Victoria Jones/PA
Nigel Farage has headed out to the US for the second time since he became an MP six weeks ago.
The Reform UK leader and newly-elected MP for Clacton is the keynote speaker at Saturday’s “Keep Arizona Free Summit”, and he has already been paid an upfront deposit of nearly £12,000 for doing it.
Farage has defended his decision saying it was booked “over a year ago” and that “I am not the sort of person who lets people down otherwise you get a terrible reputation”.
But Jovan Owusu-Nepaul Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Clacton in last month’s election, said: “It’s deeply frustrating and infuriating.
“We spoke to many people on the doorstep, and it was clear that people wanted an active and dedicated MP. Whilst he claims record amounts of money, people are still struggling with their cost-of-living during holiday time, proving his commitment has always been to himself rather than those who sent him to serve.”
Farage has already received a deposit of £11,783.55 – around $15,000 – from the AZ Liberty Network, co-organisers of Saturday’s conference. He said that his MP’s register of interests “will be updated with the final payment once the engagement has been fulfilled”.
He told The Mirror he has “absolutely no idea” how much the final fee will be and says his staff deal with the “admin”.
But he defended the decision to jet off once again to the US on Friday morning: “I have previous commitments, contracts I have signed, which I will honour, because I am not the sort of person who lets people down otherwise you get a terrible reputation.
“They advertised the fact I was coming a long, long time ago. So, number one, I don’t breach things that I have previously agreed to. Number two, unlike everybody else I work seven days a week.”
In the first register of interests of the new parliament, Farage claimed his first £32k all-expense paid trip to America was made to “support a friend who was almost killed and to represent Clacton on the world stage” in comments which have attracted derision.
Speaking to Oli Dugmore on LBC, one Clacton resident says while he’s been representing Clacton at Trump rallies, his presence on the ground in Essex has been little to none.
Ali explained that despite writing to her MP twice, she hasn’t received “so much as an email back”.
“He’s just using us… he doesn’t care at all.”
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