Nigel Farage has said men will more readily sacrifice their family lives to be successful in their business careers than women, and that young men are being too “feminised” by modern society.
The Reform UK leader set out his view on gender balance in the workplace in a conversation with journalists in Westminster, saying women made “different life choices” when it came to work. He went on to suggest that Reform attracts men because they are more impulsive than their female counterparts.
Asked if the men who fill 80% of top jobs in business were all there based purely on merit, he said: “I think the truth is that in many cases women make very different life choices to men. If you look at business, men are prepared to sacrifice family lives in order to pursue a career and be successful in a way that fewer women are. Those women that do probably have more chance of reaching the top than the blokes.”
Reform is dominated by men at the top, with Farage as leader, Richard Tice as deputy, Nick Candy as treasurer and Zia Yusuf as chair, along with two more male MPs. Its press and policy teams are also staffed by men. Pressed on whether there should be more women at the top of his party, he said: “I’m very pro-women, don’t worry about that,” and listed several candidates who are female.
Farage’s comments appear to echo those widely circulating in the online “manosphere” where views are commonly expressed that men are being too “feminised”. He said he was not a fan of the misogynist influencer Andrew Tate, but that people should try to understand why he had 10 million young male followers. He has previously spoken of Tate being an important voice for young men.
The Labour MP for Bolsover, Natalie Fleet, said: “Nigel Farage seems to be stuck in the 1970s. He clearly has no idea about the sacrifices women make, how on Earth can his party represent them?”
In a wide-ranging question and answer session, Farage also:
Lifted the lid further on his row with Elon Musk, saying the billionaire adviser to Donald Trump had tried to push him too much on supporting the far-right activist Tommy Robinson. “You can’t bully me,” he said. “I’ve got my principles, I stand by them good or bad.”
Said the idea of a $100m (£77m) donation from Musk had been “massively overexaggerated”, but insisted they were now on “perfectly reasonable terms” by text message.
Dismissed the idea of a pact with the Tories, saying Reform “despises” the party. He suggested its leader, Kemi Badenoch, was lazy and referred to her leadership rival Robert Jenrick as Robert “Generic”. Of Tory MPs, he said: “I’ve never met a more stuck up, arrogant, out of touch group of people. At least half of the Conservative MPs are stuffy, boring old bastards.”
Blamed net zero policies rather than the threat of Trump tariffs for the planned closure of Scunthorpe’s steel plant, and claimed the US president had wanted to do a trade deal during his previous term, but that the Tories had “blown it” by delaying Brexit.
In his comments on men and women, Farage said it was wrong that boys were “being told not to be boys” with advice not to shout, sing songs or drink more than two pints of beer at football tournaments.
“I mean, no point going, really, but, you know, we try and sort of feminise men. And that’s why people like Andrew Tate have picked up the support they have … I’m not a Tate supporter. I’m identifying a truth that young men feel that they’re not allowed to be blokes.”
In relation to Reform’s support, which was stronger among young men at the last election, he said: “I think men are more impulsive. I think men say ‘I like that, I’m going to do it.’ And I think women think, hang on a second, and are more cautious.”
He said, however, that new support for Reform since the election was equally split between the sexes, and he hoped his party would appoint more senior women.
Farage also joked about his portrayal in the media. “There are things that have been written about me over the years and said that I really find awkward, and difficult and embarrassing. I’ve seen all these diary pieces and gossip columns say that I’m a chain smoker,” he said.
“Others have written that my drink intake verges on alcoholism. Others have said I spend my entire life spending with bookmakers at race events. Some have said that I’m a womaniser on a level that’s not been seen in modern political history. And you guys have written all this about me. I had to live with … The trouble is, it’s all true. Well it was true, but as you get older it becomes less important.”
Farage’s Q&A came ahead of Labour’s NHS action day of campaigning on Saturday, where the health secretary, Wes Streeting, will unveil an anti-Reform advertising campaign. He will attack Farage in run-up the local elections and the Runcorn byelection, saying he has “no plan for the country beyond fawning over Putin and plotting to dismantle our health service”.
