Farage Says UK Needs ‘Political Reform’ to Drain the Westminster ‘Swamp’

LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 22: Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage holds up his 'contract wit
Hollie Adams/Getty Images
Victoria Friedman

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage has suggested that his party may be one day be rebranded the “Reform Party”, saying his colleagues and the British people want an overhaul of the British political system.

Speaking to the Daily Express, Mr Farage said: “We might need to rebrand as the Reform Party. Definitely, our appetite is for political reform. This country wants political reform. It’s sick of the whole bloody system. Sick of the whole lot.

“We talk about [Washington as] the swamp, and we are beginning to talk about Westminster in the same way.”

He added in comments reported on Sunday: “There is an absolutely massive disconnect. The idea of changing politics is completely on the table. Electoral reform ten years ago was for the Oxford Union, now people actually understand it.”

Ditching the term “manifesto” over associations with political promises rarely kept, Mr Farage unveiled The Brexit Party’s “contract with the British people” on Friday. He said that his party wants “a voting system that is more representative of people’s views” and vows to “abolish the House of Lords”.

Speaking to the Express, Mr Farage said that “the way the whole peerage and honours system has been used” is “ludicrous”.

“The whole thing is corrupt,” he added.

“[Voters] hate the House of Lords. This is going to be a big issue in the next few years.”

Mr Farage has previously said that Conservatives have offered him and his Brexit Party colleagues peerages on more than one occasion in exchange for standing down against the Tories.

“The way [the Conservatives] have just tried to buy everybody off is quite extraordinary and some people succumbed to that. Don’t underestimate the power of the big state,” Mr Farage said.

As well as pledging to abolish the House of Lords, the MEP said during his contract launch that under Brexit Party rules, members of the “highly politicised” Civil Service would have to sign a “pledge of political neutrality”. Further, “political guidelines” would be devised for the Supreme Court.

The UK’s highest court came under criticism in September for siding with anti-Brexit parties and campaigners in ruling Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s suspending of parliament unlawful and ordering MPs back to the House of Commons.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.