Nigel Farage’s rally was trolled by a political activists’ group who lowered a banner of Putin to taunt him over his comments about the Russian tyrant.
Led By Donkeys hijacked the Reform candidate’s speech on Saturday as they brought out the sign, which showed the warlord giving a thumbs up with the slogan, “I love Nigel”. The controversial politician was addressing supporters in Walton in the Clacton constituency about education when the banner was gently lowered behind him at the side of the stage.
Chants of “rip it down” were shouted by crowds after the politician clocked on to the poster, ordering: “Someone at the Columbine Centre needs to get the sack. Are we agreed?” Unfortunately for Nigel, supporters were unable to rip down the poster, as he suggested even “setting fire to it”.
The stunt was pulled by activist group Led By Donkeys, known for beaming displays of controversial comments or claims made by politicians onto buildings to hold public figures of the government accountable. Sharing the clip on its social media platforms, Led By Donkeys said: “We just dropped in on Farage’s election rally with a beaming picture of Putin. Nigel was not pleased.”
It came after Farage doubled down on his previous claims that Putin was the world leader he “admires the most”. He made the comments in a combative interview on BBC’s Panorama while asked about his beliefs on the Ukraine invasion, saying the West “provoked the war” with the eastward expansion of the EU and NATO. Farage told the programme: “We provoked this war. Of course it’s his fault, he’s used what we’ve done as an excuse.”
The comments have been widely condemned by the main party leaders, including Volodymyr Zelensky himself and former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who lashed out at an op ed written by Farage for the Telegraph defending the comments as “morally repugnant”. Sharing the article on X, formerly Twitter, Boris wrote: “This is nauseating historical drivel and more Kremlin propaganda.”
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@LedByDonkeys/YouTube)
Farage has long been accused of being a Putin apologist, with regular appearances on Russia Today before the war and once telling the BBC’s Nick Robinson he disagreed with Putin, but “admired him as a political operator”. Farage told supporters in Clacton on Monday that he thought Putin’s invasion of Ukraine had been “reprehensible” and denied defending the leader.
“But if we’re going to think towards a peace at some time in the not too distant future, perhaps it might be helpful to understand what went wrong in the first place,” Farage said, accusing Boris of hypocrisy.
Labour leader called Farage’s comments “disgraceful” while the SNP said his rhetoric was an “insult to all Ukrainians who had suffered” at the warlord’s hands. Rishi Sunak said Farage was “completely wrong” with his remarks “only playing into Putin’s hands”.