Nigel Farage made a dig at Sir Keir Starmer as the Reform UK leader returned to his GB News show. The Clacton MP said he was back presenting after several months away to campaign in the local elections.
Describing it as a “busy time”, Mr Farage said it had “certainly had a very big impact” on the Prime Minister. He highlighted a major speech by Sir Keir last week, which he used to launch an attack on the arch-Brexiteer.
Mr Farage told his GB News show: “One year ago today, I announced my retirement from active politics had ended and decided I’d stand in the General Election.
“The reason I’ve not been with you for the last couple of months is, of course, because I’ve been leading a party fighting the English local elections.
“It’s been a very busy and, I think, from my perspective, very productive time.
“It’s certainly had a very big impact on the Prime Minister, who seemed to mention me 16 times in his speech the other day, which is quite, quite remarkable.”
Mr Farage’s comments come after the Prime Minister repeatedly mentioned him in a speech at a glass factory in the North-west last Thursday.
Sir Keir insisted he wanted to “protect” working people from what Reform would do after it set out policy plans earlier this week, including restoring winter fuel payments for all pensioners and scrapping the two-child benefit cap.
The PM said Mr Farage’s plans to spend “billions upon billions upon billions, tens of billions of pounds, in an unfunded way” was an “exact repeat of what Liz Truss did”.
He added: “Can you trust him? Can you trust him with your future? Can you trust him with your jobs? Can you trust him with your mortgages, your pensions, your bills? And he gave the answer on Tuesday. A resounding no.”
Asked why he was focusing so much on Reform UK, the Prime Minister said the Conservative Party has “run out of road”.
