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It’s enough to make your skin crawl, listening to this. Nigel Farage has caused widespread disgust with comments he made to Sky News on Sunday, after he blamed members of the Muslim community for ‘diminishing the quality of British life’.
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His extraordinary ranting proved a challenge for host Trevor Phillips – and the former UKIP leader even had the cheek to raise the issue of West Indian immigration in the 20th century. Phillips, however, delivered a few home truths to his guest.
Farage argued that those of Caribbean descent integrated better in the UK, as they had ‘shared values that aren’t possessed by Muslims’. It was a bold choice to list cricket among those values – a sport hugely popular in many Islamic nations.
He also made a case about the UK and the Caribbean sharing the same religion. Phillips pointed out that his own family was forced to convert to Christianity as a result of colonial rule. Needless to say, Farage was keen to change the subject.
Among the more unhinged elements of his tirade, Mr. Farage also claimed about half of all Muslim youth in the UK support Hamas. These figures were not immediately verifiable at the time of publishing.
“We have a growing number of young people who do not subscribe to British values. About half of them support Hamas. Rishi Sunak is building up far more of the Muslim population than anyone before in our history”
“Numbers on immigration need to be sensible otherwise everyone’s quality of life gets diminished. Diminished in every way. We have never before seen anything like this… elements of the [Muslim] community are to blame for this.” | Nigel Farage
Labour MP Stella Creasy has led a chorus of criticism following the interview. She refused to repeat claims made by Nigel Farage, branding them ‘vile and incorrect’. She also implored people to make their voices heard and confront such assertions head-on.
“I won’t share Farage’s vile and factually incorrect comments about Muslims and immigration. This drum beat of hate will only get louder if it isn’t drowned out by a cacophony of solidarity. Don’t feed trolls, stand up to them instead.” | Stella Creasy
Broadcasters have also expressed their alarm over the exchange. Adil Ray, a presenter on Good Morning Britain, stated that the whole affair was ‘shameful’, and predicted that the unsubstantiated claims would generate a ‘huge negative impact’.
“Shame on Farage. Shame on Sky News for skirting around calling him a racist and using a clip as clickbait. Shame on us all. This is utterly horrendous and these few minutes will have a huge negative impact on us all.” | Adil Ray
LBC host James O’Brien continued the condemnation, lashing out at media outlets for even giving Nigel Farage a platform in the first place. He lamented that this latest appearance would help keep the controversial politician relevant.
“This is how Nigel Farage stays relevant – by being disgusting and by being dishonest. Every time you help him stay relevant and in the public eye, you facilitate the next, inevitable stage of his disgusting character.” | James O’Brien
