Nigel Farage under pressure to distance himself from 'racist' Ant Middleton rant

Daily Mirror

21 hours ago

Ant Middleton - who has been close with Nigel Farage and posed with him ahead of Donald Trump's inauguration in Washington - said first, second and third generation immigrants should be banned from top government jobs
Pressure is mounting on Nigel Farage to distance himself from TV hardman Ant Middleton after he was accused of "overt racism".
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The former soldier sparked an outcry after claiming that first, second and third generation immigrants should be barred from "top tier government positions". Middleton - who gave a speech at last year's Reform conference and has been linked with a mayoral run for the party - was pictured smiling with Mr Farage and treasurer Nick Candy in Washington DC ahead of Donald Trump's inauguration in January.
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The ex-SAS: Who Dares Wins host has said he will stand to be London mayor - and claimed to be "very much aligned" with Reform. Mr Farage now faces calls to clarify if he condones the remarks by Middleton or cut ties with him. It comes after a Nigel Farage watchdog probe was revealed to centres on a mysterious fishing boat.
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In an outburst on Twitter /X, the former Special Forces commando wrote: "Our Capital City of our Christian country needs to be run by a native Brit with generational Christian values, principles and morals coursing through their veins from which our very society was built, thrived and was forged upon."
By Middleton's criteria, Winston Churchill, whose mother was born in Brooklyn, Boris Johnson and King Charles would not qualify for high office.
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Tory MP Ben Obese-Jecty responded on Twitter: "This level of overt racism shows who he really is once he lets the mask slip." He told The Mirror: 'After his starring role as a leading speaker at the Reform party conference last year, Ant Middleton's campaign to be the Mayor of London is increasingly being characterised with dangerous rhetoric that stokes division.
"Given his prison sentence for assaulting a police officer and ban from being a company director over £1m in unpaid taxes he shouldn't even pass Reform's vetting process. With Nigel Farage claiming to be tough on crime he should clarify whether he supports the views of his likely candidate to be mayor of our capital; a man who doesn't even live in the country, let alone London.'
A Labour Party spokeswoman said: 'These racist comments are completely unacceptable and have no place in our politics or our society. Nigel Farage has shared appearances at Reform UK events with Ant Middleton, but is yet to distance himself from these remarks or clarify whether he condones them.
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"Farage must urgently confirm that Reform UK will immediately cut all ties with Middleton.' Dubai-based Middleton, who was jailed in 2013 for wounding a male police officer and assaulting a female PC, vowed that if he becomes Mayor he will "prioritise the indigenous people" above all.
In June he claimed rumours that Mr Farage was looking elsewhere for a candidate were "incorrect". He said: "We are still very much aligned and no such drifting away has happened.
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"However I have always voiced an option to run independently which may have been a cause of certain rumours!" He was loudly applauded at Reform's conference in Birmingham last September, when he was presented as an expert in security.
Middleton told the audience: 'We are at a very, very important and crucial stage before it teeters into civil unrest, which we want to avoid at all costs, but it's coming. We're on that edge where violence has hit the streets, we've all seen it, I don't need to mention what it is, we've all seen it.'
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And voicing his support for the party he said: "I know enough about modern day politics to realise that it's not working here in the UK. Hence, the solution is in the title Reform."
Last year Mr Farage posted a photo of himself alongside Middleton, who he described as "the big man". And he was snapped alongside Mr Farage and billionaire property tycoon Mr Candy with the White House in the background in January.
The TV host was a controversial figure long before his appearance at the event in Birmingham. He was dropped by Channel 4 in March 2021 after tweeting about the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.
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He moved to Dubai, telling GB News last year that people in the UK are "just stuck in a rut". In 2012 he body-slammed PC Christopher Brooksbank outside a nightclub and assaulted PC Katherine Alison.
He was given a 14-month jail sentence the following year. He told The Mirror in 2015: "I was shocked by how I acted. I'm very ashamed of it, hence why I've put it behind me."
And he said he had written to both officers to apologise. But he now claims he "never laid a finger on a woman".
In March Middleton was banned from being a company director after his firm Sway and Starting failed to pay over £1million in tax. The Insolvency Service said he and wife Emilie were "taking millions of pounds out of" the company when they should have been paying tax.
Sway and Starting, which provided media representation services, went into liquidation in 2022. At the time it owed £300,000 in VAT and £800,000 in corporation tax.