Farage lashes out at BBC for ‘ridiculous’ Marr interview
NIGEL FARAGE lashed out at the BBC after interviewer Andrew Marr pressed him to answer questions about his historic views on global warming, Russian president Vladimir Putin, the National Health Service and immigration.
The leader of the Brexit Party also denied he wanted to be prime minister.
Mr Farage was speaking as weekend polls forecast that his party could end up with a bigger vote share than the combined support for both the Tories and Labour in the European elections.
The Opinium poll for The Observer forecasts that it will win 34 per cent of the vote next week, more than Labour’s 21 and the Conservatives’ 11 combined.
Another Comres poll in The Sunday Telegraph put the Brexit Party on 27 per cent, Labour on 25 per cent and the Tories on 13 per cent.
In the BBC One interview Mr Marr asked Mr Farage if he was “uncomfortable with foreign languages being spoken on trains” following a remark he made to that effect in 2014.
Mr Farage replied: “You are just not interested, are you? Let’s talk about democracy, let’s talk about trust, let’s talk about competence in politics. This is ludicrous.”
A question about his comments from 2015 about replacing the NHS with a system of private health insurance led to Mr Farage saying: “This is all very boring, isn’t it? All you want to do is go back to stuff from years ago. Why don’t we talk about ‘now’ in British politics?”
Following a query on whether he still believed that global warming was the “stupidest thing in human history”, he said: “Here we are with one of the biggest changes in politics that has ever occurred, and you are not even interested. What is wrong with the BBC?”
Asked about his 2015 comment about HIV victims entering the UK for NHS treatment he told Mr Marr: “I’ve never in my life seen a more ridiculous interview than this. You are not prepared to talk about what is going on in this country today.
“You’re in denial, the BBC’S in denial, the Tory and Labour parties are in denial. I think you’re all in for a bigger surprise on Thursday week than you can even imagine.”
He then replied: “What is the relevance of this?” when asked if he still “admired” Vladimir Putin.
Mr Farage answered a question asking if he wanted to be prime minister with: “No, not particularly” and added: “We’ve got a two-party system that now serves nothing but itself. There is a complete breakdown of trust between the people in this country and our politicians.”
He acknowledged that leaving the EU without a trade deal could lead to “some short-term economic disruption” but said “moving house leads to short-term disruption”.
Mr Farage made clear he will demand his party becomes part of the government negotiating team if it wins next week’s elections.
He said: “If we can win these elections, I’m going to demand that Brexit Party MEPS become part of the government negotiating team, and we can perhaps talk some sense into them.”
Asked why he did not advocate a nodeal Brexit at the time of the EU referendum in 2016, he said it was “because it was obvious that we could do a free trade deal” and added: “The problem is the Prime Minister never asked for it, so we finished up in the mess we’re in.
“She chose to go for this close and special partnership. Basically right from the start, she was happy for us to be kept very close to the customs union. So where we are now, the only way the democratic will of the people can
‘You’re in denial, the BBC’S in denial, Tory and Labour are in denial’
be delivered is to leave on a WTO (World Trade Organisation) deal.”
The Prime Minister, he argued, “has wilfully deceived us,” adding: “What she’s put to Parliament three times isn’t a deal, it’s a new European treaty. I didn’t spend 25 years campaigning to leave the EU to sign up to a new treaty.
“The only way we can deliver the democratic will of the people is to leave on WTO terms, and once we do that, the EU will be banging our door down to have a sensible tariff-free deal.”
Mr Farage was criticised by MPS from all three major parties in the wake of the interview. Barry Gardiner, the shadow international trade secretary, said: “Mr Farage is now trying to con the British people that what they voted for and hasn’t been delivered is actually now what he says it is, and it’s not.”
Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, added: “Be in no doubt, if you want to stop Nigel Farage in these elections, vote Labour.
“The Lib Dems and Change UK cannot stop the Brexit Party getting MEPS in regions.
“It’s a two-horse race now between Labour and the Brexit Party.”
Jo Swinson, the Liberal Democrat deputy leader, said Mr Farage represented “the very worst of British politics”. She criticised his refusal to “own up to well-documented and abhorrent views on NHS privatisation, his admiration for Mr Putin and his denial of the facts about climate change during the interview”.
Sir Alan Duncan, a government foreign office minister, said it was a “catastrophic interview for Farage” and proved he was “a single-issue, anti-europe, simple-minded, non-patriotic, rabble rouser and that his party has zero credibility on anything else”.