NIGEL Farage has said he is the "antidote to the far-right" when challenged on plans for infiltration of Reform UK ahead of the Holyrood in 2026.
At a press conference in Broxburn, West Lothian, on Wednesday, where MSP Graham Simpson defected from the Tories to Reform UK, Farage was challenged on the proposed infiltration by far-right groups of the party.
Extreme far-right party Patriotic Alternative (PA) and Unity News Network (UNN) – one of the most popular sources of information for the far right in the UK, which is run by a Scot – signed a joint declaration in May encouraging supporters to support and infiltrate Farage’s party.
Farage was also questioned on recent dangerous rhetoric seen across Scotland and the UK at protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers.
On Wednesday, several phrases and chants seen and heard at protests in Falkirk and Perth this month were quoted to Farage, to which he responded he is the "antidote of the far-right."
"Kill them all, Keep Britain white, no black in the Union Jack. We're hearing this language more because of you. No?"
Farage responded: "No, you will hear less of it because of me. If I wasn't here, goodness knows where politics would have gone.
"There is no man alive in this country today who did more to destroy the BMP with their rise in 2006 to 2008 than me. If I hadn't been there, they would have reached much, much higher levels. I am the antidote to the far right and as you know, very, very well know.
"I have always, whichever political parties I've led, and this one in particular, I've always said no to people who I genuinely think come at this from a nasty hard right disposition.
"We are the antidote, the genuine antidote to those things, and I say that with great passion."
When pushed on reports of planned infiltration of Reform UK ahead of the Scottish parliament elections next year, the Reform UK leader said the party was vetting candidates and would find links to the far-right.
"Yeah, do you know what? If they have links like that, we check and we vet, and if we find they have got links like that and they've lied to us, they are out of the door before lunchtime."
Farage said the party had been interviewing "hundreds" of candidates for Holyrood "over the weekend".
In May, founder of PA Mark Collett, suggested Reform UK could be influenced from within.
“We suggest those who wish to stand as candidates do so covertly under the Reform banner,” he said.
“By existing on the edge of Reform and using our combined power to help change the outcome of elections, we can interact with Reform members and supporters – taking our message to them and pulling the Reform Party in our direction.
“We have seen massive shifts in the Overton Window in recent years, and we have already shifted the political discourse dramatically.”
