Nigel Farage excused his own campaigning for Donald Trump today when he slammed Labour activists for supporting Kamala Harris in the US.
A diplomatic row has broken out after the Republican nominee’s team filed a legal complaint accusing the UK party of “interfering” in the upcoming presidential election.
Labour says no rules have been broken and that activists campaigning there are doing so as volunteers, not in a party capacity.
But critics in the UK have not been so forgiving even if they’ve regularly endorsed a presidential candidate themselves.
“The rules are very clear,” The Reform UK party leader, MP for Clacton and close friend of Farage, told ITV News on Wednesday.
“Foreign nationals can go to America, can campaign, speak, give opinions, that’s all within the rules – but not if they’re being provided money to do it.
“They have to do it off their own back.”
Asked how that was different from his own appearances at Trump rallies, he said: “I wasn’t part of the British government. I didn’t go on behalf of the political party.
“I went in the wake of Brexit, and when I actually spoke in 2016 on the stage, I said to the audience in Mississippi, ‘I’m here but I can’t tell you who to vote for’.
“America is our most important ally in terms of military intelligence, strategic operations, in terms of being the backbone of Nato.
“This is a – politically – very, very, stupid thing to have done.”
According to the Mirror, Farage used £33,000 of UK donor cash to travel to the US after he was elected in July.
But, when Labour minister Chris Bryant asked the Reform leader about these reports on BBC’s Politics Live, Farage said: “You get things very often wrong when it comes to me and money, so be careful on that.
“I went last minute in a purely personal capacity to offer my support after the assassination [attempt].”
He added that he did not pay for his own flight, but supposedly “hopped” on somebody else’s plane who gave him a free lift which he declared.
Farage said: “I didn’t campaign at all actually, I went purely in a personal capacity as a friend of the family.”