Nigel Farage missed out on a spot in the packed inauguration room for Donald Trump’s inauguration, despite his close friendship with the newly-installed President.
Mr Farage, who has been in Washington since Thursday, was set to be among the VIP attendees at Donald Trump’s swearing-in ceremony, however the move indoors due to the arctic temperature left many hopefuls out in the cold.
Priti Patel, Suella Braverman and Liz Truss were all absent from the grand US Capitol building, along with many members of the foreign press who had also been squeezed out.
Boris Johnson was the only British politician filmed at the historic ceremony, and was also photographed at a church service earlier on Monday morning featuring an even slimmer congregation.
While Mr Farage may have missed out on a seat on the day, his presence in Washington has been the talk of the town among many Republicans.
He had a party hosted in his honour at the Hay Adams hotel on Friday, and was the only British official to attend all three Washington Balls over the course of the inauguration lead-up.
The Reform UK leader did attend Donald Trump’s MAGA rally at the Capitol One Arena on Saturday, posting on X: “We are so back… We will never see anything quite like this ever again!”
Speaking this afternoon, Mr Farage confirmed he “didn’t make the cut sadly”, but insisted: “Most of the people in the room were congress members, senate members, a few heads of state.”
“So no, I watched it [elsewhere]… it’s a pity it didn’t happen outside, but the weather here is absolutely evil.”
The Express understands Priti Patel was given special treatment at the Presidential Parade and arena celebration in compensation for not making it inside.
Among those in attendance were tech billionaires such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, who were given better seats than some of Donald Trump’s new Cabinet.
Heads of state including Argentinian president Javier Milei and Italian premier Giorgia Meloni also made the cut, while Keir Starmer remained at home in London.
Chinese President Xi Jinping was also invited, but declined.
Former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden were all given prominent positions with their partners.
However Michelle Obama notably snubbed the event, claiming she couldn’t attend due to diary clashes.
The inauguration ceremony was moved indoors, with Trump confirming the move last week in order to ensure the safety of those who planned on attending and policing the historic moment.
He hosted a huge victory party at the Capitol One Arena up the road from the US parliament, however with a mere 20,000 capacity many tens of thousands of loyalists were left feeling disappointed.
The Express spoke to Trump supporters from across America, as well as from Britain and Brazil, who had travelled to Washington DC to watch the inauguration.
At the time Donald Trump made his second pledge of allegiance, the ‘feels like’ temperature in the US capital was an arctic -12 celsius.
Snow is still piled high after weeks of blizzards.
