Nigel Farage

Nigel Farage

Credentials

Background

Nigel Farage is the leader of Reform UK2Ben Quinn, Pippa Crerar, and Eleni Courea. “Nigel Farage to stand for Regorm UK in general election U-turn,” the Guardian, June 3, 2024. Archived June 3, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/hRZNv and an MP for the party in Clacton-on-Sea, having been elected in the July 2024 general election, overturning a previous Conservative Party majority of over 25,000 by 8,000 votes.3Becky Morton. “Farage elected MP for first time as Reform wins four seats,” BBC News, July 5, 2024. Archived July 5, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.is/6A6t1 Farage is a GB News presenter.4Livia Giannotti. “Who are the presenters at GB News? Everything you need to know,” Press Gazette, March 14, 2024. Archived April 29, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.is/e8sM2

Farage is the former leader and co-founder of the Brexit Party, which he set up ahead of the European Parliament elections in May 2019 to express โ€œangerโ€ over the fact that Britain had not yet withdrawn from the EU and to โ€œchange politics for good.โ€5โ€œNigel Farage launches Brexit Party ahead of European elections,โ€ BBC News, April 12, 2019. Archived April 16, 2019. Archive URLhttp://archive.fo/K3G0T The Brexit Party became Reform UK in January 2021, when the UK officially withdrew from the European Union.6Sinead Wilson. “Who is Reform UK leader Richard Tice?,” BBC News, March 8, 2021. Archived February 1, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/jYkc5

Multi-millionaire property investor and GB News presenter Richard Tice was the leader of Reform UK, with Farage serving as the party’s “honorary president”, until June 3, 2024.7Nigel Farage. “As Honorary President of Reform UK, I will be speaking at 11am. You can watch on the livestream.,” tweet from user @Nigel_Farage, March 20, 2023. Retrieved from twitter.com. Archived June 28, 2023. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/zNHuq DeSmog reported in June 2024 that Reform UK had received more than ยฃ2.3 million from oil and gas interests, highly polluting industries, and climate science deniers since December 2019, amounting to 92 percent of the partyโ€™s donations.8Sam Bright and Adam Barnett. “Nigel Farageโ€™s Reform Party Has Accepted ยฃ2.3 Million from Fossil Fuel Interests, Climate Deniers, and Polluters Since 2019 Election,” DeSmog, June 4, 2024.

Farage announced on June 3, 2024 that he was returning to Reform UK to lead the party and would stand in the July 2024 general election as the party’s candidate in Clacton.9Ben Quinn, Pippa Crerar, and Eleni Courea. “Nigel Farage to stand for Reform UK in general election U-turn,” the Guardian, June 3, 2024. Archived June 3, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/hRZNv DeSmog reported in June 2024 that Farage’s potential seat, Clacton, is threatened by rising sea levels and flooding due to global warming, according to mapping from the science-based visualisation platform Climate Central. 10Sam Bright and Adam Barnett. “Climate Denier Nigel Farage Standing in Seat at Risk of Sea Level Rises and Flooding,” DeSmog, June 4, 2024.

Farage became a presenter of his own news and opinion show, Farage,11Farage,” GB News. Archived June 27, 2023. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/qnhPn on GB News in July 2021, a channel which, according to a 2023 DeSmog analysis, platformed climate denial and opposition to climate action across one third of its shows.12Adam Barnett. “Revealed: 1 in 3 GB News Presenters Spread Climate Denial On Air in 2022,” DeSmog, May 26, 2023. Archived May 26, 2023. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/KbDq3

Farage has used his GB News platform to launch a โ€œNet Zero Referendumโ€ on the UKโ€™s climate targets under the name of his new group โ€œVote Power Not Poverty,โ€ co-founded by Reform UKโ€™s leader Richard Tice.13Adam Barnett. Nigel Farageโ€™s โ€˜Net Zero Referendumโ€™ Drive is Steeped in Climate Science Denial,โ€ DeSmog, March 10, 2022. Archived March 10, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/R8qTH

Farage has cast doubt on climate science on a number of occasions and both UKIP and the Brexit Party have fielded numerous climate science denying candidates.14Karl Mathiesen. โ€œHow fast is Arctic sea ice melting?โ€ The Guardian, September 18, 2013. Archived February 25, 2019. Archive URLhttp://archive.fo/x3Sqx 15Rich Collett-White. โ€œElection 2019: Here Are All the Brexit Partyโ€™s Climate Science Deniers,โ€ DeSmog, May 1, 2019.

Farage was Vice-chairman of Leave Means Leave, a campaign group set up after the EU referendum to advocate a โ€œhardโ€ Brexit. He led the group with Chairman Richard Tice and former head of the British Chambers of Commerce, John Longworth.16โ€œWho we are,โ€ Leave Means Leave. Archived February 4, 2019. Archive URL: http://archive.fo/36OM4

Other members of Leave Means Leave included figures that have cast doubt on the veracity of climate science and the seriousness of climate change including Owen PatersonChristopher ChopeJacob Rees-Mogg and Peter Lilley.17โ€œWho we are,โ€ Leave Means Leave. Archived February 4, 2019. Archive URL: http://archive.fo/36OM4

Leave Means Leave was based at 55 Tufton Street, home to several organisations pushing for a hard Brexit as well as the UK‘s principal climate science denial group, the Global Warming Policy Foundation.

Prior to the EU referendum, Farage led the UK Independence Party (UKIP), of which he was a founder member, until July 2016. 18Godfrey Bloom. โ€œWhen we founded Ukip, Brexit was a lost cause. Nigel Farage changed all that,โ€ The Telegraph, July 4, 2016. Archived February 13, 2019. Archive URL: http://archive.fo/mzYg6 19Shehab Khan. โ€œNigel Farage โ€˜will standโ€™ for new Brexit Party if Britain leaving the EU is delayed,โ€ The Independent, February 9, 2019. Archived February 13, 2019. Archive URL: http://archive.fo/1zy9T

UKIPโ€™s party manifestos for the 2015 and 2017 elections both pledged to undo green initiatives, analysis by Carbon Brief showed.20Simon Evans. โ€œElection 2015: What the manifestos say on climate and energy,โ€ Carbon Brief, April 21, 2015. Archived February 13, 2019. Archive URL: http://archive.fo/dqwdj In 2015 it stated โ€œthe Climate Change Act is doing untold damage. UKIP will repeal it.โ€ It also argued that โ€œcoal must be part of the solutionโ€ for cheap energy security and that itโ€™s โ€œtime to get fracking.โ€ These themes were repeated in 2017 when the party manifesto called again for the UK Climate Change Act to be repealed while pledging to โ€œwithdraw from the Paris climate agreement and the EU Emissions Trading scheme.โ€21Simon Evans. โ€œElection 2017: What the manifestos say on energy and climate change,โ€ Carbon Brief, June 16, 2017. Archived February 13, 2019. Archive URL: http://archive.fo/oTNkW

UKIPโ€™s primary goal was to seek the UKโ€™s withdrawal from the European Union, and Farage stepped down as party leader following the EU referendum in June 2016, saying his โ€œpolitical ambition [had] been achieved.โ€ During the Brexit campaign, Farage was a leading member of the unofficial pro-Brexit groups Leave.EU and Grassroots Out.22โ€œUKIP leader Nigel Farage stands down,โ€ BBC News, July 4, 2016. Archived February 13, 2019. Archive URL: http://archive.fo/M5Iqq 23Jim Pickard. โ€œEU vote: Brexit camps set to merge but rifts remain,โ€ Financial Times, February 10, 2016. Archived February 13, 2019. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

Since then Farage has toured the US and Australia, visiting like-minded conservative groups and appearing as a commentator on Fox News.24Ben Jacobs. โ€œNigel Farage gets warm welcome at gathering of US right wing,โ€ The Guardian, February 23, 2018. Archived February 13, 2019. Archive URL: http://archive.fo/Rf0Vl 25Naaman Zhou. โ€œNigel Farage tour: five arrested in protest outside Melbourne hotel,โ€ The Guardian, September 7, 2018. Archived February 13, 2019. Archive URL: http://archive.fo/NfB9i 26Joe Concha. โ€œFox News signs Nigel Farage, backer of Trump and Brexit,โ€ The Hill, 20 January, 2017. Archived February 13, 2019. Archive URL: http://archive.fo/VQyuf

Farage left UKIP in December 2018, saying the party’s leader Gerard Batten was โ€œobsessedโ€ with the issue of Islam and the ex-English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson.27โ€œFormer leader Nigel Farage quits UKIP,โ€ BBC News, December 4, 2018. Archived April 16, 2019. Archive URLhttp://archive.fo/1ygsa

From 2017-2020, he was the host of the โ€œNigel Farage Show,โ€ a radio phone-in on the London-based national radio station, LBC.28โ€œNigel Farage leaves radio station LBC,โ€ BBC News, June 11, 2020. Archived August 30, 2020. Archive URL: https://archive.fo/wip/TzW0k

Stance on Climate Change

June 13, 2023

Farage posted a video on Twitter in which he argued that the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khanโ€™s calls to reduce air pollution by cutting car engine use, would pave the way to โ€˜climate lockdownsโ€™:

โ€œMark my words this isnโ€™t going to end with 20mph zones and low-traffic neighbourhoods. No no. This is the beginning of climate lockdowns. We will have, in years to come, days where weโ€™re told we canโ€™t drive, we canโ€™t do this, you canโ€™t do that while Sadiq Khan is leading the way. Remember you heard it here first. Climate lockdowns.โ€29Nigel Farage. โ€œSadiq Khanโ€™s climate crackdowns are about controlling our lives,โ€ Tweet by @Nigel_Farage, June 13, 2023. Retrieved from Twitter.com. Archived .png on file at DeSmog.

Three days later on June 16, Farage tweeted โ€œSadiq Khanโ€™s climate crackdowns are about controlling our lives.โ€30Nigel Farage. โ€œClimate lockdowns are coming!,โ€ Tweet by @Nigel_Farage, June 16, 2023. Retrieved from Twitter.com. Archived .png on file at DeSmog.

August 31, 2021

In an appearance on a GB News segment titled โ€œHow far should we go to tackle Climate Change?โ€, Nigel Farage said to fellow presenter Alex Phillips: 

โ€œIโ€™m very much an environmentalist Alex, I have been for 40 years [โ€ฆ] Iโ€™m all for sensible environmentalism, I canโ€™t abide things like plastics in our seas, pollution in our rivers and I want things done about it and Iโ€™m pleased to say that in some cases things have been done. Certainly our rivers are much much better than they were 20, 40 years ago. What annoys me though, is this complete obsession with carbon dioxide almost to the exclusion of everything else, the alarmism that comes with it, based on dodgy predictions and science, and somehow this, โ€˜If you donโ€™t agree with us that CO2  is the great evil, youโ€™re against the planet and youโ€™re a denierโ€™. I mean itโ€™s complete and utter rubbish. Does man have an impact on the world? Well, with a global population of now seven and a half billion compared to two and a half billion when I was born, of course man has an impact. But itโ€™s not just man, and what man does that changes climate or the world: itโ€™s volcanic activity, itโ€™s sun spots, itโ€™s so many other things. So look, I want us to have proper, sensible environmental policies but I think this focus on CO2, and this commitment to effectively tax poor people, to give money to rich people and big corporations whilst Chinaโ€™s gonna ignore it all, is gonna leave us in a very uncompetitive position and itโ€™s very unfair on ordinary people.โ€31Nigel Farage. โ€œHow far should we go to tackle Climate Change?,โ€ YouTube video uploaded by user GBNews, August 31, 2021. Archived February 5, 2023. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.

January 23, 2020

Presenting a phone in on LBC during the Davos gathering of world leaders, Farage claimed that Donald Trump was taking a positive approach to climate action and criticised Prince Charles and Greta Thunberg for promoting โ€œalarmism.โ€32โ€œNigel Farage compares President Donald Trump and Prince Charles on climate change,โ€ YouTube video uploaded by user LBC Radio on on January 23, 2020. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.

Farage suggested that population growth was the greatest driver of environmental impacts, including carbon emissions, saying:

โ€œThe real problem weโ€™ve got here, Iโ€™m going to put this to you, in my view, the real problem weโ€™ve got here with loss of habitat, the destructive effects on biodiversity and all of these problems with carbon emissions or whatever else you want to worry about in the world, is simply because the global population is exploding, itโ€™s the biggest problem that we face.โ€

November 2015

In an interview with Spiked online:33Ed King. โ€œNigel Farage on climate change: in his own words,โ€ Climate Home News, March 11, 2015. Archived February 18, 2019. Archive URL: http://archive.fo/EOSFd

โ€œI havenโ€™t got a clue whether climate change is being driven by carbon-dioxide emissions.โ€

โ€œI think wind energy is the biggest collective economic insanity Iโ€™ve seen in my entire life. Iโ€™ve never seen anything more stupid, more illogical, or more irrational.โ€

June 2013

In an interview with Edie:34Leigh Stringer. โ€œUKIP‘s Nigel Farage on wind farms, global warming and Charles Darwin,โ€ Edie, June 4, 2013. Archived February 18, 2019. Archive URL: http://archive.fo/uPtqg

โ€œI am not saying that man is having no influence on the climate, although as the years go by it looks increasingly unlikely. To be told that the science is settled [on global warming] is hard to accept. Where I grew up, our back wall joined onto Down House where Charles Darwin wrote [On the Origin of Species] and 150 years on, the science isn’t settled over Darwin and I can tell you science is never settled.โ€

โ€œIt’s odd to focus on carbon dioxide. I’m an environmentalist; I’m against carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide and toxins in our rivers. Yes, I’m all for pollution controls but to obsess with carbon dioxide, which as I understand it, is a perfectly natural occurring phenomenon, strikes me as strange.โ€

September 2013

Speaking in the European Parliament:35โ€œWhat EC President Barroso really said in the European Parliament on 11 September,โ€ European Commission, September 12, 2013. Archived February 18, 2019. Archive URL: http://archive.fo/U0I18

โ€œWe may have made one of the biggest and most stupid collective mistakes in history by getting so worried about global warming.โ€

Key Quotes

September 14, 2024

Nigel Farage was the keynote speakers for a Heartland Foundation fundraiser group, a group that has pioneered climate science denial, where he called on the U.S. to “drill baby drill” for more fossil fuels.36Sam Bright and Adam Barnett. “Nigel Farage Goes on Pro-Fossil Fuel Rant at Fundraiser for Climate Denial Group,” DeSmog, September 14, 2024. He also said that “Iโ€™d love to see Heartland on the other side of the pond,” and encouraged attendees to vote for U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump.

August 23, 2024

Farage dismissed accusations that he was not taking his job as an MP seriously, and told the MP “Am I going to take this job seriously? You bet your life I am. Am I taking it seriously? Yes, of course I am.”37Lewis Adams and Matt Knight. “‘I take my job as an MP seriously,’ says Farage,” BBC News, August 23, 2024. Archived September 5, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.is/4gVrC

June 21, 2024

In an interview with Nick Robinson for BBC Panorama, Nigel Farage was asked whether he stood by comments he had made in 2021 that King Charles was an โ€œeco-loonyโ€, to which he responded โ€œNo […] he did used to say that carbon dioxide was a pollutant which I thought was a very stupid comment,โ€ making a similar comment later in the interview that โ€œthe King is wrong to say CO2 is a pollutant, that is wrong, clearly.โ€38Anders Anglesey. โ€œNigel Farage grilled over branding King Charles an ‘eco-loony’,โ€ The Mirror, June 21, 2024. Archived July 2, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.is/JVGy5

April 18, 2023

Appearing on Sky News Australia, Farage called Just Stop Oil activists, who interrupted the UK Snooker Championship in March 2023, โ€œa new student cultโ€ who have โ€œbeen indoctrinatedโ€ and are โ€œoverprivileged middle class kids.โ€39โ€œSnooker climate protestors not โ€™persuading anybody of anythingโ€™,โ€ YouTube video uploaded by user Sky News Australia on April 18, 2023. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.

He said: โ€œwe’ve got to reach a point with these people where their intolerance is met by our intolerance.”

February 20, 2023

Farage tweeted a link to a Times article which called for pro-climate โ€˜rationing,โ€™ arguing in the caption that measures to reduce climate impacts were akin to โ€œcrackpot ideasโ€:40Academics propose the rationing to combat climate change! Flights, meat, petrol and even clothing should have a non-transferable token, tracked by a โ€œcarbon cardโ€ instead of bank card. Worst part is these crackpot ideas will soon be mainstream.,” tweet from user @Nigel_Farage, February 20, 2023. Archived October 9, 2023. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/RI8Kk

โ€œAcademics propose the rationing to combat climate change! Flights, meat, petrol and even clothing should have a non-transferable token, tracked by a โ€œcarbon cardโ€ instead of bank card Worst part is these crackpot ideas will soon be mainstream.โ€

February 7, 2023

In a news bulletin on GB News, Farage claimed that energy security and net zero were โ€œcompletely and utterly incompatibleโ€, adding that to meet net zero the UK would have to โ€œproduce none of our own energy and get rid of pretty much every manufacturing job in the countryโ€.41โ€œUK would need to get rid of every manufacturing job to reach NetZero,โ€ YouTube video uploaded by user GB News on February 7, 2023. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.

January 9, 2023

In a GB News segment with Alan Miller from the Together campaign โ€“ titled โ€œBritain has GIVEN UP on Christianity and embraced the new religion of Greta Thunbergโ€ โ€“ Farage said:42Nigel Farage. โ€œBritain has GIVEN UP on Christianity and embraced the new religion of Greta Thunberg,โ€ GB News, January 9, 2023. Archived February 22, 2023. Archived video on file at DeSmog.

โ€œIf people want this, they can have it, this is being imposed without any proper debate between parties. Final thought, the proposals in Canterbury and Oxford that you basically would not be allowed to drive your car out of a very local neighbourhood without a form of charge, this almost feels like a sort of climate lockdown, or am I exaggerating?โ€

Concluding the segment, Farage reiterated: โ€œIf people want these things, thatโ€™s fine, they can have them, but itโ€™s just being imposed, itโ€™s crackers, it is the new religion as we give up on Christianity and we embrace the new religion of Greta Thunberg.โ€

December 15, 2022

In a GB News appearance, Farage labelled HSBCโ€™s decision to no longer provide finance for โ€œprojects pertaining to new oil and gas fields and related infrastructureโ€ a โ€œself-inflicted act of lunacyโ€ on the part of the UK.43George McMillan. โ€œNigel Farage labels HSBCโ€™s decision to no longer finance new oil and gas fields a โ€˜self-inflicted act of LUNACYโ€™,โ€ GB News, December 15, 2022. Archived December 21, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.is/klxot

He said: 

โ€œHSBC will stop funding future oil and gas exploration and development projects. Theyโ€™re doing it because they want to help us meet our environmental targets. Oh arenโ€™t they so virtuous and wonderful?โ€

He later added: โ€œThis is the madness that has gripped the corporate world. Itโ€™s damaging our country.โ€

November 7, 2022

Farage tweeted: โ€œEd Milibandโ€™s โ€œclimate reparationsโ€ shows that people like him on the left have lost their marbles. #COP27.โ€44โ€œEd Milibandโ€™s โ€œclimate reparationsโ€ shows that people like him on the left have lost their marbles. #COP27,โ€ Tweet by @Nigel_Farage, November 9, 2023. Archived November 7, 2022. Archived .png on file at DeSmog.

September 7, 2022

In a tweet, Farage argued that UK government should not be imposing a windfall tax on oil and gas companies operating to tackle the energy crisis but rather should: โ€œMake the oil and gas companies  reinvest profits to make Britain energy self-sufficient. #pmqs.โ€45Nigel Farage. โ€œMake the oil and gas companies reinvest profits to make Britain energy self-sufficient. #pmqs,โ€ Tweet by @Nigel_Farage, September 9, 2023. Archived November 9, 2022. Archived .png on file at DeSmog.

August 8, 2022

On an airing of his own show on GB News, Farage questioned the link between extreme weather and climate change, saying: โ€œWhich is it? Is climate change giving us floods in the [US] midwest or drought in southern England? Iโ€™m confused.โ€46โ€œHeatwaves: Meteorologist tells Nigel Farage the cause is ‘climate change’,โ€ YouTube video uploaded by user GBNews, August 8, 2022. Archived May 15, 2023. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.

April 26, 2022

In response to a contributor arguing that net zero policies have received support from both Labour and Conservative voters, after a poll found that the Conservatives may lose 1.3 million voters if net zero targets arenโ€™t met, GB News presenter Nigel Farage suggested it was because โ€œthey donโ€™t know the racket, do they, they donโ€™t know what theyโ€™ve been chargedโ€.47โ€œYouโ€™ve seen support from both Labour and Conservative voters. Thatโ€™s because they donโ€™t know what theyโ€™ve been charged,โ€ Tweet by @GBNews, April 26, 2022. Archived March 1, 2023. Video on file at DeSmog.

August 12, 2019

In a speech to the Australian Conservative Political Action Conference reported by the Guardian, Farage made comments about the UK‘s Royal Family, saying:48Michael McGowan, Ben Doherty. โ€œNigel Farage attacks Harry and Meghan, jokes about ‘overweight’ Queen Mother,โ€ The Guardian, August 12, 2019. Archived August 20, 2019. Archive URL: http://archive.fo/IBrg8

โ€œWhen it comes to [the Queen’s] son [Prince Charles], when it comes to Charlie Boy and climate change, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Her mother, Her Royal Highness the Queenโ€™s mother was a slightly overweight, chain-smoking gin drinker who lived to 101 years old. All I can say is Charlie Boy is now in his 70s โ€ฆ may the Queen live a very, very long time.โ€

Commenting on the marriage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, he said:49Michael McGowan, Ben Doherty. โ€œNigel Farage attacks Harry and Meghan, jokes about ‘overweight’ Queen Mother,โ€ The Guardian, August 12, 2019. Archived August 20, 2019. Archive URL: http://archive.fo/IBrg8

โ€œTerrifying! Here was Harry, here he was this young, brave, boisterous, all male, getting into trouble, turning up at stag parties inappropriately dressed, drinking too much and causing all sorts of mayhem. And then, a brave British officer who did his bit in Afghanistan. He was the most popular royal of a younger generation that weโ€™ve seen for 100 years.

โ€œAnd then he met Meghan Markle, and itโ€™s fallen off a cliff. Weโ€™ve been told in the last week that Meghan and Harry will only have two children โ€ฆ and weโ€™re all completely ignoring, the real problem the Earth faces, and that is the fact the population of the globe is exploding but no one dares talk about it, no one dares deal with it, and whether Prince Harry has two kids is irrelevant given there are now 2.6 billion Chinese and Indians on this Earth.โ€

February 28, 2018

Farage said on Twitter:50โ€œLarge parts of central London have no salt on the roads. Perhaps they are all so convinced by global warming they never thought any would be needed.โ€ Tweet by @Nigel_Farage, February 28, 2018. Retrieved from Twitter.com. Archived .png on file at DeSmog.

โ€œLarge parts of central London have no salt on the roads. Perhaps they are all so convinced by global warming they never thought any would be needed.โ€

Key Actions

August 17, 2024

Farage was reported to be earning over ยฃ1 million per year outside for work outside of parliament, ยฃ1.2 million of which comes from GB News alone at nearly ยฃ98,000 per month.51Damian Grammaticas. “Farage earns more than ยฃ1m a year for non-MP works,” BBC News, August 17, 2024. Archived August 17, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.is/FOX9Y The Guardian reported that Farage therefore appeared to be the higest-earning MP in the UK.52Rowena Mason and Henry Dyer. “Nigel Farage revealed to be UKโ€™s highest-earning MP,” The Guardian, August 16, 2024. Archived August 18, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.is/lcqLs

July 13, 2024

A report published by The Telegraph revealed that a close associate of Nigel Farage, Andy Wigmore, had held secret talks with Chris Williams, an aide of then-Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, about potential plans to run joint Reform UK-Conservative candidates in ‘red wall’ seats โ€“ seats in the north of England that switched from Labour to Conservative in the 2019 general election.53Camilla Turner. “Sunak held secret talks about Farage Red Wall deal,” The Telegraph, July 13, 2024. Archived July 15, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.is/0ZQXY

July 4, 2024

Farage was elected as MP for Clacton-on-Sea for Reform UK in the July 2024 general election, marking his first successful bid in a general election.54Becky Morton. “Farage elected MP for first time as Reform wins four seats,” BBC News, July 5, 2024. Archived July 5, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.is/6A6t1

June 4, 2024

DeSmog reported that the seat Farage was running for in the July 2024 general election, Clacton, is threatened by rising sea levels and flooding due to global warming, according to mapping from the science-based visualisation platform Climate Central. 55Sam Bright and Adam Barnett. “Climate Denier Nigel Farage Standing in Seat at Risk of Sea Level Rises and Flooding,” DeSmog, June 4, 2024. According to Climate Central, substantial parts of Clacton, Essex, will be at risk of yearly flooding even by 2030.56LAND PROJECTED TO BE BELOW ANNUAL FLOOD LEVEL IN 2050,” Climate Central. Archived June 6, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/W3DxN

June 3, 2024

Farage announced that he was returning to lead Reform UK and would stand in the July 2024 general election as the party’s candidate in Clacton.57Ben Quinn, Pippa Crerar, and Eleni Courea. “Nigel Farage to stand for Reform UK in general election U-turn,” the Guardian, June 3, 2024. Archived June 3, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/hRZNv

DeSmog reported on June 4 that Reform UK had received more than ยฃ2.3 million from oil and gas interests, highly polluting industries, and climate science deniers since December 2019, amounting to 92 percent of the partyโ€™s donations.58Sam Bright and Adam Barnett. “Nigel Farageโ€™s Reform Party Has Accepted ยฃ2.3 Million from Fossil Fuel Interests, Climate Deniers, and Polluters Since 2019 Election,” DeSmog, June 4, 2024.

July 17, 2021

Farage was given his own Monday-Thursday show on GB News called Farage.59Lizzie Edmonds. โ€œNigel Farage to join GB News as channel continues to suffer low viewing figures,โ€ Evening Standard, July 17, 2021. Archived July 17, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/CgEJF

June 20, 2021
Farage joined GB News to host the Sunday show The Political Correction.60Neil Wilkes. โ€œNigel Farage joins GB News to host Sunday morning show,โ€ MediaMole, June 20, 2021. Archived June 21, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/QTGmt

May 4, 2021

Farage joined Amsterdam-based carbon offset company Dutch Green Business, which aims to reduce carbon emissions by planting trees, as an adviser and spokesperson. He told Reuters: โ€œI think people will want to plant trees and increase biodiversity through DGB who are actually quite sceptical about climate change. Equally there will be others who are very concerned about it.” He also said: โ€œIf their motivations are more about biodiversity than they are about climate change, so what?”61Susanna Twidale. โ€œNigel Farage: Brexiteer, scourge of the woke โ€“ and eco-warrior?โ€ Reuters, April 30, 2021. Archived May 4, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/ZlPKM

According to The Guardian, Dutch Green Business is part owned by businessman John Mappin, a supporter of the conspiracy theorist QAnon movement.62Jasper Jolly. โ€œNigel Farage’s green employer is part-owned by QAnon believer,โ€ The Guardian, March 29, 2021. Archived May 4, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/unCk3

December 7, 2020

Farage stated that his new party, Reform UK, would recruit candidates to stand against โ€œany and everyโ€ politician who backed Prime Minister Boris Johnsonโ€™s 10-point plan for a โ€˜Green Industrial Revolution,โ€™ Breitbart reported. Farage also reportedly described Johnsonโ€™s policies to convert streets into cul-de-sacs as โ€œmadness,โ€ and an opportunity for the government to โ€œvirtue-signal and show off its eco-credentials.โ€63Kurt Zindulka. โ€œNigel Farage to Field Reform Party Candidates Against BOJOโ€™s Anti-Car โ€˜Madness,โ€™โ€ Breitbart, December 7, 2020. Archived December 8, 2020. Archive URL: https://archive.vn/lFViz

November 2, 2020

An interview with Farage by talkRADIOโ€™s Mike Graham discussing the 2020 U.S. Presidential election was quoted in The Daily Express. In response to Graham claiming that โ€œin Pennsylvania, Joe Biden’s home state, Biden has said he wants to do away with the oil business and frackingโ€, and โ€œthat is not going to play too well for one of the world’s centres for oil and frackingโ€, Farage responded: โ€œthese are blue-collar jobs, these are communities who traditionally vote Democrat but under Joe Biden they will lose their jobsโ€, continuing: โ€œI think you are right, I think that is an absolute key for Pennsylvaniaโ€.64Gerrard Kaonga. โ€œNigel Farage convinced Trump will win the US election as Biden makes errors in Pennsylvaniaโ€, The Daily Express, November 2, 2020. Archived November 3, 2020. Archive URL: https://archive.vn/AFl1Q

July 4, 2019

Farage paid tribute to the late Christopher Booker in an interview with the right-wing website Breitbart, describing how Booker campaigned with him for the UK to leave the European Union in the 1990s. Farage also said during the interview:65Oliver JJ Lane. โ€œExclusive: Nigel Farageโ€™s Tribute to British Eurosceptic โ€˜Literary Giantโ€™ Christopher Booker,โ€ Breitbart, July 4, 2019. Archived December 2, 2019. Archive URLhttp://archive.md/LdCzk

โ€œ[Booker] questioned whether CO2 was actually leading to climate change, he questioned all the attempts to shut down free speech and open debate.โ€

May 16, 2019

A Channel 4 News investigation revealed that Farage’s close ally, Arron Banks, had spent approximately ยฃ450,000 funding a lavish lifestyle for Farage in the year following the 2016 EU referendum.66โ€œNigel Farageโ€™s funding secrets revealed,โ€ Channel 4 News, May 16, 2019. Archived June 20, 2019. Archive URL: https://archive.fo/3MJBa

April 12, 2019

Farage launched the Brexit Party ahead of the European Union elections in May. Among the 70 candidates selected to stand was Annunziata Rees-Mogg, sister of the pro-Brexit, climate science denying Conservative MP, Jacob Rees-Mogg. Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Farage said his former party, UKIP, had allowed โ€œthe far right to join it and take it over and I’m afraid the brand is now tarnished,โ€ while claiming that there was โ€œno differenceโ€ in terms of policy between the two parties. Three UKIP MEPs announced they had defected to the party four days later.67โ€œNigel Farage launches Brexit Party ahead of European elections,โ€ BBC News, April 12, 2019. Archived April 16, 2019. Archive URLhttp://archive.fo/K3G0T 68Samuel Osborne. โ€œUkip MEPs quit to join Nigel Farageโ€™s Brexit Party,โ€ The Independent, April 15, 2019. Archived April 16, 2019. Archive URLhttp://archive.fo/te9pO

February 9, 2019

It was announced that Farage would run in the upcoming European Parliament elections for a newly-registered Brexit Party, if Britain had not left the EU by this point.69Shehab Khan. โ€œNigel Farage โ€˜will standโ€™ for new Brexit Party if Britain leaving the EU is delayed,โ€ The Independent, February 9, 2019. Archived February 13, 2019. Archive URL: http://archive.fo/1zy9T

November 2016

Farage claimed the distinction of being the first British politician to meet with Donald Trump after the US presidential election.70โ€œFarage: ‘Real opportunity’ for UK business with Donald Trump,โ€ BBC News, November 13, 2016. Archived February 18, 2019. Archive URL: http://archive.fo/JMD2F A photo taken on November 12 shows the two men standing in front of Trumpโ€™s golden elevator in New York City alongside millionaire UKIP and Brexit-backer Arron Banks, Breitbart UK editor Raheem Kassam, unofficial Brexit campaign group Leave.EU pollster Gerry Gunster, and Andy Wigmore, communications director of Leave.EU.71Jon Stone. โ€œNigel Farage branded ‘poppy-less popinjay’ for skipping Remembrance Sunday to visit Donald Trump,โ€ The Independent, November 14, 2016. Archived February 18, 2019. Archive URL: http://archive.fo/Tz2xN 72Andrew Pierce, James Tapsfield. โ€œYour gold door’s worth more than my house! The riotous inside story of Farage and his Ukip posse’s astonishing coup as he became the first foreign politician to meet President-elect Trump,โ€ Daily Mail, November 14, 2016. Archived February 18, 2019. Archive URL: http://archive.fo/rfVYl

July 2016

Farage attended the Republican National Convention during the 2016 presidential race which led to the election of Donald Trump. His goal was to spread the โ€œBrexit gospel,โ€ as Politico reported at the time. โ€œI think there are a lot of Republican strategists who are looking very closely at what we did and how we did it,โ€ Farage told Politico, adding โ€œAll I can do is to come and tell my story.โ€73Benjamin Oreskes. โ€œNigel Farage preaches Brexit gospel in Cleveland,โ€ Politico, July 19, 2016. Archived February 18, 2019. Archive URL: http://archive.fo/BdzKc

July 2015

Farage delivered a speech to the Heritage Foundation in Washington D.C. where he made the case for the US to support Brexit. The Heritage Foundation is a conservative โ€œfree enterpriseโ€ group with a history of promoting climate science denial.74โ€œFARAGE FOR BREITBART: A Letter to America, On How You May Lose Your Greatest Ally,โ€ Breitbart, July 17, 2015. Archived February 28, 2019. Archive URL: http://archive.fo/E3Jfw

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