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Nigel Farage fires huge warning to Tories and says ‘half your MPs should be in Reform’. H

EXCLUSIVE: The Reform UK leader spoke to the Express while meeting his constituents in Clacton.

Nigel Farage

Nigel Farage was elected MP for Clacton in July (Image: Jim Bennett)

Storm Darragh battering Britain is perhaps the perfect backdrop for a day with Nigel Farage, a man whose party Reform UK has blown away support for both the Conservatives and Labour since the General Election just six months ago.

Nigel’s new constituency in the faded former glory of the seaside town of Clacton-on-Sea, in Essex, – where he won a huge 8,000 majority and 46 percent of the vote – also seems a fitting metaphor for the challenges facing the nation, with people and businesses trying their best to make ends meet despite feeling neglected and ignored by the decision-makers in Westminster.

Those notions have endured for many during a doom-laden downpour of half a year under Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour, with winter fuel payments axed, brutal Budget tax hikes for farmers and businesses, and the constant blaming of 14 years of Tory rule for the “decline” of the country today and in the future.

But even “two-tier Keir”, as Nigel has dubbed him over recent controversial policing decisions, appears to recognise the momentum Reform have. The Labour leader took the unusual step in Parliament last week of crossing the floor to speak to his fellow party leader for what Nigel revealed to the Daily Express was “a little chat about this and that”.

“It was interesting, wasn’t it (that he did that). It was quite overtly friendly. He was very, very friendly”, added Nigel, as we talked over a pint hunkered down from the storm in a lovely local pub at the end of a tour of his constituency.

As Nigel puts it, “every pub is a Parliament”, and people seem to want to be friendly to him in both places, as one female drinker, who had just given him a hug, said: “I think he’s doing a brilliant job.”

 

Nigel Farage and Santa

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Nigel Farage was out and about in his constituency of Clacton on Saturday (Image: Jim Bennett)

Nigel Farage meeting constituents

Nigel spent time with the good people of Clacton on Saturday (Image: Jim Bennett)

Before the day began, a positive forecast for the nation seemed hard to find, that was until the Express was able to shelter from the wind and rain with Nigel enjoying what he called the “enormous fun” of meeting his constituents on Saturday.

And what is more fun, and quintessentially British, than a group of brave locals staging a Christmas market in an unassuming Sea Cadet hut in Clacton during a Met Office

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 yellow weather warning? Inside the building, packed with stalls from local businesses, young and old seemed delighted to bask in the ray of sunshine that was Nigel’s arrival.

The former I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! jungle star happily posed for numerous photo requests from people who said he was “very approachable”, and some even admitted they were “fans” of the 60-year-old.

No Christmas market is complete without an appearance from Santa, who also couldn’t resist the gift of a snap with Nigel, but when pressed on if the Reform UK MP was on the naughty or nice list, Father Christmas said “that information… was top secret”.

A psychic with a stall, who did not wish to give her name, revealed she predicted “Nigel will go far”, despite not voting for Reform herself.

Back in the political maelstrom of Parliament, Nigel “going far” in recent months, most notably travelling to the US to support his friend President-elect Donald Trump, has prompted some to try and paint him as the naughty boy of the Commons, a place he dubbed “impossible” no less than four times during our day with him.

Nigel enjoys a pint

Nigel enjoyed chatting to punters in the pub after touring Clacton (Image: Jim Bennett)

Of the imminent arrival of Mr Trump in the White House, Nigel noted his friend “is going to be quite different this time round. Stuff is going to happen. Big stuff.”

As Nigel points out, he was never expecting to run for Parliament in July, and he has simply “honoured” existing diary commitments which will now “decline”.

Voting too has also been under the spotlight for the Reform UK leader but in his defence, Nigel explains he is not allowed to do party business in the Commons and voting times in the chamber often change. He also revealed he and Reform Deputy Leader Richard Tice have had talks with the Modernisation Committee to try and address these issues.

Back on the ground in Clacton and away from the machinations of Parliament, it’s clear being an MP, an office Nigel has succeeded in taking up on his eighth attempt, is a role the sometime-GB News presenter genuinely loves.

He enthuses over the town’s “amazing pier” and miles of beaches that “are just off the charts”, adding that he thought locals “quite like having an MP that’s well known” and that this brought a hope “we can help put it on the map a bit more in terms of tourism”.

Clacton is no stranger to putting itself on the map in terms of politics, and has been something of a canary in the coal mine for the political landscape. The town voted for UKIP in 2015, predicting the mood of the nation a year later when the country voted to leave Europe.

Nigel Farage with Daily Express reporter Richard

Nigel Farage with Daily Express reporter Richard Ashmore taking shelter from Storm Darragh (Image: Supplied )

For Nigel, the town once again represents something of a microcosm of the feelings of Britain about how it is being run. He said: “The whole picture is changing. I believe that we are now in a very powerful position, I think our polices are very clear.

“I believe my position is a common-sense position. I think Westminster is elite… Labour are not connected, they are probably even more vulnerable than the Conservatives to us.

“The Conservatives, half their MPs should be in the Lib Dems, and the other half should be in Reform. I really mean that, I’m not even joking. I see it, I see it with my own eyes. How they behave, what they say, how they vote, and they are so divided they can’t have a simple clear message.

“We are feeling that we have momentum, we’re attracting some very good people, who knows what the future holds. We are here to stay, this isn’t a flash in the pan.”

And locals in Clacton seem to agree. Echoing exactly what was said by the medium earlier in the day, a punter in the pub later declared: “I think Nigel will go far”.

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