A move which left protesters shouting ‘no-show Nigel’ outside Reform UK’s campaign office.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has been slammed for bottling it and not attending his own media event, worried by the prospect of having to come face to face with voters who disagreed with him.
He has after all faced strong opposition in Scotland, famously being hounded out of an Edinburgh pub in 2013.
The arch Brexiteer was due to attend an event in Hamilton, Lanarkshire, on Monday, with journalists being told that they would meet the party leader there on a walkabout with constituents.
Farage’s trip to Scotland comes ahead of a crucial by-election in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse on Thursday, following the death of the SNP’s Christina McKelvie.
Reform have been busy downplaying their chances of winning the seat, but are nonetheless trying to do as well as they can, and hope to be the main opposition to the SNP in Holyrood.
However, Farage doesn’t seem too keen on facing those who may disagree with him.
Instead of turning up at the event outside a Premier Inn in Hamilton, according to The Herald and The National, Farage cancelled his planned walkabout and decided to speak to a few voters at a pub in Larkhall instead.
A move which left protesters shouting ‘no-show Nigel’ outside Reform UK’s campaign office.
Appearing on LBC, Reform’s leader denied he was scared to talk to Scottish voters. He insisted he was not afraid of answering uncomfortable questions but said: “What we did have yesterday though, was a newspaper called the Herald in Scotland informing protest groups like Antifa where I was going to be with a deliberate intention of trying to provoke violence and discomfort.
“And so, yeah, did we give the Herald and others the slip and go and do campaigning in the street meeting normal people without a bunch of thugs with masks on? Yes.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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