logo
Watch moment Nigel Farage makes back door exit as Reform UK leader dodges protesters in Scotland

Watch moment Nigel Farage makes back door exit as Reform UK leader dodges protesters in Scotland

Scottish Sun02-06-2025
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
RATTLED Nigel Farage was forced to do a runner from a back door as noisy protesters wrecked his big trip north.
The controversial Reform leader was branded 'racist through and through' by a crew of loudspeaker wielding campaigners.
Sign up for the Politics newsletter
Sign up
3
Rattled Nigel Farage was forced to do a runner from a back door
Credit: Getty
3
He made a sneaky exit to avoid critics at the front
Credit: Getty
3
The Reform leader kicked off his day of campaigning at the Silver Darling restaurant
Credit: Getty
Cops were called out and his team were overhead discussing whether they should scrap the event at a luxury restaurant in Aberdeen.
It eventually went ahead but Farage made a sneaky exit through a back entrance to avoid his critics at the front.
He blamed 'inciteful' First Minister John Swinney for the clashes because he branded the Clacton MP racist over the weekend.
Farage said: 'We've not heard these chants in England now for a very, very long time.
'The First Minister Swinney was the one who started using the word in a deliberate and provocative way.
'We just want to live in a country where everybody is treated equally. Where everyone is treated on merit regardless of race, sexual identity or whatever else it may be.'
Farage kicked off his day of campaigning at the plush Silver Darling restaurant right on the harbour in the Granite City.
He revealed he chose there because he didn't think anywhere else would be safe.
Farage said: 'We're trying to protect ourselves from the howling mob that's been stirred up by the First Minister and others.
'We thought it better to do it here than on a high street.
Farage goads 'terrified' Starmer & says Tories are 'finished'
'At least half of the protesters outside are wearing face coverings. I don't think that should be allowed.'
Farage was joined by Reform's deputy leader Richard Tice for his trip to Aberdeen.
The pair welcomed local Conservative councillor Duncan Massey, who jumped ship from the Tories.
Farage kicked off by congratulating Aberdeen FC for their Scottish Cup win over Celtic.
But he revealed he's concerned about the future of the oil and gas industry and the impact its decline will have on the city.
He compared the industry and the fight for it's future to Brexit.
Farage said: 'The whole net zero debate is almost the next Brexit. Believe me the scales are falling off the eyes of the people.'
The whole event was almost overshadowed by the campaigners who turned up outside.
They began loudly chanting 'Farage we don't like you' and 'oh Nigel go home', as well as calling him 'racist scum'.
Their racket could be heard during Farage's media event.
A wall of cops were called in to stand between Farage and the protesters who were armed with placards and banners.
It's thought Farage's schedule was thrown into disarray by the gang as his security team frantically tried to get him out.
His motor eventually met him at the back door beside the bins.
But a fan turned up as he was being led out. She shouted: 'Love you Nigel. Vote Reform.'
Farage then headed off to campaign in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

I created artwork for Edinburgh Summerhall – then they censored it
I created artwork for Edinburgh Summerhall – then they censored it

The National

time2 hours ago

  • The National

I created artwork for Edinburgh Summerhall – then they censored it

The weird apologia over Kate Forbes being "permitted" to express her point of view (whether one agrees with her or not) signals a seismic shift under the new regime of Summerhall Arts. If their stated objective is 'to provide a nurturing safe space for artistic experimentation' they certainly left me out in the cold. READ MORE: Edinburgh Fringe venue under fire for censoring artist's work As an artist/activist my work is known for its humanitarian stance, politically charged and purposefully provocative, engaging with subjects that are often complex and intractable. My protest walls were first commissioned in 2017 by Robert McDowell, the visionary creative force and founder of Summerhall who invited me to create giant pastel murals in one of its main thoroughfares originally as part of the Fringe Festival. It became, at his insistence, a permanent fixture. Initially inspired by Carole Cadwalladr's ground breaking investigative journalism focussing on her Observer piece "The Great British Brexit Robbery – How our democracy was Hijacked", I undertook my own research into big data and how it was being used to fine tune and influence political campaigns in favour of far-right populist movements Using imagery of screaming masks, representing protesting masses with words, slogans and names, the protest walls addressed the world's rude awakening to the surprise electoral success of both Trump and Brexit. One section dedicated to Trump I titled 'Pink Pussy Protest', a reference to his vulgar boast, adjacent to a separate section on Brexit. Jumping ahead Fast forward to 2025 in a world that has grown distinctly dark under the second coming of an emboldened Trump. By mutual consent the new regime at Summerhall Arts agreed that the protest walls were more apposite than ever and that I should alter and update them accordingly in time for the Fringe festival. For sure I took a risk emblazoning a Nazi swastika symbol set within a red stop sign motif. Yes its shocking, its disgusting, grotesque – its a terrifying reminder that Nazism in no matter what shape or guise must never be tolerated and yet perversely the word Nazi is becoming all too pervasive. It surfaces in daily news items, it's bandied about on social media platforms, it's being held on placards by protesters on streets across the globe, not in celebration, but instead in a bleak reference that Nazism is becoming a terrifying reality. While I was working on updating the mural, Sam Gough suddenly appeared, finger outstretched towards the offending symbol, and commanded 'You can't have that'. 'Why?' I asked incredulously. His response was reasonable. "Because it still hurts and offends people," he said. My intention was not to hurt but to make an impact, for this overloaded symbol of unadulterated evil to act as a warning of where we are heading, to stir our consciousness and wake us up. I agreed I would 'tone it down', but without further discussion I did not agree to remove it. I assumed that something that was clearly so important would be discussed further, and seen in context. But he didn't give me that opportunity. Completed on the Saturday night, somehow over Sunday the walls had caused offence to both staff and public. Clearly there was no 'safe room' in place for members of staff on this occasion, so a member of staff apparently felt obliged to take a sponge to eradicate not only the offending symbol but oddly other anti-Nazi references as well. A photo shows several parts of the art having been scrubbed out (Image: Jane Frere) Why I'm speaking up An artist's work on display in a public venue should be sacrosanct. What gallery would touch a work without discussion and consent from its creator? Not just censorship, it felt like my work had been vandalised. Both walls were a work in progress, but without the impact of what I now call the 'N' word, I still wanted to ensure maximum impact through words and references taken across all media reflecting the world we are facing. Over the following weeks multiple emails to the Summerhall Arts team followed. No matter what ideas or vocabularies I forwarded none were approved of. READ MORE: Police Scotland respond to viral 'plasticine' T-shirt detention video Paradoxically when I first saw the redacted blank spaces it sparked an idea, what if all the placards went dark? Perhaps there are no words for this dystopic reality of Musk's DOGE, Netanyahu's genocidal invoking of the Amalek, TikTok images of soldiers revelling in satanic revenge, Putin's war, the rise of empowered Neo-Nazism, migration detention centres guarded by hungry alligators, not to mention sci-fi fears of hostile super AI dominating homo sapiens – all against an apocalyptic backdrop of catastrophic climate and nature breakdown. Ultimately redacted words leaving a blank space reflect something that is affecting everyone – we are all losing our freedom of speech, we are all little by little being silenced. Jane Frere is a Scottish artist, living in the Highlands. She has been involved in the Edinburgh arts scene for more than 30 years. Her most recent exhibited work, a collaborative creation of a banner bearing the names of victims in Gaza was hung in the Palestine Museum US show alongside the Venice Biennale last year.

Treasury ‘looking at' new property taxes to replace stamp duty
Treasury ‘looking at' new property taxes to replace stamp duty

Glasgow Times

time2 hours ago

  • Glasgow Times

Treasury ‘looking at' new property taxes to replace stamp duty

Government officials are looking at a potential national property tax, which would replace stamp duty on owner-occupied homes, The Guardian reported. No final decision has been made, but it is thought this national tax could help build a model for local levies to replace council tax in the medium term. Buyers pay stamp duty under the existing framework, if they purchase property worth more than £125,000. The new levy would be paid by owner-occupiers on houses worth more than £500,000 when they sell their home, with the amount due determined by the value of the property and a rate set by the Government. A Treasury spokesperson said: 'As set out in the plan for change, the best way to strengthen public finances is by growing the economy – which is our focus. 'Changes to tax and spend policy are not the only ways of doing this, as seen with our planning reforms, which are expected to grow the economy by £6.8 billion and cut borrowing by £3.4 billion. 'We are committed to keeping taxes for working people as low as possible, which is why at last autumn's budget, we protected working people's payslips and kept our promise not to raise the basic, higher or additional rates of income tax, employee national insurance, or VAT.' Chancellor Rachel Reeves will unveil any changes to the Government's tax policy at a fiscal event, such as a budget. Former government adviser Tim Leunig has previously suggested replacing stamp duty land tax with a 'national proportional property tax' levied on house values greater than £500,000, in a paper published by the think tank Onward. At a rate of 0.54%, with a 0.278% supplement on values over £1 million, the levy 'would raise the same amount as stamp duty'. Sir Mel Stride, Conservative shadow chancellor, said: 'The Conservatives have warned that more taxes are coming and now reports are emerging that the family home is next in the firing line. 'This tax grab would punish families for aspiring to own their own home. 'Under Labour nothing is safe. Your home, your job, your pension – the Chancellor has all of it in her sights. 'Rachel Reeves will tax your future to pay for her failure.'

Edinburgh Fringe venue under fire for censoring artist's work
Edinburgh Fringe venue under fire for censoring artist's work

The National

time3 hours ago

  • The National

Edinburgh Fringe venue under fire for censoring artist's work

Summerhall bosses confirmed to The National that they "chose to remove" words and symbols from the artist's work after staff "deeply offended and distressed". Jane Frere, who lives in Drumnadrochit in the Highlands, was commissioned to create giant pastel murals for a main thoroughfare at Summerhall in the capital back in 2017. Initially inspired by Carole Cadwalladr's investigative journalism piece for The Observer, The Great British Brexit Robbery, Frere focused one 'protest wall' on Brexit and the other on Donald Trump. READ MORE: I created artwork for Edinburgh Summerhall – then they censored it Frere, 65, made updates to the walls in 2019 after Boris Johnson became prime minister and Steve Bannon created The Movement to promote right-wing populist groups in Europe. Following the return of Trump to office, Frere sought to update the Trump wall again back in May this year to reflect growing concern over the rise of the far-right, as she felt humanity was 'in its darkest hour'. She included anti-Nazi slogans in the update to the wall including a smudged swastika inside a stop sign and messages such as 'Stoppt Nazis' and 'I bite Nazis'. A photo shows several parts of the art having been scrubbed out (Image: Jane Frere) However, within 48 hours of her making the additions, they had been scrubbed out by Summerhall bosses, which Frere said happened without discussion. Frere told The National she felt the venue has shown 'baffling disrespect' towards her as an artist. Asked how she felt when the messages were removed, she said: "I felt a deep lack of respect for the work I have done over years in Summerhall, and a total lack of understanding. 'I did feel hurt. Nobody touches another artist's work, you just don't do that. 'If that happened to be behind glass, they wouldn't be able to deface it. If it was an oil painting, how would they have defaced that? You just don't touch another artist's work. 'I understand how provocative a swastika is, and I was willing to remove it completely after discussion. It was the lack of discussion that really got me and made me very angry.' She went on: 'They keep on going on about it being an inclusive and safe place. 'By providing a safe place for artists as well as the public that means respect for the artists. They have shown baffling disrespect towards me as an artist." READ MORE: Kate Forbes not barred from Summerhall, venue says Frere told The National concerns had been raised about the swastika image by Summerhall CEO Steve Gough when she was painting it, to which Frere offered to tone it down, though did not agree to remove it entirely. Within 48 hours, Gough sent an email to Frere – which has been seen by The National – saying he had come in to several complaints from staff and the public adding that the swastika and other references to Nazis had been removed. On the Trump wall there are other phrases such as 'love not hate', 'pussy bites back', 'keep Trump off our NHS' and 'fascism is not pretty'. Frere said it aims to capture 'the mood, the rage, the anxiety of the mass protest demonstrations that are taking place on the streets around the world today' – most notably around Trump, Palestine and the climate emergency. Asked about the message behind the stop sign with the swastika in it, Frere said: '[The message was] never again, and where the hell are we heading? 'Why do I feel so impassioned and so enraged and so personally terrified of where are at here in the first quarter of the 21st century? 'We are talking about the rise of neo-Nazism, at least those of us who are engaged politically. It comes up in so much media. It's also terrifying that with this second return of a new Trump era, the far-right groups now are coming out of the woodwork and my fear is that it won't be long before those swastikas will be seen on the streets of Germany and Austria and countries where it is a forbidden symbol. 'By putting it up there I'm flagging it up as a reminder of potentially where we are at and what's to come. The reason why I put up a symbol that's so provocative and so disturbing is to wake us up because the one thing that seems to be the enemy of us all is a kind of complacency – whether that's on the genocide in Gaza or the world that is on fire with our seeming indifference to catastrophic climate change.' Gough responded on Summerhall's behalf, confirming that the work had been altered. He said: "Whilst on site it came to our attention that symbolism, imagery and copy associated with hate crime had been included in her piece, in this very public space. It is not possible to apply content warning in this space and so we were presented with a situation where it was necessary to ask Jane to remove the sensitive content." Gough said while Frere edited the work, it was not changed enough to satisfy the venue. "The symbols were then left in situ over the weekend, during which time we received multiple complaints from both members of the public and staff who were deeply offended and distressed by the depictions of both a swastika and an SS boot with the term WEISS inscribed above it." He continued: "Upon arrival on the Monday morning to find that Jane had not in fact diminished the symbolism, and when presented with these multiple, concerning, complaints, we chose to remove the symbols and inform Jane of our actions, at which point Jane was given multiple opportunities to submit proposals to complete the artwork omitting the use of imagery, symbolism or copy associated with hate crime. Repeatedly, Jane submitted proposals with the inclusion of such depictions. "I must state that the use of symbolism, imagery and copy associated with hate crime in our public spaces, where no content warning may be applied is firmly against our polices and curatorial perspective. This has been repeatedly iterated to Jane." Summerhall said Frere is not restricted from applying for future commissions with the venue.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store