After the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) received an influx of attacks from people such as Nigel Farage for rescuing asylum seekers from drowning in the English Channel, the public support in response has meant the charity is on its way to raising its highest annual fundraising total ever in its 200 year history.
The RNLI - which is made up of a network of the UK’s volunteer lifeboats - has said much of the support has come from online donations - which have risen by 50 per cent over the past year,The Guardian reported.
This just goes to show how defiant the public are when it comes to annoying Nigel Farage.
Last July, the former Brexit party leader claimed he had “massive admiration” for the RNLI’s work but then attacked the charity during his show on GB News and compared them to a “taxi service for illegal trafficking gangs”.
On Twitter, Farage tweeted he stood by the comments he made on the broadcast.
I stand by my comments that the @RNLI are being used as a taxi service for illegal trafficking gangs.
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) July 28, 2021
Here is my message to them after they picked a fight with me in The Guardian today. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/MsyM59bIUJ
Within 24 hours of this high-profile attack, the RNLI revealed it had received more than £200,000 in donations from people in support of their humanitarian work - a two thousand per cent increase from the previous day.
Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter
The charity then received more money when Simon Harris, who also runs the popular Facebook page “Men Behaving Dadly”, created a GoFundMe page with the aim to buy a new life-saving hovercraft and name it the “Flying Farage” to troll the GB News broadcaster.
The page named “Buy A New RNLI Hovercraft - The Flying Farage” raised over £122,000 in total - but the stunt didn’t impress Farage who had a good old moan about on GB News (again) which, surprise, surprise, only drew more attention to the fundraiser.
Hi Nigel. I was wondering why donations to my fundraiser were going through the roof, and then I noticed that you gave it a brilliant shoutout on GB News. Thanks for your help! I really appreciate it.
— Simon Harris - #LovelyBitOfSquirrel (@simonharris_mbd) August 5, 2021
DONATE / SHARE - https://t.co/OMYZ1UXMwv
Full clip: GB News / YouTube pic.twitter.com/aM2wjQa12H
He said: “All the hard left are the ones saying ‘we must crowdfund, we must help, we must buy a new lifeboat and name it after Farage’ and all the rest of it. Well, even if £200,000 has been raised since this so-called row began, it doesn’t really help very much because the daily running cost is £440,000.”
Guess you could say Nigel Farage was inadvertently and ironically the RNLI’s biggest fundraiser...
In November, a group of fishermen in Hastings reportedly attempted to block an RNLI boat from rescuing a group of asylum seekers, both witnesses and a spokesperson for the charity alleged.
But despite these attacks, their efforts have backfired since as well as being on their way to smashing the annual fundraising total, the RNLI’s fundraising director Jayne George told The Guardian that their supporter database has also increased to 300,000 that they keep in touch with.
“We’ve had a better response to almost everything that we’ve done in 2021. At the end of the year, we’re going to have more members, we’re going to have more cash donors and more people who give to us via direct debit,” she told the same publication.
In response to the news that the RNLI is on its way to breaking its fundraising record since it was founded in 1824, people on Twitter were delighted at the good news.
This makes me so happy! I bought about 80% of my Christmas presents from the @RNLI this year. But also shows people do have compassion. https://t.co/Z8VDpEcXPU
— Cllr Emma Edwards 🥑 (@bristol_pip) January 2, 2022
Many thanks to @Nigel_Farage and those of his ilk, whose tireless ‘campaigning’ helped make this happen.
— Rachel Clarke (@doctor_oxford) January 2, 2022
Congrats @RNLI on your record year of donations. What brilliant work you do - you are the best of Britain 👏👏👏 https://t.co/Av4EbdkQFd
So glad, they’re absolutely brilliant 👍 @RNLI https://t.co/ai9bzP0cgw
— Dr Julia Grace Patterson💙 (@JujuliaGrace) January 2, 2022
It's great to see the backlash to Patel and Farage's disgraceful behaviour towards the RNLI has given people the opportunity to say they care by backing the RNLI.
— Jon Jones (@JonJonesSnr) January 2, 2022
The RNLI had a record fundraising year, despite attacks from Nigel Farage & right wing media for attempting to save asylum seekers trying to cross English Channel. Shows British public is much more humane than right wing newspapers https://t.co/IMSN6Qi6N0
— Diane Abbott MP (@HackneyAbbott) January 2, 2022
I despair at the toxic minority pushing to let human beings drown, & happy so many more people have donated to the @RNLI https://t.co/wsk9ck4tFM
— Baroness Hussein-Ece 😷 (@meralhece) January 2, 2022
I love this
— Dr Amir Khan GP (@DrAmirKhanGP) January 2, 2022
After rightwing attacks on rescues, UK lifeboat charity has record fundraising year, brilliant work from the @RNLI
Goes to show there are more decent people out there than not, and hate never wins https://t.co/aZPfx0sejZ
For his contribution to raising funds for the @RNLI, perhaps? https://t.co/MpFPh3E3ns
— Alasdair Pinkerton (@AlPinkerton) January 2, 2022
Big shout out to Priti Patel and Nigel Farage whose public condemnation of the RNLI has only served to boost the donations to this brilliant organisation immeasurably.
— Katy (@KatyJayne101) January 2, 2022
Fantastic to hear of the record donations to the RNLI
— Colin Macphee (@ColinMacphee1) January 2, 2022
There are still far more decent people in the country than it sometimes appears.
George concluded: “Our core purpose is humanitarian – we exist to save everyone.”
