Reform UK leader Nigel Farage was tonight grilled by BBC veteran journalist Nick Robinson over previous comments he made about King Charles, including calling him an “eco-loony.”
Mr Farage and Mr Robinson duelled over the course of 30 minutes during a BBC One Panorama special where the Brexiteer’s record came under sharp focus. Mr Robinson quizzed Mr Farage over his deep-seated opposition to net-zero targets.
The pair squared off against one another over the issue of climate change with Mr Farage advocating for scrapping the net zero programme. But the face-off soon moved on to less-than-flattering remarks Mr Farage made about then-Prince Charles.
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King Charles has regularly made his views on climate action well known and last year he called for governments to use incentives and regulation to encourage private-sector investment in climate action. Mr Farage previously called then-Prince Charles’ statements “stupid”, including during a October 2021 GB News appearance.
Mr Robinson tonight grilled Mr Farage, asking: “You said climate change was a hype, Mr Farage. I heard you say it. Do you still think what you used to think of the King?”
“No, no, no, no, no, no,” Mr Farage countered. Mr Robinson added: “You said the King was an eco-loony. Do you still think the King is an eco-loony?”
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Mr Farage said: “The King, he wasn’t the King then, and I can’t speak ill of the monarch obviously. but he did used to say -.” “You said he was stupid,” Mr Robinson interjected.
“He did used to say that carbon dioxide was a pollutant which I thought was a very stupid comment. Here’s the point -,” Mr Farage said. “If it’s going to leave the planet to burn,” Mr Robinson added.
Mr Farage went on to argue that the UK is not a major polluter and that the country has merely exported fossil fuel burning industries to other countries. He added: ” Right, listen, we’ve deindustrialised. Our steelworks close, where do they go?
“India. The same steel gets produced in India under lower environmental standards and then shipped back to us. Globally by closing those steel plants, the amount of CO2 put into the air has gone up. All we’ve done is to export the emissions.
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“Similarly with coal, there’s an anthracite mine up in Cumbria that could be opened. We’re not going to open it. We are overtaxing the North Sea.
“The Tories have done this, not Labour. Chevron after 60 years have left. So, we will be using, even those who are most worried about this, will tell you, we’ll be using oil and gas in 2050. My argument is—.”
Mr Robinson again interjected, adding: “You believe David Attenborough was wrong and the King was wrong, we’re clear about that.” but Mr Farage responded: “No, no, no, that is not – no, no, the King is wrong to say CO2 is a pollutant, that is wrong, clearly.”