Nigel Farage has had his taxpayer-funded security slashed, according to Reform UK, forcing party donors to step in.
Zia Yusuf, Reform’s head of policy, said the parliamentary security department has cut the ex-Ukip leader’s protection by three-quarters in the last two weeks for “inexplicable reasons”.
The row erupted just hours after Mr Farage claimed Keir Starmer had “incited violence” by describing a Reform policy as “racist”.
Mr Yusuf told Times Radio: “Two weeks ago, the authorities cut Nigel’s security detail by 75 per cent, and then we have seen the most extraordinary 48 hours of demonisation, and I’m going to say it again, incitement to violence against the man who is the bookmakers’ favourite to be the next prime minister.”
He said donors had stepped up to cover.
He said: “The claim I’m making is exactly what has happened, which is that it is the parliamentary security department that is responsible for security in both houses that frankly for what I can tell, for inexplicable reasons, has decided to materially downgrade Nigel Farage’s security. Those are the facts of the matter.”
It comes after David Lammy claimed Mr Farage “flirted with Hitler Youth”, which Mr Yusuf said made the situation with his security “even worse”.
The deputy prime minister’s comments appeared to reference allegations that emerged in 2013 that Mr Farage had sung Nazi songs as a teenager, which he denied at the time.
On Sunday, as he kicked off his party’s annual conference in Liverpool, Sir Keir Starmer described Reform’s policy to scrap indefinite leave to remain as “racist” and “immoral”.
Before he was elected to Westminster, the Reform UK leader famously asked: “Do I want to be an MP? Do I want to spend every Friday for the next five years in Clacton?”
It is not the first time Mr Farage has been in dispute with the body, having previously claimed it advised him not to hold in-person advice surgeries for his constituents. It has denied this.
Last September, he said he was told not to hold face-to-face meetings with voters, traditionally held on the last day of the week, in his seat for safety reasons.
But parliament’s security services disputed that he was given that advice, which would interfere with his democratic duties as an MP.
At the time, he also suggested that he was at risk of being killed.
“Do I have an office in Clacton? Yes. Am I allowing the public to flow through the door with their knives in their pockets? No, no I’m not,” he said.
A House of Commons spokesperson said: “The ability of members and their staff to perform their parliamentary duties safely, both on and off the estate, is fundamental to our democracy.
“Any assessment of an individual MP’s security arrangements or advice is subject to a rigorous risk-based assessment, conducted by security professionals and with input from a range of professional authorities.
“Whilst these are naturally kept under continuous review, we do not comment on specific details so as not to compromise the safety of MPs, parliamentary staff or members of the public.”
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