Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen, in a series of recommendations to help begin the “healing process” in the UK, has called for the government to knight Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage.
In a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the Tory Brexiteer lauded Nigel Farage for “the work he has undertaken over many years to advance the case for the UK leaving the European Union”.
Mr Bridgen, therefore, proposed that the government bestow a knighthood upon Mr Farage.
Citing Boris Johnson’s post-election speech, Bridgen also recommended that the government, as part of the “healing process”, honour both sides of the Brexit debate, suggesting that the Europhile Tory defector Ken Clarke should be given a peerage or knighthood as well.
In his letter, the Conservative MP went on to recommend that former UKIP donor and co-founder of Leave.EU, Arron Banks, be allowed to rejoin the Conservative Party, pointing to Mr Banks’s role in facilitating 317 Brexit Party candidates to step down in Tory strongholds ahead of the election, which Bridgen credits with helping the Conservatives win an 80-seat majority in the House of Commons.
“I believe these moves will be warmly supported by many of our new supporters from the election and would demonstrate that we are moving on from the Brexit argument towards building a One Nation People’s Government,” wrote Bridgen.
Nigel Farage has long been snubbed by the British establishment, which has so far refused to honour the Brexit Party leader for his leading role in the 2016 EU referendum, nor his decades-long campaign for British sovereignty and self-determination.
In 2015, Mr Farage criticised the British Honours System, claiming that it was a reason why many in the media stick to a “binary-politics script”.
“Peerages, knighthoods — such patronage is dished out to the press on a scale that no other private-sector industry gets. I know [senior politicians] get an OBE or a knighthood, and if you’re a soldier you have a very good chance. And we understand that, because these are public servants. Private-sector rewards, however, are few and far between — but not if you’re a newspaper editor,” he said.
In November, Mr Farage also accused the Conservative Party of trying to buy off Brexit Party candidates with peerages in the House of Lords, should the candidates step down in the election.
Mr Farage said at the time that while he did not expect any legal consequences for the election interference, it showed how “rotten and broken” the political system in the United Kingdom has become.
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