Yahoo News Nigel Farage delivers surprise speech at Donald Trump rally in Arizona
Nigel Farage, the Brexit Party leader, has delivered a surprise speech at a Donald Trump rally where he called the US president the “most resilient and bravest person I have ever met in my life”.
Standing next to Mr Trump in the blazing sun at Goodyear, Arizona, Mr Farage said that a vote for the president this election would be a vote for “decency”, “plain speaking” and a cut in taxes.
The thousands of Trump supporters present responded with cheers and Mr Trump thanked Mr Farage for his speech afterwards, saying he was "glad" he called on the British politician.
However critics will question Mr Farage’s decision to intervene so explicitly in the US election, less than a week away, given the convention of foreign politicians not getting involved in campaigns.
The three-minute address follows a similar speech Mr Farage, the former UK Independence Party leader, gave during Mr Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
He had given that address shortly after Britain voted to leave the European Union. It helped cement a newly forged friendship, with Mr Trump dubbing him “Mr Brexit”.
During Wednesday afternoon’s rally Mr Trump went further, appearing to refer to Mr Farage as “King of Europe” as he discussed politicians present, though not mentioning him by name.
Later Mr Trump ushered Mr Farage, who was watching the rally without a face mask from the front row of the crowd, onto the stage.
"He’s a very non-controversial person too, right?” the president joked about Mr Farage.
“Come on Nigel, he’s very shy”, he added.
Once on stage Mr Farage said: “I’ve got to say four years ago I was honoured to come to America to bring the Brexit message, the message that you can beat the establishment.
“And that is what Donald Trump did. He beat the pollsters, he beat the media, he beat all the predictions.
“And here's the worst bit. They’ve never forgiven him for him. They’ve never, ever forgiven him. They have spent four years trying to delegitimise him.
“Four years of the Russia hoax. Four years of a false impeachment. Most human beings under that barrage would have given up.
“This is the single most resilient and bravest person I have ever met in my life.”
The Brexit Party leader had posted a number of photographs on his social media feeds before the rally with US politicians in Arizona, which is a battleground state in the election.
Mr Farage’s speech saw him tell the crowd that they were voting not just for a US president on November 3 but also the “leader of the free world”.
Mr Farage went on: “You are voting for the only current leader in the free world who has got the guts to stand up and fight for the nation state, to fight for patriotism, to fight against globalism.
“You’ll be voting for the only leader in the Western world with the real courage to stand up to the Chinese Communist Party.
“You’ll be voting for decency, plain speaking and a man who in four years hasn’t just cut your taxes, hasn’t just improved the economy, but a man who right now is bringing Israel together with Arab nations in a way that nobody ever believed was possible."
Mr Farage finished with the words “and I wish you God speed, I really do”.
The president seemed pleased. “Thank you Nigel, that’s something,” he said as Mr Farage left the stage to applause.
“Well, I think I’m glad I called him up.”
Read more:
