Why Nigel Farage has swapped boozy lunches for cheese and pickle sandwiches | Politics | News
Martyn brown (Image: DX)
Nigel Farage once told me how he was pretty handy at orienteering in his younger days, winning admiration from contemporaries for his boundless stamina and enthusiasm. Those qualities have been on full display this week as Reform UKโs indomitable leader criss-crossed the country while he continued his current quest to navigate a way into Downing Street.
Fresh from a trip to Donald Trumpโs swanky Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, last weekend, Farage held political rallies on the Isle of Wight, Basingstoke and Swindon, gave away cheap petrol in Derbyshire, waved off HMS Dragon in Portsmouth and pitched up outside RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire.
Nigel Farage has spent the week criss-crossing the country (Image: PHIL HARRIS)
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He was also in Westminster for Prime Ministerโs Questions and in his Clacton constituency on Friday.
Well, he certainly doesnโt carry a compass anymore but it explains why heโs burning through the 17-hour days.
The Express spent the afternoon with him this week, gaining pretty much unfettered access to the man who wants to be our next Prime Minister.
His working days begin at 5am and donโt finish until 10pm.
Even the fabled Farage โproper lunchesโ have taken a hit – heโs been scoffing cheese and pickle sandwiches and Mars bars – such is the frantic nature of modern day British politics.
He still manages to squeeze in the odd glass of wine though.
Mayโs crunch local, Welsh and Scottish elections – which Farage describes as our version of the US mid-terms – have certainly got something to do with it.
So has the war in the Middle East and exposing Sir Keir Starmerโs somewhat sluggish response to it.
Nigel Farage visited Swindon to meet supporters (Image: PHIL HARRIS)
But it also feels like we are in General Election campaigning mode too.
Despite everything thatโs going on, Farage picked a fight with YouGov this week, accusing the pollster of attempting to downplay Reformโs true popularity in the polls.
YouGov had Reform on 23% as opposed to others that put them on 30%.
Rivals were quick to seize on this, even blaming Tory defector Robert Jenrick for the apparent dip.
One source quipped: โThe recent polling is very interesting – the Jenrick effect?
โThe milky bar kid isn’t as popular as he thinks.
โWith the evident divisions, it will be interesting to see where relations between Bobby J and Farage go.โ
What is perfectly clear is the fact that Reform continues to lead all polls and by a healthy margin.
However, Farage isnโt the most popular political leader.
That honour now goes to Kemi Badenoch, despite the Conservativeโs languishing in third place.
