Nigel Farage says he is a part of ‘related phenomenon’ to Andrew Tate

Nigel Farage said young men are under threat for being young men as he defended campaigning with a man convicted of assaulting his girlfriend.

The Reform UK leader said he was part of “a similar phenomenon” to misogynistic influencer Andrew Tate as polling shows young men are flocking to his party. On the final day of the campaign trail, Mr Farage said there’s this “feeling that young blokes aren’t allowed to be young blokes” amid warnings not to drink too much or shout offensive chants at football matches.

He suggested young males would be spurred on to follow Reform UK as they had been Tate, who is awaiting trial in Romania on charges of human trafficking and rape – charges which Tate denies. “If someone like Andrew Tate can build up a following like that, well maybe politically this is something very significant,” he said.

Mr Farage made the comments on a visit to a gym where he donned gloves and took part in a theatrical photoshoot sparring with boxing star Derek Chisora, who was found guilty of a “disgraceful” assault in 2010. He insisted Mr Chisora is a good role model as we are “all imperfect”. When asked about his past Mr Chisora, who wore a boxing robe saying “Nigel’s Security”, said: “I regret so many things I did in my life when I was young… I’m a born again Christian.”

Some 35% of young men aged 16-17 years old say they would vote Reform UK, the same proportion as would vote Labour, polling by JL Partners showed this week. It is significantly more than young women of the same age, among whom 12% support Reform.

“I think a lot of young men feel emasculated,” Mr Farage said. “I mean, look at the football. They’re told: go to Germany, please don’t drink more than two pints of beer. You what? Don’t chant at the football matches. You what? Don’t tell jokes that might offend the Germans. You what? I mean, come on, we are trying to stop young men being young men. That’s why Tate got the following he got. So what I’m doing is maybe because of a similar phenomenon.”

Asked who is targeting young men, he said “everybody” is trying to stop young men and mentioned the Football Association telling young men not to chant at matches. England fans were caught singing ‘Ten German bombers’ in the streets at the Euros, which refers to German casualties in World War II.

The Reform UK leader was also pressed about having to drop a number of candidates over offensive comments. Two candidates have defected to the Tories, with Georgie David on Tuesday alleging that the majority of Reform UK candidates are “racist, misogynistic and bigoted”.

Mr Farage admitted one in eight candidates were “literally just appeals on the internet” as the party was a “start up”. He committed to “professionalising the party” after the General Election.