Nigel Farage will try to seize control of the Westminster news agenda again on Monday with another press conference. The Reform UK leader, flanked by Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire Andrea Jenkyns and Reform MP Sarah Pochin, will focus on crime and “the safety of women and girls in the UK”.
It comes as Mr Farage tries to boost support among women. Speaking about the protests organised outside an asylum hotel in Epping, Essex, Mr Farage said of the organisers: “I know a few of these women. They’re Reform members and they frighten the life out of me.
“I think there is grave concern, particularly among mothers about their teenagers, whether they can let them out. This issue has changed the perception of how people view Reform.”
Polling from More in Common shows that, since the General Election, Reform has gained 14 percentage points among women, while Labour has lost 12.
On Sunday, former SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon claimed Mr Farage is “not particularly comfortable” around women.
She told ITV News: “This is my impression, other people might have a different view of him. He just comes across as somebody who’s got a very, very fragile ego,” Sturgeon said, adding that her impression was he was “somebody who’s not particularly comfortable, particularly around women.”
In her book, she also describes Mr Farage as “odious”.
Speaking to ITV News, Ms Sturgeon recalled her experience of the televised 2015 election debate.
“Just before we went on air that night … I just remember hearing him tell somebody how much he’d had to drink in the green room beforehand,” she said.
“It just felt this kind of bravado and just not very pleasant.”
