Nigel Farage was taken down with one simple question by a BBC Question Time audience member.
The honorary Reform UK president, who is not standing as an MP for the right-wing party, was asked by a woman in the crowd: “Is the reason that you’re not standing because the last seven attempts that you did try to stand, you didn’t get selected? I’m sure that’s not the case but I’d love to hear your thoughts.”
Mr Farage attempted to explain himself but Piers Morgan, who was sitting alongside him on the TV panel, interjected: “Yes, he did. He bottled it.” A row then broke out between the two, as Mr Farage hit back: “Piers, you’ve never had the bottle to stand ever in your career.” Piers replied: “I’m not a politician.”
BBC Presenter Fiona Bruce was forced to intervene to stop the two arguing and ask Mr Farage to answer the audience member. In response to the question, he said: “In the nineties and noughties, I stood for Ukip time and again, we were a pressure group… if we saved a deposit that was cause for an all-night party.
“I’ve had one serious attempt at standing for Parliament and do you know what happened?” Piers then shouted: “You lost?” Mr Farage ignored him and continued: “I’ll tell you what happened. They cheated so badly, that the agent got a nine-month prison sentence. They massively overspent and cheated.
“I’ve stood once before – I know how difficult it is when you’ve got the big parties who treat the law with contempt. I didn’t feel in six weeks from scratch that I could do it. But I’ll tell you what, I will be part of this campaign. I will be part of this debate. And I do think there are some very serious issues not being discussed.”
Mr Farage was referring to a Tory official Marion Little being found guilty of falsifying election expenses. The judge said Ms Little had become “carried away by her conviction” that the Tories must defeat Mr Farage.
But a furious Piers did not accept his excuse and responded: “Sorry, you’ve had all year to think about this election. We all knew it was coming… This idea you didn’t have enough time to prepare…” The row continued as Mr Farage, who presents for GB News, shouted over him: “I have a nightly TV show. Yours has been shut down.”
Piers responded: “I came off old linear television because you’re sitting there with nobody watching, losing tonnes of money… I’m on YouTube now. I’m Justin Bieber.”
Mr Farage had his first unsuccessful attempt to become an MP at the Eastleigh by-election in 1994. His last bid to become an MP ended in failure in 2015 when he lost by 2,812 votes in South Thanet.
After leaving Ukip, Mr Farage made a return to politics in 2019 as Theresa May struggled to pass her Brexit deal. He led the Brexit Party to victory in the European elections when it got 29 MEPs elected, before it was later rebranded as Reform UK. He is now the party’s honorary president.