Nigel Farage signalled a return to right-wing shock tactics for his Reform UK party, as he used his first election interview to attack Muslims in the UK for “not sharing British values”.
Speaking to Sir Trevor Phillips on Sky News this morning, Mr Farage accused Rishi Sunak of “not being a leader” and instead being “a follower of focus groups” who is “not willing to tackle the real issues in this country”.
He was dismissive of Tory plans to reintroduce compulsory national service for school leavers, describing the policy as “a joke” but then stunned Sir Trevor by launching into an attack on millions of voters.
The ex-Brexit leader is hoping to capitalise on the Tories’ poor performance in the polls, which has seen his Reform Party now at 14 per cent, just five points behind the Conservatives.
In a prickly exchange, Mr Farage said: “We have a growing number of young people in this country who do not subscribe to British values, in fact loathe much of what we stand for.”
Sir Trevor interjected: “Who are we talking about then?”
Farage responded: “Oh! I think we see them on the streets of London every Saturday.”
An uncomfortable Sir Trevor, who used to be chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, interupted again: “What do they look like? Are we talking about Muslims here?”
Mr Farage agreed. The former Ukip leader said: “We are. I am afraid I found some of the recent surveys saying 46 per cent of British Muslims support Hamas, support a terrorist organisation that is proscribed in this country. What is interesting is that this prime minister is building up far more of that population than anybody before in history.”
Sir Trevor replied: “We don’t have this survey in front of us but are you sure you want to make the blanket accusation that you have just made that Muslims are somehow less patriotic? Would you like to revisit this statement?”
Mr Farage though was unrepentant, asking if Sir Trevor had watched the recent local elections in the UK.
He went on to make it clear that immigration numbers will be the top priority of Reform which is being led now by Richard Tice with him as honorary president.
Farage also admitted that Mr Sunak had scuppered his own plans to run to become an MP in Clacton by calling a snap election.
“I had a six-month plan. I was wrong-footed I admit that.”
He said it would be impossible for him to tour the country campaigning for Reform but also running a campaign to win a seat in just six weeks.
His words on Muslims and immigration shocked the studio guests including Labour peer Baroness Hazarika who pointed out that she had “just sworn an oath to King and country” as a British Indian Muslim.
She said: “This reveals his true colours as a nasty race-baiting character.”
She noted that in previous elections he had also said he would not want to live next to Romanians and even blamed traffic jams on the M4 on immigrants.
Commentator Lord Finkelstein said the remarks had made him pleased that Mr Farage was not running for parliament.
He questioned why Mr Farage claims to “speak for real people as if those who disagree with him are somehow not real”.
But Rachel Johnson warned: “He is speaking to a constituency in this country.”
