NIGEL Farage clashed with Piers Morgan on Thursday night’s Question Time after a woman in the audience confronted the former Ukip leader on his election record.
The honorary president of Reform UK made what was believed to be his 37th appearance on the flagship political debate show on Thursday night.
He appeared alongside Morgan as well as shadow health secretary Wes Streeting as the build-up to the General Election continues.
🚨 NEW: Piers Morgan confronts Nigel Farage for “bottling it” and mocks him for failing in his last seven attempts to run for election @piersmorgan / #bbcqt pic.twitter.com/WJ19QeY90s
— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) May 30, 2024
One woman in the audience asked Farage: “So, if I can be very cheeky and just say to Nigel, is the reason that you’re not standing because the last seven attempts that you did try to stand, you didn’t get selected?”
The question was met with applause from the audience and Morgan could be heard shouting that Farage “bottled it” before the former Ukip leader told the TV presenter he’d never stood to be a politician.
Host Fiona Bruce had to intervene as the pair continued to shout over one another before Farage went on to answer the question.
“In the 90s and 00s, I stood for Ukip time and again. We were a pressure group. If we saved a deposit, that was cause for an all-night party.
“I’ve had one serious attempt at standing for Parliament and do you know what happened? I’ll tell you what happened. They cheated so badly, that the agent got a nine-month prison sentence. They massively overspent and cheated.”
Farage’s comments were in reference to the fact that a Tory party official was found guilty of falsifying election expenses in the South Thanet seat in 2015.
He added: “I’ve stood once before. I know how difficult it is when you’ve got the big parties who treat the law with contempt.
“I didn’t feel in six weeks from scratch I could do it (this year) but I tell you what, I will be part of this campaign, I will be part of this debate and I do think there are some very serious issues not being discussed.”
Morgan and Farage continued to clash as the former hit out at the latter for saying he did not have enough time to prepare.
Farage replied by saying that his TV show was “still going but yours has been shut down” before Bruce once again intervened.
