On the tenth anniversary of the vote to leave the EU, a government minister called Nigel Farage a “threat to national security.” Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Cabinet Office minister, said the Reform UK leader holds a worldview “sympathetic” to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Farage answered with an attack of his own on the political class.
Thomas-Symonds made his case in the Telegraph before an event hosted by the UK in a Changing Europe think tank. He pointed to Farage’s old remarks on Ukraine. In 2014, Farage said the EU “does have blood on its hands in the Ukraine.” In 2024, he suggested that NATO and EU “eastward expansion” gave Putin a reason to “go to war.”
“So consumed with being anti-Europe, engrossed by an ideological necessity for separation, he has chosen to fall on one side of a worldview,” Thomas-Symonds wrote. “The wrong side.”
He went on: “Allowing a worldview sympathetic to Putin to hold the balance of power would be an unprecedented threat to national security.” He also accused Farage of having “consistently supported Russia.” At the think tank event, he was expected to argue that a hard-headed approach to Europe is needed to protect British homes in a volatile world.
Farage: the promise was ignored
Farage, the MP for Clacton, had his own message for the anniversary. In a Substack post due out at 10am, he wrote: “I’ve always said that Brexit is a necessary step towards saving the country. But on its own, it’s nowhere near sufficient.”
He said Westminster ignored voters who wanted to “take control of our borders, take control of our laws, and deliver the growth they so desperately needed.” Neither the Conservatives nor Labour, he argued, were “up to the challenge” of delivering on the referendum’s promise. He named Boris Johnson, Kemi Badenoch and Keir Starmer as leaders who had missed the message from the country’s “forgotten places,” where people wanted a “fairer deal” for the UK.
Burnham and the Lib Dems
The row comes as Labour changes leader. Starmer has said he will stand down, and Andy Burnham, who won the Makerfield by-election, is widely seen as prime minister-in-waiting. Burnham has promised not to “re-run” old Brexit battles and has played down any near-term push to reverse the 2016 result. He has said he would like the UK to be back in the EU within his lifetime.
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey wants more. He urged Burnham to back an amendment to take Britain into the single market. “This is a defining moment,” Davey said. Starmer sought closer ties with Brussels, but he set three red lines at the 2024 election: no return to the customs union or the single market, and no free movement.
Starmer’s resignation has also put a UK-EU summit in doubt. It was scheduled for 22 July, and the European Commission said it was “reassessing” whether to go ahead. Davey called the uncertainty “the cost of chaos for Britain.”
