Nigel Farage , Reform UK leader and Clacton MP, has been accused of “deliberately enflaming tensions” and branded “Tommy Robinson in a suit” over his response to the stabbing in Southport on Monday – a comparison to the founder of the far-right English Defence League (EDL) which the Brexiteer said is “beneath contempt”.
In a video posted to Twitter/X on Tuesday evening, just hours before people – believed by police to be EDL supporters – began throwing objects at a mosque in the town, Farage started by saying he “[joins] everybody in their horror at what has happened”.
He continued: “The prime minister went to lay flowers and was heckled, which shows you how unhappy the public are with the state of law and order in our country.”
Indeed, earlier that day, Sir Keir Starmer was met with shouts of “here’s your photo opportunity” and “how many more children” as he laid flowers near the scene of the incident – a venue which was holding a Taylor Swift dance class when the stabbing took place, which has left three young girls dead and seen a 17-year-old arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder .
Farage went on to add: “I have to say there are one or two questions: was the guy being monitored by the security services? Some reports say he was, others less sure.
“The police say it’s a non-terror incident … and I just wonder whether the truth is being withheld from us. I don’t know the answer to that; I think it is a fair and legitimate question.
“What I do know is something is going horribly wrong in our once beautiful country.”
The Clacton MP’s intervention was soon met with widespread condemnation , with Brendan Cox – the husband of the late Labour MP Jo Cox , who was murdered by a far-right extremist during the EU referendum campaign in 2016 – saying his remarks are “right out of the Trump playbook” and that they make him “nothing better than a Tommy Robinson in a suit”.
Former Tory MP Tobias Ellwood , who lost his brother to terrorism, called on Farage to delete his video and said he was “disgusted” at “how a sitting MP deliberately enflames tensions without any justification”:
Meanwhile Jess Phillips pointed out Farage could well have used the fact that he is a member of parliament to ask the “unanswered questions” in the Commons:
There's also the fact that defendants under the age of 18 and subject to criminal proceedings in youth courts are given automatic anonymity .
Farage has since doubled down on his remarks, saying that it’s “perfectly reasonable to ask what is happening to law and order” and said Cox’s claims about “whipping up” rioters was an “absolutely disgraceful comment”.
He told the PA news agency: “I merely expressed a sense of sadness and concern that is being felt by absolutely everybody I know – what the hell is going on?
“It started off the week before in Kent, when a Lieutenant Colonel in full military uniform is stabbed in the street and I was told that Kent Police wanted to play the incident down. I got that on the highest level.
“So I think it’s quite legitimate to ask questions as to what the hell is going on.
“And then of course we had Southend at the same time with machete gangs fighting in the streets… I think it’s perfectly reasonable to ask what is happening to law and order in our country.”
Finally, on Cox’s Tommy Robinson comparison, Farage said: “The comment is beneath contempt.”
Robinson himself, meanwhile – whose real name is actually Stephen Yaxley-Lennon - responded to news of the riots by writing on X: “All ‘mainstream media’ are blaming the ‘EDL’ for the riots in Southport. The same ‘EDL’ that hasn’t existed in a decade.
“This is why independent journalists are so important, as these other lot haven’t a clue, they haven’t an ounce of credibility between them.”
Yaxley-Lennon has a warrant out for his arrest after failing to appear at the Royal Courts of Justice on Monday for a contempt of court hearing.
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