Two people arrested after milkshake thrown over Nigel Farage as he launched general election campaign

Two people have been arrested after Nigel Farage had a milkshake thrown over him as he launched his general election campaign in Clacton.

The new Reform UK leader had the drink hurled over him as he left the Moon and Starfish Wetherspoon pub on Tuesday afternoon. Essex Police were alerted to the incident on Marine Parade East at around 2.10pm.

Officers arrested a 25-year-old woman, from Clacton, on suspicion of assault at the scene.

While officers were responding to the incident and making the initial arrest, another person, a man, was arrested on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker, said the force. Both remain in police custody for questioning.

Mr Farage had kicked off his general election campaign in the Essex seaside town earlier in the day, as he promised to be a “bloody nuisance” in Westminster.

He set out his goal for Reform UK to effectively take over the Conservative Party – and potentially put him in No 10 in the future. On Tuesday, he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain his goal was to take over the Conservative Party rather than join it.

“You can speculate as to what’ll happen in three or four years’ time, all I will tell you is if Reform succeed in the way that I think they can, then a chunk of the Conservative Party will join us – it’s the other way around,” he said.

He pointed to Canada, where “Reform did a reverse takeover of the Conservative Party, rebranded it and Stephen Harper – who was elected as a Reform MP – became the Canadian prime minister for 10 years”.

He said: “I don’t want to join the Conservative Party, I think the better thing to do would be to take it over.”