Monty Python's Eric Idle says Nigel Farage being ‘taken seriously is appalling'
The 82-year-old comedian told the PA news agency he had now applied for a talent visa in France, where he has a home, in the hope it will help him avoid a similar issue happening again.
Advertisement
Claiming Brexit rules limited his options, he told PA: 'Eight years ago, we could go and live in any country in Europe we wanted to and work, and I wasn't even allowed to vote (in the EU referendum) because I lived here (in the US).
'I mean, (Brexit) was just a terrible con, it was a real con, and (the fact) that Nigel Farago (Farage) still exists anywhere and is taken seriously is appalling to me.
'I was with somebody… she said, 'I hope I never see him in a room, because I want to punch him'.'
Idle said he was only able to spend three months a year at the home he built in Provence as a result of Brexit, in a recent interview with The Guardian.
Advertisement
He told PA: 'I've applied for a talent visa in France, they have a little talent visa, and I feel I'm due one, because last year Spamalot won the Moliere, which is the equivalent of their Tony from Paris.
'And they love their Monty Python here (in France), we won that, we won the Jury Prize for The Meaning Of Life at the Cannes Film Festival, so they do know Python.
Eric Idle will head out on a UK tour in September (Eric Idle/Note by Note Media)
'So I'm hopeful that I'll get a little bit of an extension so I don't have to get kicked out, because I was kicked out two years ago, I had to leave, and I couldn't go and see the opening in Paris because I didn't have another day.
'I wrote to Monsieur Macron, and offered him a ticket if he'd let me in, and I said, 'only one ticket, because I don't want to be accused of bribery', but I never heard back.'
Advertisement
Spamalot is the stage adaptation of the Monty Python film Holy Grail (1975), which has previously seen acclaimed productions on Broadway and London's West End.
Idle now lives in Los Angeles in the US and thinks he could also be made to leave that country if he jokes about US President Donald Trump.
He said: 'I think it's quite likely – I'm only a green card holder – that I will be given the boot.'
The comedian will return to the UK in September for a solo tour, which will see him perform at venues including London's Royal Albert Hall, Birmingham Symphony Hall and Glasgow's Armadillo.
Advertisement
He is best known for his appearances in the Monty Python's Flying Circus TV series alongside Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam, and its spin-off films Holy Grail, Life Of Brian (1979) and The Meaning Of Life (1983).
Idle also created The Rutles with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band's Neil Innes, a parody band of The Beatles, which featured in two mockumentaries in All You Need Is Cash (1978) and The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch (2003).
Mr Farage's Reform UK party have been contacted for comment.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
8 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Former Bachelorette Hannah Brown spares no expense on 'timeless' wedding to Adam Woolard in France
From reality TV heartbreak to a French fairytale ending, Hannah Brown finally got her happily ever after. After navigating a whirlwind journey of public romances, including her broken engagement to Jed Wyatt on The Bachelorette, the Alabama native, 30, has officially traded in her final rose for a wedding ring. On Saturday, July 26, Brown, said 'I do' to Adam Woolard, 38, during a romantic ceremony on the French Riviera after four years of dating. The reality star married her real-life leading man at the Domaine du Mont Leuze in the South of France, surrounded by 101 guests and sweeping views of the coast. 'We wanted something really timeless and classic, and really just the celebration of our love with our friends and family,' she told People. Longtime fans of the popular TV personality know her road to love wasn't exactly smooth. Brown first captured hearts in 2019 as a contestant on The Bachelor, then became the lead on The Bachelorette, where she famously accepted — and quickly called off — an engagement to Wyatt. After that, she had a brief post-show spark with runner-up Tyler Cameron and a short-lived reunion with Peter Weber while his Bachelor season was airing. But it wasn't until she left the behind looking for love on TV and joined a dating app that she met Woolard, and found a very real connection. Their wedding weekend kicked off with a beachside welcome party at Le Negresco Beach Club in Nice, where guests arrived dressed to the nines in 'beach chic' attire and were treated to a four-course meal by the sea. Despite her busy schedule, Brown was all in on making the wedding personal, romantic, and full of intention. She praised Woolard for being a hands-on groom and wedding planner Neillie Butler for bringing the vision to life. 'We want our community to feel loved and appreciated and we want to pour into them, but we also have to make sure the day's about us and we feel connected,' Brown explained. That emotional connection was front and center when the couple shared a private first look the morning of the wedding. During the ceremony, guests were serenaded by a string quartet performing The Beatles' Here Comes the Sun, and the bridal party, including Brown's Bachelor bestie Heather Martin, walked down the aisle in colorful Show Me Your Mumu dresses. Brown made a grand entrance in a custom Mira Zwillinger 'Cheyan' ballgown — complete with embroidered leaf detailing, Jimmy Choo pumps, and a cathedral-length veil. 'I feel like it is so classic, timeless, but also feels a little unique. I love it,' she gushed. 'I always knew I wanted to take up space on my wedding day… I feel like a princess, and I feel like that's exactly how you should feel on your wedding day.' Woolard, emotional as he watched her walk down the aisle, said he'd pictured the moment for years. 'Seeing Hannah walk down... is something that I've always had a very clear picture of and how I would feel in that moment,' he said. The ceremony, officiated by their Nashville pastor, included traditional vows, plus personal handwritten ones. Cocktail hour featured live piano music and signature cocktails like the Pretty Lavender and French 75, followed by a multi-course French feast. 'One thing my mom was really adamant about is that I had a traditional wedding cake,' Brown said. Later, Brown changed into a second look, the 'Bayne' dress from Mark Ingram Bride's Spring 2025 Collection, for the reception. The couple shared a 'lightly choreographed' first dance to Ray LaMontagne's You Are the Best Thing, a song Brown sent Woolard early in their relationship. 'It reminds me of when we really had started to be boyfriend and girlfriend,' she said. 'And I think now more than ever, all the lyrics are really true.' After dancing the night away, the newlyweds made a stylish exit in a vintage 1984 Mercedes-Benz Gazelle, with Brown donning a flirty Zimmermann departure dress. After marking their latest relationship milestone, Brown and Woolard are looking forward to settling into married life in Nashville and honeymooning in Croatia. 'We're really focusing on making this house a home together,' Brown said. 'Spending time with our families and just having a little bit of a slower pace for just a little bit.' Earlier this year, Brown admitted she's not in a rush to have children. 'We'll, get there when we get there,' she said in May on Maria Menounos' Heal Squad podcast. 'I go back and forth.' She continued: 'I definitely think I would like to have a child. I don't want to miss out on that experience, but I haven't been quite ready yet. Which I think makes sense. I want to get married first. I want to be able to do that. I've never been somebody that's just waiting waiting waiting for that to happen.'
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
New polling shows Reform is winning over Britain's Christians
When we look at how people vote in elections and why they choose certain parties, analysis often focuses on age, education, location or socioeconomic status. Less discussed in Britain is religion. But close to two-thirds of its adults are still religious – expressing either a religious identity, holding religious beliefs, or taking part in religious activities. For the one-in-three adults in Britain who are Christian, this identity remains an important influence on their political behaviour. New polling, published here for the first time, shows how Reform UK is disrupting our previous understanding of how Christians vote in British elections. The relationship between Britain's Christian communities and the major political parties goes back centuries. The Conservative party has been very close to English Anglicanism since its emergence in the mid-19th century. Catholics and free-church Protestants (such as Baptists and Methodists) have tended towards the Labour and Liberal/Liberal Democrat parties. Even as Britain has become more secular, these relationships have persisted. Anglicans, for example, have tended to vote Conservative even when the party was in dire straits. In the 2024 election, 39% of Anglicans voted Tory even as the party's national vote share fell to 24%. Since the 1980s and particularly in elections since 2015, however, we have started to see changes to the Christian vote. The traditional Catholic attachment to Labour has deteriorated, as has Labour's appeal to other Christian communities such as Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians. Instead, driven by the rising salience of social values (attitudes towards immigration, social change and national identity) as a determinant of political support, the socially conservative leanings of some Christians of all stripes has led to increased support for the Conservatives. And those who traditionally did so – the Anglicans – have become even more supportive. The result has been a steady coalescing of the Christian vote behind the Conservatives. But now, new polling by YouGov (on June 23-24 2025) for the University of Exeter reveals that this realignment is being disrupted by the growing popularity of Reform UK. Instead of asking who people would vote for tomorrow, a nationally representative sample of 2,284 adults was asked how likely they were to ever vote for each major party, on a scale from zero (very unlikely) to ten (very likely). While not the same as a direct question about how someone would vote in an election, the likelihood question provides a much richer measure of the strength of their support for all of the major parties. Among Anglicans, Labour remains deeply unpopular: over half gave the party a 0. In contrast, the Conservatives still enjoy strong support among Anglicans, with 35% giving them a vote likelihood of seven or higher – the kind of support associated with voting for the party in an election. Reform, however, has caught up. Despite only 15% of Anglicans voting Reform in 2024, 38% now rate their likelihood of voting for the party as high. That's the same as the proportion who are strongly opposed to Reform – showing that while the party polarises Anglicans more than the Conservatives, Reform could win as much Anglican support as the Tories in an election. Catholics show a similar trend. Labour's traditional support is eroding: 40% of Catholics said they had zero likelihood of voting Labour, while 29% are strong supporters. As with Conservatives for the Anglican vote, Reform is almost level-pegging with Labour for the Catholic vote at 28%. It has even supplanted the Conservatives, of whom 22% of Catholics are strong supporters. It is not yet clear why this is happening. The distinction of Christian (and non-Christian) voting patterns is not an artefact of age – there are many studies that prove this is the case. It may be that Reform's stances on issues such as immigration resonate with Christians' concerns to the extent that they are willing to set aside their historic party loyalties. Or it may be that Christians are as prone as other British voters to turn to Reform out of frustration with the performances of Labour and the Conservatives in office. Swing voters and party competition This data also shows the extent to which voters' support for parties overlaps or is exclusive. In other words, which voters have a high vote likelihood for only one party (and so are likely committed to backing that party in an election), which do not have such high likelihoods for any party (and so will probably not vote at all), and which have similarly high likelihoods for more than one party (effectively swing voters, persuadable one way or the other). Among the religiously unaffiliated, 29% aren't strong supporters of any party. For Catholics, it's 26%. Anglicans are more politically anchored, however, with only 20% in this category. While traditionally, we would have expected this to reflect Anglicans' greater tendency to support the Tories, only 17% of Anglicans are strong supporters of only that party, compared with 21% who are firmly behind Reform. These aren't swing voters; they've switched sides. A further 12% of Anglicans have high vote likelihoods for both the Tories and Reform. These are swing voters that the two parties could realistically expect to win over. Catholics are even more fragmented. Only 13% are strong supporters of Labour alone, along with 12% and 17% who are strong supporters of the Conservatives and Reform alone, respectively. Few Catholics are torn between Labour and the other parties, but 5% are swing voters between the Conservatives and Reform: the Tories' gradual winning over of Catholics over the last 50 years is also being challenged by the appeal of Reform. The party has provided a socially conservative alternative to the Conservatives, with the result that the Christian vote has become more fragmented. The Tories are no longer the main beneficiaries of Labour's loss of its traditional Catholic vote. In addition, Reform is as popular as the Conservatives among Anglicans, and as popular as Labour among Catholics. This suggests it is appealing across the traditional denominational divide more successfully than either of the major parties. If there is to be a single party that attracts the bulk of Britain's Christian support, at this point it is far more likely to be Reform than anyone else.
The Herald Scotland
3 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Bus firm owned by former Rangers directors doubles profits
We revealed this week that McGill's, the 'largest independent bus firm in the UK', posted that the earnings rise was partly down to acquisitions. James and Sandy Easdale. (Image: Jeff Holmes/JSHPIX) The Greenock-based firm owned by billionaire brothers Sandy and James Easdale put forward results covering a 'wide and diverse portfolio'. The firm said: 'McGill's Bus Group is Britain's largest independently owned bus company and a pioneer in fleet decarbonisation, with over 110 zero emission electric buses.' Read the full exclusive story here ANALYSIS 📈 Why the case for a 'Scottish visa' just got stronger Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is sticking to his red lines on Brexit. (Image: PA) At times like these the dogmatic nature of politics must really frustrate people in business. While Sir Keir Starmer sticks to his Government's red lines on Europe – meaning there will be no return to the single market, no re-joining the customs union and no freedom of movement under his watch – the UK's economic prospects will continue to be constrained. This includes in Scotland, which of course voted resoundingly to remain in the European Union in the referendum of 2016, and has been living with the consequences since. But how long can the current state of affairs continue? Starmer has so far resisted calls from the Scottish Government to introduce a "Scottish visa" to help the country deal with the labour shortages it faces, but the issue is simply not going away. Read Scott Wright's analysis here SERIES: THE BARRAS REBORN 🍽️ How The Barras stealthily became Glasgow's most exciting foodie destination The Barras has slowly but surely evolved into one of the city's most exciting foodie destinations. (Image: Newsquest) Whelks, mussels and white sugar-coated doughnuts might well be what first come to mind when you picture food from The Barras Market in Glasgow. None of the above is wrong, with the Loch Fyne Shellfish Bar on London Road celebrating 65 years in business and Danny's Donuts still firing up their fryers every weekend. But elsewhere, thanks to a team who have invested time and effort into curating a line-up of street food vendors unlike any other, The Barras has slowly but surely evolved into one of the city's most exciting foodie destinations. As part of our Barras Reborn series, The Herald sat down with market manager Chris Butler to discuss the influx of independent culinary talent now based in the East End and how this contributes to the shifting identity of a 104-year-old cultural landmark. Read Sarah Campbell's article here AROUND THE GREENS ⛳ Coming soon to a club near you: Golf vending machines A mock-up of what the proposed vending machines might look like (Image: Newsquest) This article appears as part of Kristy Dorsey's Around the Greens series Officials at discount retailer Affordable Golf are sizing up plans to roll out vending machines at clubs across Scotland selling items such as balls and gloves to players who might otherwise be caught short.
