Farage tipped for envoy role in Britain if Trump returns to White House
NIGEL FARAGE could make a shock return to the political front line – as an envoy for Donald Trump to Britain, his allies have said.
The former Brexit Party leader is in line for a ‘very significant’ job if Mr Trump returns to the White House, most likely as an economic envoy to the UK or economic adviser, sources close to him said. ‘Nigel’s friends have been talking up the idea,’ one insider said.
Another added: ‘He could be a special envoy to the UK and, interestingly, to the European Union. Trump thinks it’s essential Farage is on the front line.’
Mr Farage is also keen on being appointed United States ambassador to the UK, multiple sources told The Mail on Sunday. This would require giving Mr Farage US citizenship, which would need approval from Congress.
A senior Conservative MP who recently spent time in Washington said it would also be ‘in Trump’s gift’ to appoint Mr Farage ambassador.
‘It would mean the next US President will have a view of Britain that isn’t Labour’s jaundiced view,’ they said.
Mr Farage flew to the US last month to meet Mr Trump at the ex-President’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. He also gave a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, in which he lauded Mr Trump as the ‘bravest’ man he knew.
Mr Farage then told reporters that maintaining the ‘Special Relationship’ between Britain and America was ‘vital’ not just to the UK, but ‘to the free world’. He also said that if Mr Trump won the election, Britain’s ambassador to Washington would need to be someone who ‘knows him and can get on with him, not a career civil servant with a double first from Oxbridge’. However, a senior Tory said ‘no Conservative prime minister would appoint Farage to Washington’ and Labour even less so.
‘He is much more likely to get a job from Trump.’
The prospect of a role in a new Trump administration makes it less likely that Mr Farage would run the General Election campaign for Reform UK, the party he co-founded.
A source close to Mr Farage said: ‘He has too much potential to come after the US election in November.’
MPs have warned that the UK risks another ‘Kim Darroch moment’ after the British embassy was accused of being too ‘distant’ with Mr Trump’s Republicans during his presidency between 2017 and 2021.
Lord Darroch resigned as Britain’s Ambassador to Washington in 2019 after memos in which he described Mr Trump as ‘inept’ were exposed by The Mail on Sunday.
Last night Mr Farage said he had ‘no idea’ if he will be made envoy or ambassador in a Trump administration.