It is an incredible results, a big shakeup for the major political parties here, but there are those who are calling it a protest vote. Where do you go from here with the Brexit party?
It’s not a protest vote, this is people voting to say we voted to leave in a referendum. We were promised it would be implemented. The two parties, Labour and Conservatives absolutely told us at the last general election they would implement our will, they haven’t done so. And you know when people woke up on March the 30th this year and realized we hadn’t left the European Union, that’s when in large numbers they became ready to vote for a different party. The Brexit party is only six weeks old. Think about it in that context. This is one hell of an achievement and I would say this, looking ahead, the next date we’re supposed to leave on is the 31st of October and that date will become a bigger and bigger factor in people’s minds as these next five months go by. If we don’t leave on the 31st of October, then the Brexit Party will go on to a general election and stun everybody there too.
What will happen if Boris Johnson wins the leadership race for the Tories and pushes through his agenda, which he said would be to leave with no deal. If that’s what it comes to on the 31st of October, that’ll shoot your fox, won’t it?
Well, I’m very happy to help any Conservative leader who is genuine about us leaving on the 31st of October and to that end, you know I volunteer now, Brexit party MEPs, some of whom have run big businesses, are used to negotiations, have done deals for a living. We would like right now to be part of the negotiating team to… We’re going to be there in Brussels anyway. Use us, give us some responsibility and let’s make sure this country is absolutely prepared to leave with a clean break Brexit at the end of October. As far as Boris and others are concerned. What my difficulty is, you know, whether we talk about Boris Johnson or Michael Gove or Dominic Raab all of them in the end voted for Mrs May’s new European treaty, which would have been Brexit in name only and the difficulty the Conservatives have is this isn’t just about changing leader. It’s about reestablishing trust.
You can’t tell the British people 108 times that we’re leaving on March the 29th as Mrs. May did, and then not deliver. The next leader says the same thing. Who’s going to believe them?
Can I ask you a personal question Mr Farage? A lot of our viewers watching this now will be divided about you, as the country is divided about Brexit, some will love you and they’ll be toasting you to the ceiling with cups of coffee and tea. Others will be snarling at your image on the screen, but what nobody can deny is that you almost single handedly have transformed the face of British politics. How does that make you feel?
Well, I’m pleased to have done so. I mean, look, I was a businessman. I’m not a career politician. And remember I’d resigned. I’d stepped down after we won the referendum, believing that my role was completed.
But I am absolutely passionate politically about one thing. I believe this is a great country. I believe we should be a self governing independent democratic nation and we should reach out to a world much bigger than Europe. The Commonwealth, America, many other places that effectively we’ve turned our backs on. And we’re allowing ourselves to be ruled by arrogant bullies like Mr Juncker, and Mr Barnier. I want us to be free and independent and I’ve got back into the fray because frankly I think the Labour and Conservative parties have portrayed the people of this country and I will not stop until we achieve that goal.
Anna Soubry of the Change party, who obviously were nearly wiped out last night was on this program a short time ago, putting on a very brave performance. I described it as dancing and tap dancing in the ashes. But one of the things she said was that the Brexit party hadn’t done all that well last night. What do you say to that?
Well, our parties were formed at roughly the same time. Hers few weeks ahead of mine. Compare the results and ask yourself a question who were the victors last night? It’s pretty clear that in terms of numbers of seats, in terms of percentage of the vote, it was the Brexit Party that won. And if Anna can’t acknowledge that then I’m sorry.
Well, I just want to say although there if you add up all the pro remain parties, they did gain a bigger percentage, 35.8% versus the Brexit Party at 31.6%.
I’m sorry-
Actually pro remain parties altogether did win a bigger percentage.
This is absolute tosh. If you want to look at it that way-
It’s a fact.
Well it’s not a fact all right, add up the Brexit party vote, add up-
31.6%.
Let me finish. Add up the Ukip vote. Add to that the Conservative vote who still are a party that says we’re going to leave, and you will find that leave beat remain. In fact what you’;; find overall is that right now the country is 52/48 in favor of leaving. We’re supposed to be a democracy. We were promised this would be implemented and I’m really tired of all these remainers constantly moaning about every single election which they lose.
So just to be clear, you’re saying that if you add up all of these figures in the way that Charlotte was describing, and if you include the Conservative vote on your side of the argument, you would win a referendum if it were to take place tomorrow?
Yes, but this wasn’t a referendum. It was a multi party election. There were three parties out there campaigning for remain, with three of their own spending budgets. They massively outspent. They had massively more publicity than the Brexit party. The fact is the Brexit party won last night, and let me tell you if Brexit, if a clean break Brexit is not delivered on October the 31st this is just the beginning of a new political movement that doesn’t just want to take us out of the European Union. We want to change politics for good. We want to transform the political landscape in this county.
Fair enough. But how would you translate this win into a general election? Because at the moment you say you’re passionate for one thing, you stand for one thing. What are your policies beyond that one thing? Because at the moment there don’t seem to be any within the Brexit Party.
Full scale political reform in our country. Many of us feel that our political system is corrupt. It doesn’t work, it’s broken. The two parties have nothing but themselves. There are absurdities like the House of Lords. So a lot that needs changing. Huge help for the 5.4 million men and women out there running their own businesses, acting as sole traders, bigger help for the regions, many of which have been rather ignored as we pursue vanity projects like HS2, you’ll hear lots of that, but of course, the next test of all of this will come next week with the Peterborough by-election and we’re going to give that our very best shot.
Well that sounded rather like a manifesto, a word which you say you do hate using. Another personal question, you’ve been knocking off the booze a through this campaign, will you have a beer to celebrate?
I can confidently predict that the wheels will fall off today in great style.
Very well deserved. Nigel Farage, thanks very much for joining us this morning.
Thanks for joining us, and a busy night and a busy day ahead of you, I’m sure.
No doubt.