Following Farage’s deportation declaration yesterday, Labour have gone on the attack. In a speech today on the future of EU relations, Europe Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds hit out at Farage, declaring he wants Britain to fail. Speaking at The Spectator, he told the assembled great and the not-so-good of HM Press Gallery that:
Aside for his pension packet, Nigel Farage can’t bring himself to have any relationship with the EU. Unable to recognise what is actually the best choice for working families across Britain but also because Nigel Farage wants Britain to fail. His model of politics feeds on it. When British businesses fail, when family bills go up, he offers the easy answers, dividing communities, stoking anger. We reject that. Emphatically.
Ouch! Indicating who is keeping Labour up at night, Kemi Badenoch was awarded one fleeting mention in his speech, whilst Farage was fixed in Thomas-Symonds’ sights throughout the speech. All press is good press eh? The Minister also mocked Farage’s suggestion that he would negotiate the Good Friday Agreement and negotiate return agreements with states like Iran, saying, ‘He’s struggling at the moment to negotiate politics with the parliamentary party who fit in the back of a taxi.’ Outrageous – not like Lee Anderson takes up that much room…
Having sought to dismiss Reform as lacking in credibility, Thomas-Symonds thereafter found himself unable to escape from its teal shadow. Asked whether he agreed with Farage’s characterisation that Britain was being subject to an invasion of illegal migrants, the Europe Minister gave a limp rejection:
We all use our own language. I wouldn’t use Nigel Farage’s language. What I would say is there is most definitely an issue.
Perhaps if Thomas-Symonds did use Farage’s language Labour might start leading in some polls…
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