Reform Party leader Nigel Farage has come under constant attack from the British media over the weekend for expressing his belief that Western NATO and EU expansionism contributed to the start of the war in Ukraine, but he says the criticism is most severe when it crosses the line.
Nigel Farage campaigned on Monday touting new polling results that showed his fledgling party ranking higher than ever before, including four polls in the past three days that put his Reform UK party in second place nationally. If that were to happen in next month’s general election, it would be a historic upset that would overturn a century of British political convention.
But after weeks of neutral to favorable coverage of Farage’s return to power (cynics might say this was a press move to promote the Farage brand as a means to destroy the Conservative party), the press appears to have made a sharp about-face, now attacking Farage’s long-held position that NATO and EU expansionism in Ukraine gave Putin an excuse to sell the country to the public.
Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Reform Party, meets with supporters during the general election campaign at the Mercure Maidstone Great Danes hotel in Maidstone, Kent, on Monday, June 24, 2024. (Photo by Jordan Pettit/PA Images via Getty Images)
Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Reform Party, speaks on top of a double-decker bus at the Mercure Maidstone Great Danes hotel in Maidstone, Kent, during the general election campaign, on Monday, June 24, 2024. (Photo by Jordan Pettit/PA Images via Getty Images)
Farage said on Monday that his views stood true, pointing out that many prominent figures hold similar views and insisting that he had no intention of drawing lessons from politicians who had in any event caused great damage to the UK’s defence.
Farage slammed President Biden for handing Afghanistan to the Taliban, Prime Minister Cameron and President Hollande for destroying Libya and creating a European migrant crisis, and the Labour Party for causing casualties and disaster in the Iraq War, saying warmongering politicians are seeking more conflict while continuing to weaken our military beyond its former strength.
The Brexit leader argued that NATO’s united front was a way to prevent conflict rather than provoke it through repeated shows of weakness, and called China and Russia out for a bluff.
…This is perhaps the most important thing I will say in this entire election campaign: There has been virtually no debate at all about defense…I say these things to you this morning because there is no doubt in my mind that the world is now in more danger than it has been since the Cuban Missile Crisis more than 60 years ago. A few years ago, global war would have seemed unthinkable, but now in the back of our minds we all harbor that doubt and that fear.
“Since 2010, this Conservative government has ruthlessly reduced the capabilities of our army, air force and navy. They have made astonishing cuts… This is significant because NATO can’t do anything without the United States. And the United States increasingly thinks we are not a serious player. They have always valued our armed forces, especially our Special Forces. But if we don’t start to scale up, the United States will stop taking us seriously, NATO will stop taking us seriously, and the world will become a more dangerous place. You don’t get peace through weakness. You get peace through strength. You get peace through deterrence… We need stronger defences, better coordination with NATO, but war will only be a last resort. I will work for peace wherever possible.
Farage gives most important speech of campaign so far https://t.co/PuV1RKnrLh
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) June 24, 2024
Mr Farage vowed to blame Putin himself for the attacks he has faced in recent days over comments he made about whether the eastward expansion of the European Union and the US-led Nato alliance was likely a contributing factor in Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine in 2014, but said the fact he was now facing so much criticism from traditional parties showed he was close to exposing the truth.
He said of the attacks in the press: “I did nothing of the sort. I am in no way defending Putin and I think his actions in Ukraine and elsewhere are reprehensible. But if we are to think about peace in the future, it might be useful to understand what went wrong in the first place. Our leaders have no knowledge of history, no knowledge of the Russian psychology. None of this justifies what I have done.” [Putin has] end.”
Speaking of the “flaming” he has received recently, Mr Farage described a word of encouragement he received from a World War II Bomber Command veteran who told him: “I’m telling you, the flamboyance only comes when you’re close to your target. I think you’re doing very well.”
It’s something of a Super Monday for Mr Farage, as he addresses two huge last-minute rallies at opposite ends of the country. After speaking about national security in Kent this morning, Mr Farage is due to address what is likely the biggest rally of any party in the campaign tonight in Devon, where 1,500 people are expected to turn out.
Nigel Farage causes establishment panic as he suggests NATO expansion “provoked” Russia’s war in Ukrainehttps://t.co/ciGZvABQdX
—Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) June 22, 2024
