For a Union Jack-wrapping politician, who casts himself as the embodiment of national pride, being accused of admiring a tyrant who threatens European democracy, strikes at the heart of Farage’s brand.
For all the patriotic, populist flag-waving and carefully cultivated image as a tribune of ‘ordinary Britons,’ one aspect of Nigel Farage’s record is often conveniently overlooked: his long history of sympathy for Vladimir Putin.
As the prospect of real political power edges closer, Farage has noticeably softened and distanced himself from earlier pro-Russian remarks. Yet the question lingers. If Reform UK continues its ascent and Farage moves nearer to Downing Street, will those associations return to haunt him? And, perhaps most unsettling of all, is Farage merely moderating his statements regarding Putin and Russia not to lose votes? And what would those past sympathies mean in practice if Farage were, heaven forbid, to find himself holding the keys to Number 10?
For an embattled Keir Starmer, fighting not only to retain his premiership but to survive long enough to contest the next general election, a head-to-head with Farage looms as a plausible future contest. Even if Starmer has gone by then, in many constituencies the contest will still be Reform v Labour. In that fight, Farage’s past admiration for Putin may be one of the few clear and emotionally potent lines of attack available to Labour.
A toxic brand in Britain
If there is one near consensus in British politics, it’s hostility towards Vladimir Putin.
A 2025 YouGov poll found that 89 percent of Britons hold an unfavourable view of the Russian president. Support for Ukraine remains robust. An Ipsos poll in February reported that a majority of Britons continue to back British assistance to Ukraine and sanctions against Russia, with 77 percent saying they are most concerned about the war’s impact on Ukrainian civilians.
Yet Reform voters are notably less averse to Putin than the public at large. A More in Common poll found that 64 percent of Reform supporters say they sympathise more with Ukraine than Russia, compared with 74 per cent of Britons overall. That gap is not huge, and Reform voters are less pro-Russian than supporters of some populist-far-right parties in France, Germany or Poland. But it does suggest a softer, more ambivalent set of voters.
Farage’s chequered record on Putin admiration
But for decidedly anti-Putin voters, Farage’s record on Putin and Russia makes uncomfortable reading. They form a discernible pattern. In 2008, UKIP MEPs opposed a European Parliament resolution condemning Putin’s invasion of Georgia. In 2011, Farage opposed a resolution criticising Russian elections widely viewed as rigged, arguing that the EU had “no right to lecture other countries on democracy.” Following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, he accused the EU of “poking the Russian bear with a stick.” In a televised debate with Nick Clegg, he said the EU had “blood on its hands” over violence in Kyiv. Most memorably, when asked which world leader he most admired, he named Vladimir Putin, “as an operator, but not as a human being.” He called Russia’s intervention in Syria’s civil war “brilliant.” Such endorsements provided publicity for Farage, who was a frequent guest on RT, a Russian state broadcaster.
More recently, Nathan Gill, former Reform leader in Wales was sentenced to over ten years in prison after admitting to accepting £40,000 to promote pro-Russia messaging between 2018 and 2019, placing opinion pieces and making statements in the European Parliament. Yet disappointingly, the scandal was not given the media coverage it merited.
What would a Farage premiership mean for national security?
But the deeper question is, what would these Russian sympathies mean if Farage became prime minister?
Britain has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest backers. Under Boris Johnson, whose domestic record Labour rightly excoriates, the UK nevertheless became one of Ukraine’s most vocal and generous supporters, committing £2.3 billion in military assistance by mid-2022, more than any country except the United States at that stage. Johnson was even hailed as a hero in Ukraine, where his downfall at home was met with sorrow.
Starmer has maintained that support, positioning Britain as a leading member of the 35-country coalition supporting Ukraine. In early January, he signed a declaration of intent with Emmanuel Macron to deploy peacekeeping British troops in Ukraine, if a peace deal is made with Russia.
Farage opposed that declaration. He argued that Britain and France lack the manpower and equipment for such a mission “that clearly has no ending timeline” and that the Coalition of the Willing – a partnership of countries that have been discussing putting boots on the ground in Ukraine to preserve a possible peace deal – is “just two countries.”
In an interview with the Economist, Starmer didn’t hold back on the prospect of a Farage-led Britain. A Reform government, he warned, would do “huge damage to our country, to our society, to our global standing, and destroy much of our country.” He went further, saying it would potentially break the West. “Reform is a party that is pro-Putin or Putin-neutral,” he said.
In an extraordinary admission from a Labour prime minister, he added that he could “sleep at night” under a Conservative government, but that a right-wing populist Reform government was “a different proposition.”
Ed Davey describes Farage as ‘a teenager with a celebrity crush’
As Keir Starmer frames Farage’s Putin links as a question of national security, Ed Davey has pursued a more moral line of attack.
In his keynote speech at the Liberal Democrat conference in September, Davey offered a blistering assessment of Farage’s links to Putin.
“Unlike you and me,” he said, “Nigel Farage thinks Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are great. Not in a ‘look we have to be pragmatic and work with them kind of way,’ more in a teenager with a celebrity crush kind of way.
“Don’t forget when Farage was asked which world leader he most admired, his answer was Vladimir Putin. Yes really. To be fair that was before Donald Trump became president, so I guess that might have slipped to number two by now.
“But a tyrant responsible for the brutal suppression of Russia’s own people and countless atrocities in Ukraine, who has murdered thousands of innocent civilians and abducted 20,000 children from their homes, snatched them away from their families. That, apparently, is the sort of man who wins Nigel Farage’s admiration. How despicable.”
Davey went on to brand Farage’s admiration for Putin “completely out of touch with British values and human values… “how unpatriotic, how deeply un-British.”
For a Union Jack-wrapping politician, who casts himself as the embodiment of national pride, being accused of admiring a tyrant who threatens European democracy, strikes at the heart of Farage’s brand.
But will it resonate with the electorate, or simply glance off voters more preoccupied with the pressures closer to home?
Backpedalling at full pelt’
Farage is nothing if not politically agile. Recognising that Putin is toxic with the British electorate, he has recalibrated.
Seeking to toughen his line on Russia, in October, he labelled the Russian leader “a very bad dude.” Talking to Bloomberg, he said, Putin is “clearly not a rational man” and that he backed shooting down Russian jets entering Nato airspace and supported the use of frozen Russian assets to assist Ukraine.
The Clacton MP also backtracked on earlier comments, saying that in the event of a ceasefire, he could support the presence of British troops in Ukraine as part of a United Nations’ peacekeeping force if he became prime minister.
A liability waiting to be tested
But will such backpedalling be enough to dispel memories of his past admiration for Putin? Or will it become the trump card Starmer pulls out to stave off Reform?
The PM clearly believes in such vulnerability. His occasional jibes in the Commons, such as offering Reform MPs a belated seasonal greeting, mocking that “today is the day they celebrate Christmas in Russia,” show he is willing to keep the issue alive.
British voters may overwhelmingly dislike Putin, but they will be voting on mortgages, migration, public services, living standards and more. If Ukraine recedes from the headlines, Farage’s past remarks may feel distant. By the time the next election comes around Putin may not even be with us, that is unless his reputed search for eternal life pays off. History and conventional electoral wisdom tell us that foreign policy is rarely uppermost in voter minds but it might just be in some circumstances – a Russian invasion of Lithuania with its considerable Russian speaking population and Russian naval base? A strike against NATO enthusiastic Poland with echoes of 1939? Who knows? But we do know that the world is a dangerous place.
In that sense, the ‘Putin trump card’ – an ironic phase given the Putin and Trump ‘bromance’ – is neither a guaranteed knockout blow nor an empty smear. If domestic grievances dominate, it may barely register.
Starmer may indeed be holding a trump card. But whether it wins the hand will depend on which issues define the game. Time will tell. What we do know is that patriotism has to be reclaimed from its current nationalistic and racist home and picking away at Farage’s patriotic credentials has to be the right move.
Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead is author of Right-Wing Watch
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