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Watch the European Parliament Boo Nigel Farage While He Defends the Brexit
The British politician who helped spearhead the Brexit campaign was booed relentlessly when he addressed the EU parliament on Tuesday.
If Boris Johnson has the British equivalent of Donald Trump’s hair, Nigel Farage proved Tuesday morning that he shares some aspects of the real estate mogul’s temperament.
Speaking on the floor of the European Parliament in Brussels, Farage — the conservative politician who helped to spearhead Britain’s departure from the European Union — insulted the government bloc while his fellow lawmakers booed and told him to sit down.
Farage accused his colleagues of never having done a “proper job” in their lives — let alone created one — and then told them they were angry over the Brexit vote because they “are in denial.”
“You, as a political project, are in denial,” he said. “You are in denial that your currency is failing.”
He went on to say that the United Kingdom voted last Thursday to leave the EU because “we want our fishing waters back. We want our borders back. And we want to be an independent, self-governing, normal nation, and that is what we have done and that is what must happen.”
Later, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker asked Farage and his fellow members of the United Kingdom Independence Party to explain why, if they were so intent on leaving the EU, they were present at the special parliamentary session at all. “You are fighting for the exit. The British people voted in favor of the exit,” he said. “Why are you here?”
And former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt accused Farage of using “Nazi propaganda” in a poster that used photos of refugees to urge Brits to vote in favor of the Brexit.
“Finally we are going to get rid of the biggest waste in the EU budget, which we have paid for 17 years, your salary!” he said to Farage.
Tuesday marked the EU parliament’s first debate on the subject of Britain’s departure from the EU since Thursday’s vote, and came just hours ahead of British Prime Minister David Cameron’s meeting with European leaders to discuss the timing of Britain’s unprecedented decision to leave the economic and political alliance.
Below, Foreign Policy has embedded video footage of Farage’s combative appearance on the floor:
Photo credit: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
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