Farage's screeching u-turn on Ukraine

Are splits emerging over Ukraine on the Reformite right? Nigel Farage appears to have performed a screeching u-turn, suddenly backing the country’s bid to join Nato.

“I don’t want to pre-judge how these negotiations go, but I would have thought that if we can get Putin into a place, and Zelensky into a place, where we have a reasonable negotiation, I would have thought looking ahead, it’s probably essential that Ukraine joins Nato,” riffed the Reform leader at a London press conference yesterday.

It’s a Damascene conversion for Farage, who as recently as last year was claiming the alliance provoked Russia into its invasion, saying Nato had given Vladimir Putin a “reason” to tell the Russian people “they’re coming for us again”. Two years prior to that he had claimed the invasion was “a consequence of EU and Nato expansion”. In 2014 he had named Putin as the world leader he most admired.

It puts him at odds with pal Donald Trump, who just last night said he was willing to accept Russia’s longstanding objection to Ukraine joining Nato, saying: “They’ve been saying that for a long time, that Ukraine cannot go into Nato, and I’m OK with that.” It further divides him from one-time buddy Elon Musk, who has used his social media hellsite X to share content claiming that Nato, rather than Russian aggression, provoked the war.

And it has even riled Farage’s own fanboys online, who tend to side with despots rather than pesky international alliances. “I wonder how much Nigel Farage has been paid by the EU”, “Nato basically started a war for Blackrock and the WEF deep state” and “FARAGE SAYING UKRINE MUST JOIN NATO !!!! MUST THEY HECK !!!!!” are among the more sensible contributions from Reform-supporting accounts with flags in their bios and lots of numbers in their names.

How Farage must miss the old days when, rather than dabbling in geopolitics, his Ukip was demanding uniforms for taxi drivers and making London’s Circle Line circular again!