The electoral campaign of Nigel Farage, architect of Brexit, has not started in the best way. Today, Tuesday 4 June, the leader of the Reform UK party kicked off his run for the early elections, called by conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for 4 July. On the sidelines of his first rally as a candidate, Farage was targeted by a 25-year-old girl, who threw a milkshake in his face, staining his dress. At the time of the protest, the Eurosceptic politician was leaving a pub in Clacton, in the south of England, where he is running for an MP seat. The protester’s throwing of the drink sparked a general uproar, with the officers immediately arresting the woman. During the police intervention, a man tried to interfere and was also stopped for resisting a public official. Both, Essex Police said, are “in custody awaiting questioning”.
Nigel Farage, 60, is one of the best-known faces in British politics. From 2006 to 2016 he was the leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), the political force that more than any other pushed for the country’s exit from the European Union. After Brexit, Farage’s presence became more discontinuous, but in view of the general elections on 4 July he was once again appointed leader of Reform UK, the populist and sovereignist party he founded in 2019. In recent days he announced his surprise candidacy in the general elections. A thorn in the side for Rishi Sunak’s conservatives, who now find themselves having to deal not only with competition from their Labor rivals, whose victory in the elections is almost certain, but also with Farage’s sovereignists.
