James Manning/PA
When your whole approach to this election is based around tackling the issue of small boats and immigration, laughter is likely the last thing Nigel Farage was hoping to hear when outlining his views on the matter during his latest BBC appearance.
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Quizzed by Fiona Bruce and a tough crowd on Friday evening, the Reform leader was given a grilling throughout. In between bouts of scaremongering about an incoming Labour government, Farage was put on the spot about his party’s policies.
There were a couple of bruising encounters that showed a slightly more fragile side to the chief Brexiteer. Firstly, he was confronted by an audience member of Reform’s recent vetting controversy.
Some candidates have been using racist and offensive language, with one Reform activist caught calling Rishi Sunak a ‘p***’ in an undercover investigation. Nigel Farage has blamed it on the ‘teething problems’ of starting a new organisation.
However, this bloke wasn’t ready to accept his explanation, and slammed the politician for ’employing a slew of massive racists’.
Things would only get trickier for Farage, who was also pressed to outline exactly how he’d end the small boats crisis. He provided vague suggestions, and failed to answer how he’d get other countries to take the migrants back.
“We leave the ECHR and declare no-one via this routes gets refugee status. We deport anyone who is here illegally, so no more boats will come. We’ll also get the Royal Marines to take them back to the beaches from where they took off.” | Nigel Farage
This lack of detail was called out by the woman who had initially asked the question. When Bruce asked if she was satisfied with the answer, the audience member said no – and added that Farage’s statement sounded like ‘D-Day in reverse’.
The response generated laughter among her fellow attendees…
