PA
Nigel Farage has said he is not holding in-person surgeries in his constituency over fears the public will “flow through the door with knives in their pockets”.
The Reform UK leader said he had been advised not to accommodate the “old-style” physical meetings between MPs and their constituents in his seat of Clacton.
The politician has repeatedly been accused of not prioritising his Commons role, coming under fire for spending time in the US endorsing Donald Trump’s presidential campaign following the July 4 election.
During a phone-in on LBC, the MP was asked whether he had an office in his constituency – and how many surgeries he had held there since being elected more than two months ago.
“Do I have an office in Clacton? Yes. Am I allowing the public to flow through the door with their knives in their pockets? No, no I’m not,” he replied.
Asked why would the people of Clacton want to flow through the door with knives in their pockets, he said: “Well they did in Southend. They murdered David Amess, and he was a far less controversial figure than me.”
Conservative politician Sir David was fatally stabbed during a surgery in his Southend constituency in 2021 by an Islamic State-supporting terrorist.
Asked whether he was hosting physical surgeries in Clacton, Mr Farage told LBC “not yet”, but that he would “when Parliament allows me”.
On whether he had been advised for his own security not to hold surgeries, he replied: “I would have thought that would make sense, wouldn’t you?”
He said the guidance had been given by “the Speaker’s (Sir Lindsay Hoyle’s) office, and beneath the Speaker’s Office there is a security team who give advice and say you should do some things and not do others”.
“So we’re not in a fit state to do the old-style surgeries, but do you know what, if you’ve got something to say to me as a Clacton resident, Zoom is not the end of the world,” Mr Farage added.
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