Nigel Farage has threatened to stop paying his licence fee in a long-standing protest against the BBC broadcasting an interview that claimed he had “blood on his hands” following the death of a Polish man in the wake of Brexit.
The former Ukip leader posted a video on social media showing him walking up to Broadcasting House to deliver his letter of complaint to the corporation’s director general Lord Tony Hall.
Farage told the Telegraph that he is demanding an apology for the broadcast that he said has caused his family “more misery than any other in my 25 years in politics.”
He said: “If the apology is not forthcoming, I will have no option but to stop paying the BBC licence fee altogether.”
The video was seized on by his critics - including Tory MP Nicholas Soames - as several people questioned his views on censorship.
Many also mocked the purpose of the video which simply showed him walking up to the doors of the corporation.
While others used Photoshop to mock up messages to appear on the letter he shows to the camera in the video.
Arkadiusz Jozwik, a 40-year-old man from Poland, was killed in August 2016 after getting into a row with a teenager in a shopping centre in Harlow, Essex.
The 15-year-old punched him in the back of the head, causing Jozwik to fall and hit his head on the pavement. He died two days later from his injuries.
At the time, the assault sparked fears of a wave of Brexit-related hate crime. A high percentage of Leave voters came from the county.
The BBC interviewed Eric Hinda, a friend of Jozwik’s, shortly after his death who told reporter John Sweeney that Farage had “blood on your hands” because of his role in the referendum campaign.
Farage said the report “opened the floodgates” to other media running the story, and said he received abuse both on the street and on social media because of it.
He told the Telegraph: “Others must decide whether they would do the same in my shoes, but all, I trust, will agree that this is a test of whether the BBC really is the decent and fair public broadcaster it purports to be.”
A BBC Spokesperson said: “The BBC’s reporting reflected, like other media, that racial motivation was a line of inquiry the police were looking at and our coverage also featured vox-pops giving differing views including anti-social behaviour as a possibility.
“The BBC has already examined its reporting of Arkadiusz Jóźwik’s death concluding it was fairly reported, based on what was known and said at the time.
“We agree with Mr Farage that social media abuse towards anyone, including politicians or journalists, is unacceptable.
“We continue to report on Brexit impartially and fairly.”
The court heard during the trial that Jozwik had “invited violence” from the teenager and his group of friends, and the incident had in fact nothing to do with the referendum.