of NHS Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board, advising people to “resist the urge” and not “overdo it” by eating an Easter egg in one sitting, due to the high calorie count of the chocolate.
“Many people don’t realise that an average Easter egg contains around three quarters of an adult’s recommended daily calorie intake,” Kelso wrote.
“At a time like this, when we are seeing significant increases in cases of obesity and type 2 diabetes, as well as tooth decay, I urge people to enjoy their Easter eggs in moderation and resist the urge to eat a whole one in one go.”
Predictably, the former UKIP leader defied the advice on his GB News show – eating a chocolate egg has he raged against the suggestion.
He said: “I am sick to death of being told we can’t do this, we can’t do that, it’s Easter for goodness sake.
“I’m sorry, Dr Kelso, but you really bore the pants off me, it’s Easter, I don’t eat chocolate everyday, but I’m going to scoff all of this (egg).”
He followed this up with a furious screed in the Telegraph under the headline: “I’m stuffing my face with chocolate this Easter – to annoy the NHS luvvies”.
The reaction on social media suggested most people thought it was yet more tiresome “culture war” schtick.
The song of choice? Frank Sinatra’s I Love You Baby, obviously.
The short video was shared by Conservative Party member Emily Hewertson – with the caption “Priti X Farage. What a combo” – and has racked up more than 310,000 views in less than 12 hours.
It’s the first singing or dancing clip to have emerged from the Tory conference this year, but far from the first time the Conservatives have been caught busting a move at a work event.
So, perhaps Patel and Farage’s duet was not a complete surprise.
The former home secretary had praised the right-wing commentator and the “dynamic, no-nonsense” GB News channel on Sunday.
She called the “incredible” channel a “defender of free speech” and thanked the controversial broadcaster’s staff for “absolutely everything they do”.
GB News currently employs former ministers Jacob Rees-Mogg and Esther McVey, among other Tory backbenchers.
This year also marks the first time Farage has been allowed inside a Tory party conference since the 1980s, he told Express.co.uk, even though he officially left in 1992, founding UKIP the following year.
NatWest chief executive Alison Rose has resigned after admitting to discussing Nigel Farage’s relationship with the bank with a senior BBC journalist.
Rose had remained in post after saying she made a “serious error of judgment” over talking to Simon Jack about the former Brexit party leader and his closed accounts, with the company’s board stating they had “full confidence” in her.
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But in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Howard Davies, chairman of the NatWest board, announced Rose had agreed to step down “by mutual consent”.
Her position had become untenable following the intense political and media scrutiny over a decision by NatWest’s private bank, Coutts, to close Farage’s accounts. NatWest is taxpayer-funded, with the state’s shareholding just below 40%.
Farage had alleged the decision to “exit” him was “political” after he obtained an internal document that said the “de-banking” was partly because his views were not “aligned” with the bank’s. The 40-page dossier refers to the ex-MEP as “xenophobic and racist” and a former “fascist”.
It raised into question a report by Jack, the broadcaster’s business editor, who had suggested Farage lost his account because he lacked the funds needed to hold it.
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Jack on Monday apologised to Farage, saying the information his reporting was based on “turned out to be incomplete and inaccurate”. This was followed by Rose’s admission on Tuesday and her subsequent resignation.
Before the departure, Farage had hit back at NatWest’s statement on his GB News show, criticising Rose as “unfit” to run a bank, as well as lambasting Davies and Coutts CEO Peter Flavel.
“The government ought to say we have no confidence in this management. Frankly, I think they should all go,” Farage said, after declaring that Rose had breached an “essential confidence”.
Rose confirmed in the statement that she had discussed Farage’s “relationship with the bank” with Jack.
“I recognise that in my conversations with Simon Jack of the BBC, I made a serious error of judgment,” Rose said, but added she had not revealed any personal financial information about Farage and had answered a general question about eligibility.
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Coutts’ website advises its clients should be able to borrow or invest at least £1 million with the bank or hold £3 million in savings.
Rose also said she was not part of the decision-making process to close Farage’s accounts and said this was a decision made by Coutts.
The government’s shareholding in NatWest is managed “at arm’s length” and on a commercial basis by the UK Government Investments (UKGI). UKGI’s role is to manage the shareholding, not the bank itself.
Treasury minister Andrew Griffith is set to meet lenders on Wednesday to discuss concerns that banks have closed customer accounts over their political views, ahead of reforms requiring banks to explain and delay these decisions.
The corporation’s flagship politics show on Thursday held a “special” in Clacton-on-Sea in Essex to mark the seventh anniversary of the 2016 vote. Some 70% of people in the area voted to get out of the bloc and only Brexit voters were in the audience for the programme.
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Campbell, the Tony Blair-era Labour Party spin chief, has been a fierce critic of leaving the European Union. On the show, the Rest is Politics podcaster said he understood why the audience members wanted to exit the EU – but that they were “lied to” and told it “would be pain-free” and “all be upsides”, as he pointed to the fall in the pound, a lack of a trade deal with the US and the claim of more money for the NHS.
“You were told that it would be pain-free. You were told that it would all be upsides, no downsides”
— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) June 22, 2023
He said: “Look, I understand why a lot of you guys voted for Brexit because you felt that Johnson, Farage … these conmen were coming along offering you something that was going to make your lives better.
“And I was in a school today, just a few minutes away from here. Clacton Coastal Academy. Really bright kids. Really nice teachers. Fantastic school in a very tough area, and I asked the kids what they thought of Brexit and all but two said they would vote to rejoin the European Union if they had the chance.”
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He went on: “I don’t blame you for voting. I blame them for lying to you. They lied. They’ve not been properly held to account.
“Johnson’s gone from lying about Covid. He’s still not properly been held accountable for Brexit.
“And we’re all of us paying a higher price in our cost of living and everything else because of the lies that we were told.”
He later said Brexit is “one of the biggest acts of self-harm that we as a country have ever inflicted upon ourselves”, and that Johnson “never believed in Brexit”.
“Boris Johnson went for the referendum as a way of advancing his own career and becoming prime minister,” Campbell said. “The mess he’s left this country in, he should never be forgiven.”
Alastair Campbell, “Boris Johnson never believed in Brexit.. He went for the referendum as a way of advancing his own career and becoming PM.. The mess he’s left this country in, he should never be forgiven.”
Critics of leaving the EU have cited the impact on the pound, imports and labour costs, and other economies on the continent powering ahead. Britain’s higher rate of inflation compared to other major economies has also been blamed in part on Brexit thanks to higher administration costs and a small pool of workers.
Donald Trump has given an interview to former Ukip leader Nigel Farage for GB News during his recent visit to Scotland.
It contained many of his usual talking points – including bashing Meghan Markle and US president Joe Biden – but also a number of curiosities.
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1. War in Ukraine “analysis”
Trump claimed it would be “easy” to end the grinding, 14-month war in Ukraine – defying every serious analysis of the conflict.
He said: “If I were president, I will end that war in one day. It’ll take 24 hours. I will get that ended. It would be easy.
“That deal would be easy. A lot of it has to do with the money. That war has to be stopped. It is a disaster.”
Trump said he “got along great” with Russian president Vladimir Putin, adding: “Putin never would have gotten into Ukraine if it weren’t for the incompetence of this administration, this current administration.
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“Putin was not going in, it was never mentioned and I knew him very well.”
2. Gets angry with “windmills”
Trump has had a long-running battle with the Scottish government over blocking his plans for golf course development – with wind farms often standing in his way.
Here, Trump tried to re-frame his reputation as an uncompromising industrialist, and suggested he opposed “windmills” because he’s actually a bit of an environmentalist.
“You want to see a cemetery of birds?,” he asked Farage, a fellow turbine sceptic. “Walk under a windmill.”
He also had something to say about whales: “Wind farms seem to be driving them onshore. I don’t know what that’s all about that, but that’s certainly not good.”
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3. Compliments Farage’s eyesight
After the interview, Trump and Farage took a filmed, leisurely stroll around the ex-president’s Turnberry golf course, with the pair stopping at the clubhouse to look out on the manicured holes. An odd back-and-forth took place.
<img class="img-sized__img landscape" loading="lazy" alt="Former US president Donald Trump alongside Nigel Farage at the Trump Turnberry course in South Ayrshire.” width=”720″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.wellnessmaster.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/5-bizarre-moments-from-donald-trumps-interview-with-nigel-farage-2.jpg”>
Former US president Donald Trump alongside Nigel Farage at the Trump Turnberry course in South Ayrshire.
Andrew Milligan – PA Images via Getty Images
Farage: “I saw you hole a good putt on the 18th.”
Trump: “Yeah, that was good.”
Farage: “That was for the four, wasn’t it?”
Trump: “That was for a four. Did you watch it from here? Were you able to see the ball go in the hole?
Farage: “Yeah!”
Trump: “You have good eyes. You don’t have any help with your eyes? You can see the ball going in the hole from here?”
Farage: “The only thing I need help with is short reading.”
Trump: “But long you have great eyes.”
Farage: “Almost be a pilot, you know.”
4. Calls Boris Johnson “far-left”
Trump said the ex-prime minister “changed a lot in office”, suggesting policies under his Conservative administration were “far-left”.
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Trump said the Tories “really weren’t staying Conservative”.
“They were going – I mean they were literally going far-left,” he continued.
“It never made sense. I’m saying this as an insider looking in, they were going far-left. What were they doing?”
5. Drops a Sean Connery impression
Trump was also critical of former Scotland first minister Nicola Sturgeon – again mainly as a result of perceived obstacles put in the way of his beloved golf courses.
Trump claims Nicola Sturgeon doesn’t love Scotland, then rolls out his Sean Connery impression because why not pic.twitter.com/myzTTIDnyF
Trump said he did not think that the former SNP leader, who announced her intention to step down in February, loved her country, adding: “Somebody who comes in and spends a lot of money … I remember Sean Connery saying ‘let him build his bloody golf courses!’.”
Home secretary Suella Braverman has been accused of “whipping-up hate” by characterising small boats crossing the English Channel as an “invasion” – but her rhetoric has won applause from Nigel Farage.
The under-fire minister used a Commons statement on the chaos surrounding the Manston migrant holding centre in Kent to deliver inflammatory comments that were widely condemned. They came a day after another holding centre in Dover was petrol bombed.
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She told MPs: “Let’s be clear about what is really going on here: the British people deserve to know which party is serious about stopping the invasion on our southern coast and which party is not.
“Some 40,000 people have arrived on the south coast this year alone. Many of them facilitated by criminal gangs, some of them actual members of criminal gangs.
“So let’s stop pretending that they are all refugees in distress. The whole country knows that is not true. It’s only the honourable members opposite who pretend otherwise.
“We need to be straight with the public. The system is broken. Illegal migration is out of control and too many people are interested in playing political parlour games, covering up the truth than solving the problem.”
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To describe the serious and complex situation created by the asylum crisis as an “invasion” is appalling, wrong and dangerous. These are men, women and children fleeing war, persecution and conflict.
The day after a fire-bomb attack on a migrant centre and instead of pledging solidarity for the victims the Home Secretary brands them part of an invasion. She brings disgrace to her office and country.
Braverman later agreed with suggestions from Tory MP Lee Anderson that some migrants can “get on a dinghy and go straight back to France” if they believe the accommodation in the UK is not good enough.
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The Refugee Council described the home secretary’s comments as “appalling, wrong and dangerous”, and Labour MP Zarah Sultana hit out at language that “whips-up hate and spreads division”. “She’s totally unfit to be home secretary,” she added.
But she won the support of former Ukip and Brexit Party leader Farage, who said on Twitter: “Suella Braverman, who is under attack from Remainers and the globalists, has said what is happening in the Channel is an invasion. It’s a word I’ve been using for two years and been condemned for.”
He added: “Believe me, the Establishment are out to get her because she’s got the guts to say many of these people are just not refugees. Well done her.”
Suella Braverman agrees with Tory MP Lee Anderson that migrants can “get on a dinghy and go straight back to France” if they believe accommodation in the UK is not good enough, adds: “Any complaints that the accommodation isn’t good enough is frankly indulgent and ungrateful.” pic.twitter.com/mOYwx5RKOw
The Channel crossing crisis has deepened amid growing concern over the conditions in which migrants are being held while waiting to be processed once they arrive in the UK.
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Conditions at the site at Manston were last week described by independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, David Neal, as “pretty wretched”.
The home secretary said around 40,000 people have arrived on the south coast of England in 2022, more than double the number of arrivals via the English Channel in 2021.
Braverman also defended her decision to keep thousands of people at the migrant centre after some of her colleagues accused her of deliberately ignoring legal advice to transfer people from the site to hotels.
Intended to house around 1,500 migrants for less than 24 hours at a time, numbers have swelled to more than double that, with one Afghan family saying they had been there for 32 days.
Braverman was reappointed by prime minister Rishi Sunak last week, six days after she resigned from the same role for sending a government document from her personal email to an employee of a member of parliament in breach of the rules.
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Opposition parties and even some members of parliament in the governing Conservative Party have questioned her suitability for the role.
On Monday, Braverman acknowleged she had sent official government documents to her personal email address six times, raising fresh concerns about breaches of ministerial rules while in charge of the nation’s security.
Twitter @ClaireByrneLiveNigel Farage speaking to journalist Claire Byrne for RTE One
Nigel Farage was firmly put in his place by Irish presenter Claire Byrne on Monday night after he controversially said “up the Ra” in a video.
Farage, prominent Eurosceptic, former leader of both UKIP and later the Brexit Party, and GB News host, caused a stir when he was tricked into ending a paid-for birthday greeting with the republican slogan backing the IRA in October.
The IRA, Irish Republican Army, was the most active paramilitary group during the Troubles.
Farage’s €87 (£73) shout-out – posted on the video-sharing platform Cameo – came up during an interview with the Irish journalist Claire Byrne over Irish independence.
Speaking on RTE One, she said: “Look, I know you apologised for the birthday greeting which you delivered in the last couple of days.”
Bryne then shared the clip on her show, and explained: “I want people to see just how much you know about the history and culture of this island.”
After it played she said: “Up the RA, Nigel?
“I know you said sorry and I know you got 87 quid, that’s entirely within your rights to do that – but come on.
“Don’t try and lecture the Irish people on culture and history and the precarious nature of peace on this island, you haven’t got a clue.”
The Eurosceptic ended up just pivoting the conversation back to whether the Republic of Ireland should remain part of the EU rather than addressing his own controversial statement.
He said: “Do you want to be an independent democratic nation or governed by foreign bureaucrats, that’s the question that Ireland will ask itself.”
He continued: “Do the Irish people wish to be independent or not? That is a debate that will happen in your country in the next few years, believe you me.”
Farage had addressed his insensitive video during an interview with the MailOnline before speaking to Byrne.
He said: “If I saw ‘Up the ’Ra!’ I would have looked at that as something very innocent, and wouldn’t have even known there was an implication to it.
“A lot of messages that I get are friends sending each other messages with their own little jokes or their own little words, which I have to judge – and of course I reject some if they are crude or offensive.”
When asked if he would ever read out a message if he knew it supported the IRA, he said: “Are you joking? I had a face-to-face death threat from them.”
Farage claimed that he usually rejects all unsuitable messages but some break through the screening process.
Writing in the Sunday Times this weekend, he criticised the broadcaster, and claimed he had been encouraged to take the knee when he first alerted a producer to the fact he would be doing so.
“Immediately before going on air, I mentioned that I was considering making the gesture,” he wrote, noting he was then told: “If you do it, do it to camera three.”
GB NewsGuto Harri taking the knee live on air on Tuesday afternoon
Guto continued: “GB News captured the moment and proudly cascaded it through social media. Watch five minutes of the channel and you’ll see how presenters are encouraged to speak freely, confront sensitive subjects, engage in difficult debates and make a case.
“However, what followed was a tsunami of disappointment, resentment and hate. Old friends were amused to see me described as woke and Marxist. By Thursday night, the boss called and I’d been taken off air for the summer.”
He added that he first joined GB News as a part-time presenter because he “supported the broad vision”, but accused the station of having become an “absurd parody of what it proclaimed to be”.
He wrote: “Rather than defending free speech and confronting cancel culture, it has set out to replicate it on the far right.”
GB News stands four square against racism in all its forms. We do not have a company line on taking the knee. Some of our guests have been in favour, some against. All are anti-racist. We have editorial standards that all GB News journalists uphold.
The Independent reported on Sunday afternoon that Guto has now made the decision to quit GB News altogether, quoting a resignation letter in which he told bosses he felt he had no other option but to resign.
“I now see that you’ve hired Nigel Farage who immediately declared in public that he will not be taking the knee,” a section of the letter reads (via The Independent).
“Please explain how that does not breach editorial standards but I did – so I can share it with my lawyers.”
Nigel Farage has been called out by the Home Office over a tweet in which he claimed 12 migrants arriving in Dover on Saturday had tested positive for coronavirus.
The Reform UK leader detailed what he described as a “Covid crisis” and called on home secretary Priti Patel to “get a grip”.
Covid crisis in Dover this morning. One migrant boat with 12 on board and they all tested positive for the virus. Get a grip @pritipatel.
But hours later the Home Office refuted the claim, saying none of the people referred to by Farage had tested positive.
“This is incorrect,” it said in a tweet. “None of these 12 people tested positive for Covid-19. All adults who arrived today have been tested for Covid-19.”
@nigel_farage This is incorrect. None of these 12 people tested positive for Covid-19. All adults who arrived today have been tested for Covid-19
This contrasts dramatically to over 90% for supporters of the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats, at 94.8%, 91.4% and 92.1% respectively, and 100% for those who intend to vote for the SNP.
People who did not know who they would vote for were less likely to take the vaccine at 82.6%, as were supporters of the Green Party at 77.4%.
The study found strong relationships between political attitudes and intention to accept the jab, with whether you voted for Brexit also appearing related to vaccine acceptance, according to Oxford researchers.
