"He doesn’t want to be PM, he wants to be the Governor of the 51st State."
Nigel Farage has been criticised for undermining Britain by siding with Donald Trump, and saying that the world would be “a better, more secure place” if the US owned Greenland.
At the same time, Farage insisted that he believes in the sovereignty of nation states and national self-determination.
During a panel at the World Economic Forum’s “America House” in the Swiss ski resort yesterday, the Reform leader said he had “no doubt” that the world would be safer if a “strong America” was in Greenland.
He said a Trump takeover would make Greenland safer “because of the geopolitics of the high north, because of the retreating ice caps and because of the continued expansionism of Russian icebreakers, of Chinese investment”.
Farage said that he “agreed strategically” with Trump, but that he believed in “nation states … not globalist structures”.
He added: “[I]f you believe in the nation state and not globalist structures, you believe in sovereignty,” he said. “And if you believe in sovereignty, you believe in the principle of national self-determination.”
Trump has now ruled out taking over Greenland by force, and has backed down on imposing tariffs on the UK and seven other European countries that opposed his plan to take control of the autonomous Danish territory.
Trump has also made a vague claim that he has agreed “the framework of a future deal” on Greenland after a meeting with the Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte.
The UK government’s position is that the future of Greenland is for Greenlanders and Denmark alone to decide.
Reacting to Farage’s comments, a Labour spokesperson criticised the Reform leader for ‘undermining’ Britain.
The spokesperson said: “Time and again Nigel Farage jets abroad to undermine Britain, he’s incapable of acting in our national interest.”
One X user also said: “Farage went to Davos and hid in the court of MAGA. He undermined our national and allied position on Greenland, and gave legitimacy to some of the most damaging US policies we have ever seen. He doesn’t want to be PM, he wants to be the Governor of the 51st State.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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