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An Audience With … Nigel Farage features a stage with only a table, a chair, and a bottle of wine as props. Farage thinks it will give him a chance to “explain who I am” and, crucially, to “reach a new audience”. … “We need a much more muscular defense of our Judeo-Christian heritage. Yes, we’re open to different cultures, but we have to defend our values. That’s the message I want to hear from the Archbishop of Canterbury and from our politicians. Anything less is appeasement of the worst kind.” Yet he speaks not as a defender of the...

The often stale British political system is being rocked by its very own Tea Party. The UK Independence Party (UKIP), formed in 1993 opposing Britain’s entry into the European Union, failed to make an electoral dent for a long time. However UKIP has built up steam in recent years and is spearheading a seismic shift in the British political spectrum. In this year’s local elections – the British version of midterms -- UKIP took a stunning 23 percent of the vote, up from the 3.1 percent they won in the 2010 national election. Their leader, Nigel Farage, is buoyed by...

The often stale British political system is being rocked by its very own Tea Party. The UK Independence Party (UKIP), formed in 1993 opposing Britain’s entry into the European Union, failed to make an electoral dent for a long time. However UKIP has built up steam in recent years and is spearheading a seismic shift in the British political spectrum. In this year’s local elections – the British version of midterms -- UKIP took a stunning 23 percent of the vote, up from the 3.1 percent they won in the 2010 national election. Their leader, Nigel Farage, is buoyed by...

Nick Clegg accused Nigel Farage of peddling "dangerous fantasies" in an ill-tempered BBC TV debate on Britain's future in Europe. Mr. Farage accused the Lib Dem leader of "willfully lying to the British people about Brussels' grip on UK laws. He also claimed EU immigration had hit the "white working class" the hardest. Instant polls said Mr. Farage had won by a bigger margin than he did in their debate last week.... The UKIP leader accused the Lib Den leader of being "hell bent on getting Britain involved in a war.... He said he did not want Britain to be...

Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage are set to debate the UK's place in the European Union live on radio. The deputy PM, who says his Liberal Democrats are the "party of in", challenged the UKIP leader, who wants the UK to leave the EU, to a debate in the run-up to the European elections. Mr Clegg argues that even threatening to leave the EU threatens British jobs. Mr Farage believes EU membership is "the most important issue this country has faced for hundreds of years". Following negotiations between the two party leaders and broadcasters, two one-hour debates have been arranged....

Ukip is to drop its opposition to gay marriage, party leader Nigel Farage revealed today. The move risks angering disaffected Tories who switched to Ukip after same sex weddings were legalised by the coalition, but Mr Farage insisted: ‘We have absolutely no problem with anybody.’ He said that as part of a review of Ukip’s manifesto, which he has dismissed as ‘drivel’, he would not campaign for gay weddings to be banned. Ukip previously said civil partnerships were a ‘common sense’ way for gay and lesbian couples to register their commitment ‘in a formal way’. But it warned: Gay marriage...

The UK Independence Party is on course to win the largest share of the vote in May's European Elections, according to a new poll. The party is currently on 30 percent, with Labour in second place on 28. The ComRes poll for the Independent on Sunday, which bases its European voting figures on the 38 percent of respondents who said they are "absolutely certain" to vote, is the first poll for some time to ask a question specifically about the European elections. The Conservatives, who maintain that they are the only party who can offer a referendum on the EU,...

ITV has been ordered to treat UKIP as a “major party” in the run-up to the European Parliament elections in May. In a landmark ruling, broadcasting regulator Ofcom last night said the anti-EU party’s success in previous Euro elections meant it should be put on a par with the other main parties. ITV and Channel 5, which are regulated by Ofcom, were ordered to grant UKIP “major party status” in the run-up to May’s elections, guaranteeing it increased coverage. …

Nigel Farage yesterday said he felt “awkward” when he could hear no English being spoken while on a train from London to Kent. The UKIP leader described how he was on his way home when he went several stops without hearing his native tongue. His comments followed a provocative speech in which he claimed some areas of Britain are being “taken over” by migrants, while others have become “frankly unrecognizable”. They came a day after figures showed a significant rise in net migration. …

Mass immigration has left Britain an "unrecognisable" country that many people would not want to leave to their children and grandchildren, Nigel Farage has said. In one of his strongest attacks on immigration policy, he said the arrival of migrants has some British people feeling that parts of the country are now alien to them. The UK Independence Party leader said parts of the country had been "taken over" by foreigners and told how he caught a recent commuter train from London to Kent and had to wait for several stops before he heard English being spoken.

Nigel Farage and Deputy Prime Minister Represent Opposite Ends of In/Out Argument LONDON— Nigel Farage, the leader of the small United Kingdom Independence Party, on Friday accepted a challenge from Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to debate Britain's membership of the European Union, paving the way for the most ardent advocates of each side of the in/out argument to lock horns. Britain's future in the EU has become an increasingly open question after Prime Minister David Cameron pledged that if he wins a second term next year he will renegotiate Britain's ties with the bloc and then hold a national...

Ahead of May’s European Parliament election, with issues such as the economy and immigration to the fore, none of Britain’s three main parties are stealing a march on their rivals. The co-governing, right-of-center Conservative Party, also known as the Tories, led by Prime Minister David Cameron, is struggling. What remains of its traditional support base, including some MPs, often seems opposed to the modernizing, socially-liberal direction of its leadership. […] But viewing the UK's party-political landscape solely in terms of the traditional duopoly (plus the Lib Dems) misses the big political story, and what is likely to be the major...

EU policies ranging from the single market and trade, to culture and transport, are good for the UK, according to a series of government reports on the balance of power between London and Brussels. The findings are contained in eight reports published on Thursday (13 February), which form the second batch of the UK’s “Balance of Competences” review, comprising more than 30 separate studies by a range of government departments. […] Euroskeptics are already unhappy the reports published so far have all offered qualified support for the way that Brussels is using its powers. “The whole review has been commandeered...

The debate surrounding our membership of the EU is framed in abstract terms. Phrases such as “comitology”, “modality”, “subsidiarity”, “externalization“, “planification” and “modality” bamboozle and confuse. They mean little to anyone who lives in the real world. But, as a series of revelations during the past week have proven… there’s a reason for that. Firstly we had the EU’s Habitat Directive rear its head. A railway line in England collapsed into the sea as a result of poor weather. However, it couldn't be repaired until an ‘environmental impact assessment’ upon the local bird population was first completed.Next, it was the...

The incalculable damage that mass immigration from the third world has inflicted upon the United Kingdom is a subject that we’ve explored at length on American Rattlesnake. Although the ritualistic murder and dismemberment of Drummer Lee Rigby is the most notorious recent illustration of how this phenomenon has adversely impacted native Britons, there are many, many more such tragic examples that bear scrutiny. The most tragic loss experienced by those living there, of course, is the forfeiture of the right to discuss this issue in an honest and frank manner. One need only point to those critics of Islam and...

A Thanet man has been charged and released on bail following an assault on UKIP party leader Nigel Farage with a placard. Andrew Scott, 37, from Ramsgate Road, Margate, was charged with assault by beating, after Mr Farage was allegedly attacked as he entered a hotel in Cliftonville at around 3pm yesterday. Unemployed Scott was released on conditional bail, to appear at Margate Magistrates' Court on March 3. As a condition to his bail he must not attend any political event of any political party, either in protest or support of the party in question. It comes after the South...

The latest Opinium/Observer poll published on Sunday (19 January) suggested 52% of the British public aged over 18 would vote to leave the EU tomorrow, a small increase since last November when 50% said they would vote to leave. Sunday’s poll, carried out by Comres for the Independent on Sunday newspaper, also suggests the anti-EU and anti-immigration policies of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) remain popular, even though Cameron has already deployed tougher rhetoric on both issues. […] The poll came as UKIP was battling to restore party discipline after one of its local councillors in England caused it embarrassment...

The often stale British political system is being rocked by its very own Tea Party. The UK Independence Party (UKIP), formed in 1993 opposing Britain’s entry into the European Union, failed to make an electoral dent for a long time. Their leader, Nigel Farage, is buoyed by their recent success. “We want to take back our country, we want to take back our government, and we want to take back our birthright,” Farage told FoxNews.com in forthright language rarely seen in British politics.Capitalizing on dissatisfaction with the Conservative Party’s shift to the center under current Prime Minister David Cameron. Cameron...

Could this be the moment UKIP establishes itself as a political force to be reckoned with? A rap video posted on YouTube yesterday suggests to viewers that the right wing party represents a viable alternative to the Conservatives. The rapper, who comes complete with a gold chain, trilby hat and tattoos, assures his listeners that UKIP's surge in popularity "ain't no mirage". He goes on to tell the audience: "Vote UKIP for the real change... Party for the nation you may think's changed. The Conservative party and Labour party became identical, come check the flow..." The rapper can be seen...

The UK Independence Party will receive a multi-million pound boost before next year’s European elections after winning support from one of Britain’s wealthiest businessmen. Paul Sykes, a self-made tycoon and veteran of the campaign to keep the pound 15 years ago, has promised to do “whatever it takes” to help Ukip top the polls in May. His move deals a big blow to the Conservatives as they fight to contain Nigel Farage’s party. Mr Sykes supported the Tories under Margaret Thatcher and Michael Howard, but has backed Ukip in the past, giving the party £1.5 million in 2004. His latest investment...