Nigel Farage says plane tickets to US worth £30,000 are ‘not really gifts’ --[Reported by Umva mag]

The Reform leader mocked PM Keir Starmer over his acceptance of gifts during a speech at the party conference.

Sep 20, 2024 - 20:12

Nigel Farage says plane tickets to US worth £30,000 are ‘not really gifts’ --[Reported by Umva mag]

Nigel Farage following his speech at the Reform UK National Conference in Birmingham — Nigel Farage made a quip about Keir Starmer accepting gifts of glasses during his speech (Picture: EPA)

Nigel Farage has dismissed questions over the £30,000 worth of plane tickets to the US he has received from friends, saying they are ‘not really gifts’.

The Reform UK leader poked fun at Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s taste for freebies during his climactic speech at the party’s conference near Birmingham today.

Taking out a pair of glasses from his pocket, he told the crowd they were ‘very expensive, but I bought them myself’.

Starmer accepted multiple pairs of glasses bought for him by Labour peer Lord Waheed Alli ahead of the General Election in July, worth a total of £2,485.

The Register of Members’ Interests, which lists gifts officially declared by MPs, shows Alli also gave the then-leader of the opposition work clothing worth £16,200.

But the same register shows Farage accepted gifts of plane tickets to the US for himself and a staffer, worth a total of £32,836.

When asked about the tickets after his speech, he said: ‘They’re not really gifts, are they?

‘I had a friend going to America, I hopped on the plane. Is that a gift?’

The Clacton MP states in the register that the reason for his visit was ‘to support a friend who was almost killed and to represent Clacton on the world stage.’

Keir Starmer wearing glasses. — Keir Starmer has come under fire for his acceptance of gifts as leader of the opposition and PM (Picture: Justin Tallis/WPA Pool/Getty Images)

He flew out four days after Donald Trump was wounded in an assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally, though it is unclear if he actually met with the presidential candidate during his time in the country.

In an interview with LBC yesterday, Farage defended Trump’s inflammatory claims that Haitian immigrants were eating family pets in the Ohio city of Springfield, which came up during the Republican’s recent debate against Kamala Harris.

No evidence has been produced to support the claim and officials in the city have denied that any such incidents have been reported.

Asked if politicians have a responsibility to fact-check, Farage told Metro.co.uk: ‘Every time Trump says something that seems to be outrageous, in the end it proves to be true.’

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