The democratic process in Britain itself is “directly under threat”, Brexit leader Nigel Farage warned after being attacked for the second time on the campaign trail over the past week.
After returning to the political fold earlier this month, Reform UK president Nigel Farage lamented that “politics it would appear is worse five years on than when I left it”. The populist leader made the remarks on Tuesday evening following the latest leftist attack, in which a man hurled cement at him as he toured the Barnsley. This came just a week after a young woman threw a milkshake in his face as he launched his campaign in Clacton. Both alleged attackers have been tied to the far left.
“I genuinely believe that our Democratic process is directly under threat,” Mr Farage warned, saying that he believed both attacks were intended to stop him from campaigning. “It’s an attempt to crush democracy, it is worrying and it is frightening.”
The Brexit boss put much of the blame for the deterioration of democratic norms on the education system in Britain, saying that it was “noticeable” that those using violence against him appeared to be recent graduates from university, where, he claimed, they are having their minds “poisoned”.
“I’m perfectly happy for you to disagree with me, you can call me rude names,” Farage said but stressed that political differences should be settled verbally, not physically, while pointing to the recent D-Day commemorations, which he said represented a legacy of free speech that is again under threat.
Despite the risks, Farage vowed to continue campaigning in public, saying: “I will not surrender to the mob, I will not stop campaigning, this democratic process must continue.”
While many on the left in Britain have attempted to trivialise or excuse the attacks on Mr Farage, they come amid a growing trend of political violence in Britain and throughout Europe.
This month, there have been two knife attacks against right-wing campaigners in Germany, one of which resulted in the death of a police officer, who was stabbed in the back of the head by an Afghan migrant in Mannheim.
Last week, Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen was assaulted in Copenhagen in the leadup to the European Parliament elections and before that, Slovakian PM Robert Fico narrowly escaped being killed in an assassination attempt during which he was shot multiple times.
Earlier this year, British politics was rocked by concerns over political violence, with the speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle controversially breaking legislative protocols during a vote on a ceasefire in the Israelis-Hamas conflict over concerns of violent reprisals from radical Islamists against parliamentarians.
Concerns over such attacks have been heightened in the UK following the murder of Sir David Amess, a Conservative MP who was stabbed to death and Labour MP Jo Cox, who was shot and stabbed in 2016.