I got an unexpected message last week from a former colleague whom I haven’t heard from in 20 years. I was all over her TikTok, she said, so she reached out to say hi. Such was the furore caused by Nigel Farage bizarrely raising an incident that took place in the House of Commons nearly six months ago that I suddenly found myself trending on social media. That had not been on my bingo card for budget week.
I was at home, having just got back from London, when I received a message telling me that Farage had referenced “the incident”. I looked at the footage of his press conference and was completely dumbfounded. Because this “physical altercation”, as he described it, was something I’d chosen not to discuss in public at the time, and something that, if I were him, I’d have kept quiet about.
But, no, not Nigel. Here he was, scrabbling around for excuses to explain why he wasn’t in the chamber for the budget, and this had to be the strangest one he could possibly have used. And it made absolutely no sense.
For clarity’s sake, this is what happened.
On the day of the king’s speech, MPs process through to the House of Lords to listen to it. Leaders of all parties, including smaller ones, lead the procession, but on this occasion Farage didn’t seem to get into place in time. So he was stuck behind a load of MPs also trying to join the procession.
I was on a flight of stairs and he demanded to get past. I told him to wait his turn like everyone else and he clearly didn’t like that, so he grabbed me by the arm and I ended up shoved to one side so he could push through. My colleague thought I was going to fall down the stairs, so he grabbed Farage and had a word with him about his behaviour. I reported it to the parliamentary authorities and they asked him to apologise in writing. That never happened – of course – and I chose not to say anything about it publicly.
So, yes, there was an altercation. Was it caused by “aggressive” Lib Dem MPs, as a Reform UK source later claimed? Hardly.
The whole thing makes me wonder: why bring it up now? Why bring it up at all? I think it’s a perfect reflection of the type of politics that typifies Reform UK. The politics of grievance, the repetitive mantra that the “establishment are out to get us”, but, more importantly, the disdain for parliament and its traditions.
For a man who claims he wants to become prime minister, Farage’s aversion to spending time in parliament means that he will go into the next election with very little knowledge about how the place works, how to leverage its power and what lies behind its traditions. He has spoken less in parliament than any other comparable party leader and voted about half as much as the average MP. He is a stranger in the place he aims to command.
I’ve never believed Farage would be PM, even when his party was polling in first place. Because much of what the PM does is the hard yards behind the scenes – the kind of stuff Farage hates – and, in reality, very little of the job is the glory bit in the media.
As leader of the Lib Dems in Europe, I worked “alongside” Farage in the European parliament – though he barely showed his face in Brussels. He attended just one out of 42 fisheries meetings, despite being the member chosen to represent the UK fishing industry. For all his bluster about being on the side of UK fishers, he hardly ever showed up to be their voice at the table because that seemed too much like work – too boring, too mundane, not glamorous enough for a man who loves the limelight.
And it’s much the same in London. Last Thursday he showed up at business questions, where MPs can ask the leader of the house about the following week’s Commons business, and had to ask a colleague how it worked. We’re halfway through this parliament, and Farage is still apparently getting to grips with the basics of what happens in the House of Commons.
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It’s a sign of the disdain in which he seemingly holds parliament and the work we do there. Yes, it’s old-fashioned. Yes, there are traditions that have probably seen better days. And, yes, we could – and I’d argue should – modernise the way we work. But if you want to be PM, or even leader of the opposition, it’s fundamental to understand what goes on there and respect how the place works. And part of that is respecting your colleagues – all of them, regardless of party or political persuasion, age, race or sex.
I’ve been asked whether I thought Farage would have acted in the same way if I’d been a man. I think it’s highly unlikely. We’ve all heard what Sarah Pochin MP has said about the alpha males at the top of Reform UK and the problem they have with women, and the boorish behaviour I’ve experienced pretty much sums this up.
For Farage to float the idea that he chose not to go into the chamber to listen to the budget in case he got involved in another altercation is quite simply laughable. There may be nine Lib Dems to every one Reform MP, but we’re not spoiling for a fight. We’re just getting on with the day job – which does involve sometimes being in the chamber, Nigel.
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