Nigel Farage has defended travelling to the US to meet up with his friend Donald Trump just two weeks after being elected as the new MP for Clacton.
The Reform UK leader jetted to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, yesterday straight after attending the State Opening of Parliament in Westminster.
He defended his visit to the Republican National Convention (RNC), which has seen Mr Trump confirmed as the party’s official presidential nominee.
The Milwaukee event is being staged nearly 4,000 miles from Mr Farage’s seaside constituency in Essex.
Mr Farage said he was attending the RNC in order to ‘show support’ for Mr Trump following Saturday’s assassination attempt on the former president.
Nigel Farage has defended travelling to the US to meet up with his friend Donald Trump just two weeks after being elected as the new MP for Clacton
The Reform UK leader jetted to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, yesterday straight after attending the State Opening of Parliament in Westminster
Mr Farage said he was attending the RNC in order to ‘show support’ for Mr Trump following Saturday’s assassination attempt on the former president
Mr Farage is not the only British politician to make the visit to Milwaukee, with former prime minister Boris Johnson also attending the RNC this week and meeting with Mr Trump
The Milwaukee event is being staged nearly 4,000 miles from Mr Farage’s seaside constituency in Essex
Speaking to the News Agents USA podcast in Milwaukee, Mr Farage admitted it had been a ‘busy day’ for him on Wednesday.
‘King’s Speech this morning and here… well, I had to come,’ he said.
‘Trump, I’ve been friendly with him for all these years and he’s just survived an assassination attempt so I thought I’d come and say hello.’
Mr Farage revealed that ‘people around’ Mr Trump had thought it was the ‘right thing’ for him to travel to the US.
Quizzed about whether he was neglecting his commitment to Clacton by heading across the Atlantic, he replied: ‘I’m allowed to come to America on a trip like this, particularly in these circumstances.
‘I had planned to come originally to America and be here for a few months. But I made a decision, ‘no, I’m going to run for Clacton’.
‘Given the circumstances, it was right that I came.’
The former UKIP leader stressed he would be in Milwaukee for only ‘a couple of days’.
‘I’ll be back at the weekend,’ he said. ‘What happened on Saturday could have been the most disastrous event.’
He added: ‘It was the right thing to do. I have friends, I don’t know whether you do or not. Maybe you don’t?
‘I have friends and when they’re having a tough time it’s right to go and support them.’
Pressed about why he thought Mr Trump was having a ‘tough time’, Mr Farage simply replied: ‘He nearly died.’
And, asked whether he thought Saturday’s shooting had changed Mr Trump, he added: ‘He’s obviously very thoughtful about what happened.
‘A really dramatic failure of the secret service who are normally so efficient and so good at what they do. So I’m here to show support for him.’
Mr Farage is not the only British politician to make the visit to Milwaukee, with former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss also attending the RNC this week.
On Tuesday, Mr Johnson posted a picture of himself and Mr Trump on X, formerly known as Twitter, and wrote: ‘Great to meet President Trump who is on top form after the shameful attempt on his life.
‘We discussed Ukraine and I have no doubt that he will be strong and decisive in supporting that country and defending democracy.’