Nigel Farage has exposed his true feelings in wake of the Trump-Zelenskyy White House row
Battle for Kyiv director Oz Katerji gives his verdict on the Reform leader's comments and how he appears to be continuing to try to cosy up to Trump and Putin simultaneously
The Clacton MP and Donald Trump fanatic Nigel Farage has taken to his soapbox again this week to give his views on Russia’s war in Ukraine, using his time on Nick Ferrari’s LBC show to launch another public attack on the embattled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
'He played it very badly... I wouldn't expect a guest to be rude to me in my own house,’ he said, whitewashing the humiliating ambush Donald Trump and his thuggish VP subjected Zelenskyy to in the Oval Office in front of the international press corps.
While refusing to criticise Trump or Vance, Farage proceeded to berate Zelenskyy for not wearing a suit while claiming that it was fine for Sir Winston Churchill to do so on a White House visit because “he wasn’t dealing with President Trump.”
Mr Farage also went on to say that the public and bitter falling out Trump had with Zelenskyy at the White House “was always going to happen,” bizarrely undermining his own point about wearing a suit by implying that Trump was going to attack Zelenskyy regardless of what he was wearing.
His attacks on the Ukrainian President did not stop there, Farage also falsely claimed that Zelenskyy had accepted that “Crimea is not coming back to Ukraine”, no such position is currently held by Kyiv, and then going further by saying he was not a fan of Ukraine, calling it a “very corrupt country.”
Farage has also repeatedly insisted that Ukraine needs to hold wartime elections, in violation of the country’s constitution, which prohibit elections held under the state of martial law declared following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey was correct to point out that Nigel Farage sounds like a spokesperson for Donald Trump rather than the leader of a British political party with five members of Parliament. But Farage’s position on wartime elections goes further than merely aping Trump and his mouthpieces, it is an attack on Zelenskyy’s democratic legitimacy which sounds remarkably similar to those noises coming from the Kremlin.
Vladimir Putin said so himself repeatedly, with the most recent example given in an interview published on Russian state media in January this year, "Negotiations can be held with anyone," said Putin, "but due to (Zelenskyy's) illegitimacy he has no right to sign anything.”
Putin’s mouthpiece Dmitry Peskov has also reiterated this, saying that Putin “Legally formalizing any agreements would require serious discussion given the reality that Zelensky’s legitimacy can be contested.”
This isn’t the first time Farage has made this point, he said as much in an interview with Sky News in February, in which he also dismissed the fact that Britain did not hold elections for 10 years during WWII by pointing to the fact that elections were finally held following the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 (but before the defeat of Imperial Japan).
If anything, that Sky News interview was worse, given that he also said that Ukraine was going to lose the war, even if he was willing to concede that Trump was wrong to suggest Zelenskyy started the war. This was a surprising admission from the former Russia Today host, given that he has also previously claimed that the West “provoked” Russia into invading Ukraine by expanding the European Union and NATO into eastern Europe.
Do the people of Clacton feel that their MP is adequately representing their views in parliament and on the world stage? Recent YouGov polling shows that 67% of Brits blame Donald Trump for the dust up in the Oval Office, which suggests they do not necessarily agree with Farage’s freelancing.
It is true that Nigel Farage’s rhetoric on Russia and Ukraine has moderated somewhat since becoming leader of Reform, perhaps in part due to Farage’s ally and former Reform UK leader Richard Tice’s longstanding support for Ukraine’s war effort, perhaps in part due to the fact that Nigel Farage no longer hosts a TV show on Russia’s RT propaganda network.
It has also opened Farage up to criticism from the Conservative Party, with Dame Priti Patel launching a scathing attack, comparing him to the other member of Parliament well known for making excuses for the Russian dictator, saying “Like Jeremy Corbyn, the Leader of Reform UK seems to have history equivocating over Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine.”
Ultimately, Sir Keir Starmer summed it up perfectly in Parliament on Monday in response to the MP for Clacton, saying “Russia is the aggressor, Zelensky is a war leader whose country has been invaded and we should all be supporting him and not fawning over Putin!”
About the author: Oz Katerji is a British-Lebanese conflict journalist based in Kyiv and director of The Battle for Kyiv. He also co-hosts the This Is Not A Drill podcast with Gavin Esler where he explores threats to global peace and stability.
The Lead is an independent, progressive, publication. We keep a watchful eye on Farage and Reform’s popularism. Zoë Grünewald, our Westminster Editor, called out his comments about the education sector and we’ve also outlined how events in Ukraine mean Starmer and Labour need to be bolder - because the field of political play has shifted. But in doing so, they must not lose sight of Britain’s compassionate role on the world stage - the international aid cuts are abhorrent. To support our independent writing on people, place and policy both in the UK and beyond, then consider becoming a paid supporter to access exclusive insights from our editors and writers.