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Wow, Dreams Really Do Come True: Nigel Farage ‘Knighted’ By Child With Plastic Sword on RT

The Brexiteer couldn’t really get knighted, so he got the next best thing.

By , a diplomacy and national security reporter at Foreign Policy.
rt-nigel
rt-nigel

Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage couldn’t get elected member of UK parliament, so he became a member of European Parliament. He also couldn’t get knighted by the Queen of England, so he naturally opted for the next best thing: Being knighted by a young girl with a plastic sword on Russia-funded television network RT.

Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage couldn’t get elected member of UK parliament, so he became a member of European Parliament. He also couldn’t get knighted by the Queen of England, so he naturally opted for the next best thing: Being knighted by a young girl with a plastic sword on Russia-funded television network RT.

You can watch the heartwarming ceremony here:

The ceremony didn’t stop with the plastic sword, though. The RT host also told Farage he is now “honorary ambassador to the United States” and “honorary MP for South Thanet because they didn’t elect you for real.” (Farage had to resign as leader of the UK Independence Party — the party that drove Britain’s vote to leave the European Union — after he lost a parliamentary bid in South Thanet in 2015.)

After the deed was done, the camera panned to the young stand-in queen, who said, “my mummy says you hate foreigners.” Farage denied the claim, chuckling with the host. RT likes to have a good time, you see.

The faux knighthood may have been just the pick me up Farage needed. Maybe it’s because he hasn’t nabbed that lucrative book deal he wanted. Or he still remembers that time he tried to grow a mustache and debut it on RT. Or his public feud with the UKIP’s sole MP Douglas Carswell, who is reportedly in talks to ditch the party and rejoin the Conservatives bloc.

Carswell reportedly worked to block Farage from being awarded a real knighthood last month. Luckily the two are sorting out their quarrels like mature adults. On Twitter:

But Carswell’s sabotages didn’t stop the brave and upstanding journalists at RT — busy as they are “break[ing] the Anglo-Saxon monopoly on the global information streams” for their pal Vladimir Putin and interviewing B-list action star Steven Seagal as he informs viewers of how the “Obama regime” is “very good at controlling media” — from stepping in.

This will definitely go down as one of the top two proudest moments in RT’s history. The other, of course, is Russian President Vladimir Putin’s captivating rendition of “Blueberry Hill” complete with a piano solo.

Photo credit: RT UK/Sam Delaney’s News Things/Youtube

Robbie Gramer is a diplomacy and national security reporter at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @RobbieGramer

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