Nigel farage

Nigel Farage wrote in the Spectator of his struggle to complete Dry January, while Jean-Claude Juncker is reported to be partial to a glass of cognac to kick start the day. So it came as little surprise to Mr Steerpike that the leader of Ukip named the President of the European Commission as his preferred drinking partner. Asked by Jim Mellon of Master Investor who out of David Cameron, Nick Clegg, Ed Miliband, Jean-Claude Juncker, Hilary Clinton and Jeb Bush, he would most like to go for a pint with, Farage opted for Juncker. ‘Oh Juncker every time, top man . I don’t agree with him politically, but I tell you something, he’s got a

Voting Ukip is a state of mind, according to Nigel Farage. At his first major speech of 2015, and the campaign, in Canvey Island, Essex, Farage set out his stall for the election with the slogan ‘Believe in Britain’ — following on from his article in today’s Telegraph. He hit out at the ‘endlessly negative’ and ‘boring’ campaigns from the other political parties and promised to do things differently — especially now that he believes Labour and the Conservatives live in ‘fear’ of Ukip. There were few details in the speech of what Ukip’s manifesto will contain, just general themes: Ukip are the only party ‘redefining capitalism’ against the ‘corporatism’ of big government and

Entering ‘Politicians are…’ into the Google search bar brings predictable results. Well, mostly. In amongst ‘liars’, ‘scum’ and ‘all the same’, Google suggests ‘lizards’: David Icke’s reptilian illuminati are still in the spotlight. Number five on the list is predictable: politicians are ‘out of touch’. Minding the gap has been central to British politics for years. Politicians, the line goes, are out of touch with reality, and, to make things worse, spend their whole time in Westminster, only visiting their constituencies to try to hang onto the seat. Yet some canny MPs are beginning to change this impression. This is the first general election where social media will be truly pervasive.

Ukip’s foray into animal rights campaigning is going well. After the Jewish Chronicle pointed out that Nigel Farage boasted to them that he had done a great deal of work to protect shechita, the party’s agricultural spokesman Stuart Agnew told the paper: ‘This isn’t aimed at you – it’s aimed elsewhere – it’s aimed at others. ‘You’ve been caught in the crossfire; collateral damage. You know what I mean.’ If you didn’t know what Ukip meant when it announced it would oppose non-stun slaughter of animals, then at least you know now. This isn’t so much a dog whistle as a foghorn. Who else could Agnew possibly mean when referring

Who wants to work with who after the General Election? It’s a question that pundits like to chew over, partly because few politicians can afford to rule anything out with the polls suggesting quite such a jumbly outcome in May. But today two parties effectively ruled out a coalition with one another, even though they’re ideologically close. Grant Shapps was first, telling his press conference this morning that ‘I can rule out… we are not going to do pacts and deals with Ukip’. This afternoon, Ukip has released this statement: ‘UKIP are not promising pacts with anyone. For us politics is about getting something done, not about stitching up deals

Nigel Farage’s secret is out. In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, the leader of Ukip let slip that he once voted for the Green Party. ‘I voted Green in 1989 in the European elections,’ Farage admits. While he fails to give any further explanation of why he supported a party that appears to be at loggerheads with his own views, Farage does go on to reveal the most insulting names he has been called. ‘I was called a football hooligan once in public and I didn’t like that. I am many things but a hooligan I am not. I have been called everything this year, absolutely everything, racist, xenophobe – there’s

First Cameron, then Miliband – now it was Nigel Farage’s turn to be granted the status of a January interview on the Marr sofa. And there was plenty to discuss: the Sunday Times’ splashes on the story  that a party official joked that Ukip represents ‘hundreds of thousands of bigots all over Britain’, the Sunday Mirror’s splash on the same official saying the NHS is a waste of money — plus the Sunday Telegraph’s news of MEP Amjad Bashir’s defection to the Tories, and carries an interview with him saying the Tories (with their referendum pledge) are the true flag bearers of Euroscepticism. Whether it’s dry January or a restful period away from the spotlight, Farage did a good job of looking not

When Simon Danczuk met Nigel Farage for a pint in December, the Labour MP was accused of plotting a defection to Ukip. While Danczuk denied this at the time, his wife Karen appears to be warming to the idea herself. Karen, who announced that she will stand down as a Labour Councillor from her Kingsway ward, got better acquainted with Ukip members at a recent debate on the NHS. Quick photo with @DanJukes17 & @jackduffin UKIPs finest. KD pic.twitter.com/GLlfwbBHy9 — Cllr Karen Danczuk (@KarenDanczuk) January 19, 2015 Now, Mr S hears rumours that a photo of the selfie queen actually wearing a Ukip badge is currently doing the rounds for the right bidder. If published,

One  reason that Ukip seems rather quiet at the moment is that it doesn’t have very much policy to talk about. And one reason for that is that there’s a row going on over the slow progress of the party’s manifesto. The Times today says Ukip has sacked Tim Aker from writing the manifesto – as Seb pointed out recently, he did have rather a lot to do, what with being a Ukip councillor, fighting for the party in a marginal seat and writing the manifesto – because he was running behind deadline. But one thing we can be certain of is that Ukip’s manifesto, when it does come out, will play

Although Nigel Farage referred to his new political rival Al Murray as the first ‘serious opponent’ he has encountered in South Thanet, not all of Ukip are amused that The Pub Landlord is running for the seat their leader is after. David Coburn, the Ukip MEP for Scotland, has got himself embroiled in a Twitter spat with the Oxbridge educated comedian, accusing him of ‘mocking the voters of Thanet South’. @DavidCoburnUKip @Independent did I go to a better Uni than you? Ah well — Al Murray (@almurray) January 15, 2015 @DavidCoburnUKip @Independent having a punt at my education not much better. — Al Murray (@almurray) January 15, 2015 @DavidCoburnUKip @Independent *your. There’s that Uni education

Nigel Farage has performed a useful public service this week. Yes, really, he has. The UKIP leader, you see, is a believer in Root Causes. He is, in fact, a Root Causer and, like every member of that miserable tribe, liable to see every event as confirming the righteousness of his own longstanding, stale-breathed, prejudices. You see we – the west generally – bring all this trouble upon ourselves. At home and abroad. It’s western foreign policy that explains and motivates Islamic extremism and it’s uncontrolled (sic) immigration that’s given it room to flourish in France, the United Kingdom and other countries. How very convenient. The idea that the Charlie Hebdo murders

Ukip’s commonwealth spokesperson Winston McKenzie – he of Carnival of Colour fame – is never far from controversy. It was only a matter of time before a devout Ukipper compared their hero Nigel Farage to a deity and we should have all guessed it would be Winston: ‘Jesus was one man. We are his army. Nigel Farage is one man and we are his army and that’s what it’s all about’ Happy Faragemas, everybody.