The Real Nigel Farage By John Sweeney

0:00The Last Word With life pharmacy, over 100 local pharmacies nationwide that are always here to help life pharmacy live better together Let's talk about the pawn shop version of Donald Trump Nigel Farage Could it be that that man will become the British Prime Minister? Well, journalist John Swini has decided to do a deep dive investigation into Nigel Farage for his new book, The Real Nigel Farage, John Gray to have you with us on the program So, is he the pawn shop Donald Trump or is he a more significant figure than that? I think pawn shop Donald Trump is a rough but good phrase man He's, listen, he's got tremendous charisma But what I've, you know, I've written the book, but what I've done is I've cracked down a whole series of people who know very well including his former, one of his former lovers his former best friend and quite a lot of people who've been in politics with him

1:03who share his politics on the on the right or the hard right or the far right You um You make your own judgment about that and they've all fallen out with him And what what they sell me is this is a man of tremendous charisma true But there's also cruelty and chaos and greed and So for example his former lover Annabelle Sanderson was his mistress for a time Um, she said of him it was like being inside a cult the church of Farageology if you like Somebody else has got free bloom. He's the man who said we shouldn't Britain shouldn't give money to bongo bongo land I said what's he like and and Godfrey said I am not in the giving vein today. You know that's that's rich of the third So Farage when he um, I think someone goes to his autobiography

2:08But when he gave a copy of it to godfrey bloom he dedicated it to my best friend and you kept To godfrey and godfrey now compares Nigel Farage with rich of the third The English king the monster who killed the little princes in the tower And then Neil Hamilton and Neil and christine Hamilton, you know, they lost a microate friend martin bell um 1997 and then they set up a new career in kind of light entertainment and and And then they were kind of wooed by Nigel Farage and join you kept And at some point and Neil Hamilton who's who's good, you know, he's a good politician. He's effective. He's got a wit about him He became too successful and and then Farage withdrew his love Um, there was a moment when Neil Hamilton got a standing evasion at a you hit conference It was televised and Hamilton's mom said

3:10Oh watch Farage when you call that standing evasion. I saw his face It's like Stalin and um Um, what Hamilton says of him now Neil Hamilton says at Farage He wants to be the bride in every wedding the corpse at every funeral And yet why is it that so many people seem to turn to him enthusiastically? What is the nature of his charisma that gets ordinary people supporting him which persuades the media Even the BBC to give him such regular platform a platform which at many times The size of his support didn't actually justify Yes, so he was to be fair to mild employer the BBC Um They He's is of great talker and for a long time he was kind of a lone voice or certainly the most fluent voice

4:11for people Who uh sceptical about the benefits of the European Union um So he he's been on question time more than anyone else however um There is another problem is that I don't think he's had enough screw proper scrutiny from the BBC Um as if they or management anyway We're worried about getting on the wrong side of him and so for example In my you know, I when I was at panorama I had a real go at the church of Scientology No one at panoramas had a real go at Nigel Farage I would say But it's true He's got great charisma I've met Three if you like three of the great uh horsemen of the 21st century apocalypse Vladimir Putin Donald Trump And Nigel Farage and I've challenged all three And the only one and this is a while ago but when I first saw Farage pop up on question time

5:14I thought I'd quite like to go for a pint with him Because he's interesting and he's good fun and he talks Um, you know, his English is very very good. It's very relatable And in a funny way he's he's more dangerous. I mean The something hideous about Trump his silly come over. I'm a ballman And I just find people who who do silly men who do silly things with their hair I find it irritating and that's just the start of it Putin is creepy strangely a feminine but you know you look at his track record He is the killer in the Kremlin Farage Comes he's got something he's got charisma and the both Anderson said you know when I first Menimales captivated by him. He's so worldly so funny his inside track on everything was so sharp And yet he hides this this other character the other side to his character and and Annabelle Yeah, after a long long affair over a decade

6:17Or something like that When when she went to the newspapers about about their love affair There was a quote from um from you Kip which was the presicessant to reform In which they talked about her mental health issues and like it felt cruel to me cruel and that's an aspect of Farage's character. He keeps very well hidden from the public The again the treatment of women draws a parallel with Donald Trump but Donald Trump succeeded By cunning a majority of the American people that he was authentic and genuine I suspect many people know are very much seen through his performance as he becomes increasingly erratic in recent years Particularly with his social media output Farage comes across as more disciplined but the Farage that we see How real is that or how much of a performance is it? Oh, it's a very very well constructed performance. So for example he was on um

7:22I'm a celebrity and he was very very good um people um I was in a washbomb shop uh shop the other day and um A shop assistants were talking about how good he was on I'm a celebrity and and and he managed to hide this kind of dark side of his nature But there is a problem I think in that The far right is now seemingly more popular than it's ever been certainly in my lifetime And I think the big reason for there are three reasons for that first of all it genuinely is Sections for example in the British population maybe a quarter or maybe a fifth who genuinely feel Left behind by the knowledge economy. Don't like globalization Don't like immigration don't like uncontrolled immigration by the way the and these are real problems but also their their Their finances have been hit by all the three the things I've been talking about and

8:27Their grievances haven't are genuine and they haven't been listened to properly Um, but if you like the political establishment by people like me But what's happened is that Trump people like Trump and Farage have managed to To speak to these people And actually offer them a whole series of simplistic but very very wrong solutions the problems that the real world problems They've got secondly the generation that fought the Nazis so that they have An active memory of what happens if you demonize the other where it can end up Something like Nazi Germany. They're all dead. They're all gone So that living memory has gone So the danger is the 20th 21st century is forgetting the crimes of the 20th and the third problem is social media With so that our national conversation here in Britain, but I'm sure that's also true in Ireland and certainly true in the United States has become

9:27Far more toxic and far more busy, but it used to be when it was in some way um Express by the newspapers now obviously newspapers that used to be great big ding dong's but I believe and you know, I lived through the time of Robert Maxwell's Daily Mirror and Rupert Murdoch's the Sun and all of that but those newspapers I think delivered less bad or the quality of information the ordinary working class people got from those papers back in the 80s was better than what you can get on social media, they Couple of things to finish John Swini and again to carry on the Trump analogy Trump won Both to most of that he could walk down Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and he wouldn't have to pay a price for it could Farage what down Kensington High Street shoot somebody and get away with it Not Kensington High Street. No Middle Spray

10:28You don't know do you No, I didn't think so I asked that very John. I mean I'm so sorry. I'm being slightly facetious in it, but we've seen To Farage caught up in some incredible controversies that would have finished any other politician You know similar to Trump grift for money maybe not on this scale that Trump is able to do at the moment But certainly very very sizable sums of money which if any other politician Accepted would be the end now. I see today the Metropolitan Police I said this afternoon that they are investigating the most recent Channel for allegations and yet there might be a significant body of people who think well no matter what happens there Other people will take the fall and Farage will dance on to his next encounter Well, I actually think that's quite likely because Farage's exuse was he wasn't listening and he didn't sign any Paperwork, so what you've got is the you know you've got the

11:28The tape of him going. Thank you but I think that the the two characters who He calls on contractors then we're contractors James or head of policy and Dan juke's his top year man Then we're contractors they've been with it. We're certainly Dan juke's been with him for a long long time But they organized the The these opinion polls and these opinion polls were essentially very favorable to reform UK and The state the journalists who did this thing they paid for the opinion polls and so there was no connection between reforms Reform wanting this this opinion poll And the payment That they're in trouble for that I think So real money changed hands

12:29Boss Farage Farage I don't think we'll be hit for that. He's got a real problem with the five million Because the argument is it should have been registered now. Obviously this has been investigated and Farage denies any wrongdoing and reform And all everybody I've just been talking about deny any wrongdoing but Five million quid is a lot of money. It is somebody get me five million quid. I'd say thanks very much. What's this for Well one last thing John Yes, and the book real Nigel Farage the would be prime minister on trial Can I ask you do you think Nigel Farage is sincere in what he says that he believes it or is it all just part of the act Oh That's a good question. I'm gonna quite Elizabeth first at you Matt. Um, I do not have a window Into men's souls So I don't know the answer that what I do know is you look at his history

13:31And this is a man who demonized the other time and time again He denies it, but I believe he was a bully at school where he's bullying journalist when it went Jonas challenge him they get bullied and then there was this horrible scenes where climate protesters We're really I mean there was one woman who was hit over the the head of whatever with a crutch And someone else pulled her hair and you just think oh That's nasty that's nasty now for the moment. I think Farage is in trouble, but remember trump trump um Seemed finished in 2020 four years later. He was back in the White House Here in the United Kingdom if Farage is still Successful we're in trouble John Swini. Thank you for being with us the book is the real Nigel Farage the would be prime minister on trial The last word with life pharmacy over 100 local pharmacies nationwide that are always here to help life pharmacy live better together