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Nigel Farage drew the crowds as he launched his latest bid to become a British MP — but not everyone was impressed.
Police arrested a woman on suspicion of assault after the leading Brexiteer was pelted with a milkshake Tuesday as he went on a walkabout in the seaside town of Clacton. He’s hoping to become a member of parliament there on July 4.
Farage — who rocked Westminster Monday by u-turning and announcing he will stand in Britain’s election as leader of the right-wing Reform Party — was hit with the drink as he exited a Wetherspoons pub in Clacton.
The banana-flavored milkshake from McDonald’s soaked his hair, face and parts of his clothes.
Speaking to POLITICO after the protest, Farage admitted to being rattled by the “quite violent” incident — but described it as an occupational hazard on campaign walkabouts.
“If somebody chucks something and it hits you in the face, it could be anything, it is a bit scary,” he said.
He added: “It was quite violently done. This doesn’t happen to Keir Starmer, this doesn’t happen to Rishi Sunak. You know why, they don’t go out and meet hundreds of people and this is the risk of doing it.”
The Reform UK Leader continued: “Nobody does the walkabouts like I do. But there is a risk to them, a risk of violence. And look, come on, if I wasn’t thoughtful about it, I wouldn’t be human.”
Essex Police confirmed in a statement to POLITICO that “a 25-year-old woman, from Clacton, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of assault.”
A second individual, a man, was also ” arrested on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker.”
‘Bloody nuisance’
The protest was a far cry from the reception Farage got earlier at his campaign launch, where he pushed a populist message heavy on anti-immigration rhetoric.
The Brexiteer gave a short speech to a large crowd by the pier in the seaside town — the most devoted of whom lapped up his every word.
With a giant ferris wheel behind him, Farage accused the governing Tories of having “betrayed” Brits’ trust by allowing “mass immigration like we’ve never seen before” — and pitched himself against the political and business “establishment” and on the side of “genuinely patriotic people.”
Reform is the successor to Farage’s previous electoral vehicle, the Brexit Party, which stood aside in hundreds of seats in the 2019 election to aid the Conservatives, then led by the Euroskeptic Boris Johnson.
His decision to take a different approach to Sunak’s Conservatives spells serious trouble for the Tories, who are already far behind Labour in the polls and now face a renewed challenge on the right.
“We’ve had enough of government which bows down to big business,“ Farage said as he opened his eighth bid to become an MP, this time in a seat that looks eminently winnable. “Big businesses who will willfully employ foreign workers, undercutting British workers. We want to get British people back to work.”
Crowds were gathered in front of Farage and even assembled on a bridge in front of the pier to watch him speak. Farage’s long-time comms adviser, Gawain Towler, lifted a speaker on to his head to project the audio for those watching.
Declaring that Britain’s election is already over — with Labour expected to crush the governing Tories — Farage had a message to those wondering what he could achieve as a potential lone voice in the House of Commons: “Send me to parliament to be a bloody nuisance,” he said.
“Save Clacton, Save Britain,” shouted one Reform representative as Farage wrapped up.
But there was one group at the launch who weren’t so fond of Farage — and held up a banner stating “Farage not welcome here.”
Today’s incident wasn’t Farage’s first pelting with a milkshake. He was “milkshaked” while campaigning for the Brexit Party in 2019.
