Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has warned that time is running out to fix “Broken Britain” from the failures created by the establishment “uniparty”, while doubling down on his demand for a general election in a speech at CPAC in London.
Appearing before the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Friday, Brexit boss Nigel Farage said that he fears British civilization is on the brink and may not survive another generation of governance by the left-wing Labour Party or the so-called Conservative Party, both of which he accused of being two sides of the same establishment coin.
“I honestly believe we’re less than a decade away from effectively turning into a third-world country. And I will be damned if I’m going to see that,” Mr Farage said. “I’m putting my shoulder to the wheel and I urge those of you in the audience who have the same sense of urgency that I do about the problems that we face to put your shoulders to the wheel as well. And there is one very valuable thing the history does teach us, which is that this country’s been in big trouble before, but it’s always got itself out of it.”
The Reform leader argued that an early general election should be called, given that the recently installed Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, was not elected on the 2024 Labour Party manifesto but rather on the support of just 25,000 people in Makerfield a month ago.
“He has literally no mandate for this at all in what is supposed to be one of the world’s best, oldest, and most functioning democracies,” Farage said. “And frankly, I think that the British public have had enough of this game of musical chairs that is taking place in Downing Street.
“The only good and decent and right thing to do given where we are with a new prime minister coming in that none of you have had the opportunity to vote for or against is there must be an immediate general election so the country can decide the future.”
The populist leader went on to accuse Burnham of being “more of the same”, except perhaps even more left-wing. Farage further suggested that the new prime minister was interested in the top political job out of self-interest, claiming that in his first address to the nation, Burnham was forced to check his notes 266 times.
“Now, I put it to you that if a political leader is incapable of standing before an audience and stringing a couple of sentences together, they might be doing the job more out of personal ambition than out of conviction and belief in the country,” he quipped.
“And let me tell you something, I don’t need to be in politics. There are many, many other careers I could be pursuing. But I’m doing this not because I want rank, title, or position. I’m doing this because… we are going down the drain. Britain is broken. We have to wake up to that fact. Acknowledge the extent of the illness,” Farage added.
The Reform chief also took aim at Tory Party leader Kemi Badenoch, accusing her of saying the “absolute opposite” of how her party governed when they were in power for 14 years, including allowing in millions of “Boriswave” migrants following Brexit, despite having promised the public to drastically cut inflows of foreigners.
“The Boriswave let in 3.8 million people of whom only 17 per cent came on work permits. Not only is this going to be at a huge economic cost to social services for many many decades to come, but literally changing the landscape, changing the atmosphere, frankly making large parts of our country totally unrecognizable,” he lamented.
Deriding what he described as the Westminster uniparty of Labour and the Conservatives, Farage remarked: “You know, for 100 years it was the Liberals versus the Tories. Since World War I, it has been Labour versus the Conservatives. We’ve done our 10 years. Off you go, old chap. It’s your turn. Almost like a club.”
Reform supporters have claimed that such establishment collusion has been demonstrated by the response to Farage’s call for a special by-election in Clacton, which he sparked following an investigation into financial gifts he received prior to entering parliament, in large part to pay for his private security detail. Rather than respecting the voters of Clacton, all other major parties quickly announced they would boycott the election, in an apparent coordinated attempt to denigrate the likely win for Mr Farage.
“We are up against a uniparty. There is nothing to choose between these two parties. Reform is the first proper alternative getting ready for government in this country that we’ve had frankly for 100 years… I would say to all of you in the room, if you want change, you’ve got to vote for change,” he said.