Nigel Farage has hinted at taking on a new “interlocutor” role as Donald Trump looks poised to block Sir Keir Starmer’s potential pick for US Ambassador.
The Reform UK leader, who spent US election night in Florida, reiterated he is willing to help Labour forge stronger ties with Trump ahead of his return to the White House.
Speaking at Reform UK’s South West conference in Exeter earlier today, Farage said: “It seems to me that with a Labour Party and a Republican Party who disagree on so many things – who are such fundamentally different people – that I might be useful as an interlocutor. Unofficially, behind the scenes, to try and help mend some of those fences.
“If the Government choose to use me, I would do that not because I support the Labour Government but because I believe in something called the national interest.”
Nigel Farage at Reform UK’s Wales Conference
PA
Farage’s comments come as Trump is expected to stop Starmer from installing Lord Peter Mandelson as the UK’s Ambassador to the US.
Trump’s allies have voiced concern about Mandelson due to his close ties to the EU, having previously served as the European Commissioner of Trade between 2004 and 2008.
Ex-Foreign Secretary David Miliband and former Vice-President of the European Commission Cathy Ashton have also been shortlisted to succeed current ambassador Karen Pierce.
Trump has long been critical of the European Union, claiming the Brussels bloc treats the US “worse than China” in 2019.
However, top Labour figures have emphatically rejected Farage’s offer to assist Starmer.
Cabinet Office Minister Pat McFadden said: “Hasn’t he got a job working for the people of Clacton?”
He added: “I think we’ll have our own relationships.”
But Farage’s offer comes after a number of scathing anti-Trump comments from Labour MPs resurfaced.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy called Trump a “neo-Nazi sympathising sociopath”, while Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner labelled the 78-year-old a “buffoon”.
Trump also filed a complaint against Labour staffers ahead of the 2024 US Presidential Election after dozens headed off to swing states to campaign for Kamala Harris.
Despite his offer to Starmer, Farage did not pull any punches during his appearance in South Wales yesterday.
He said: “Because of the devotion to the net zero agenda primary steelmaking in South Wales at an end, I think they’ve failed completely.
Lord Peter Mandelson
GETTY
“I think the voters in Wales don’t look at the Conservative Party as really a viable alternative. And so our aim, our ambition is to replace the Conservatives as the main opposition to Labour and to take the fight to them in the Senedd elections.
“And if you believe the opinion polls that are out this morning, we already are making real progress”
Farage also claimed that Trump has been invited to address the Houses of Parliament.
However, both the House of Commons and Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle declined to comment on Farage’s claim.
