Watch: Protester throws ‘coffee cup and wet cement’ at Nigel Farage

Nigel Farage has said he is having to “think twice” about what he does after he was attacked for the second time in a week on the campaign trail.

The Reform party leader said that attacks on him during the election campaign were an extension of cancel culture as he warned he could have been put in hospital by the latest incident.

Police arrested a man in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, on Tuesday after he allegedly threw objects at Mr Farage while he was campaigning in the town.

Mr Farage was waving at a crowd of supporters in Barnsley town centre from the top of the Reform battlebus when a man appeared to throw something towards him.

The Reform UK leader, 60, could be heard shouting “Oh” before a loud thud as the object hit the vehicle.

A man wearing a red hoodie and backpack was seen reaching into a bin before launching another object towards Mr Farage.

Speaking to reporters in Kirkby, Ashfield, the constituency of Tory defector Lee Anderson, Mr Farage said he was worried about Tuesday’s incident and another last week when he was doused with a milkshake in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex.

“I’m having to think twice about what I do,” he said. “Now, I’ve been doing this forever and there have been incidents over the years that have happened. They were isolated incidents, they were horrible.

“If I give in to these people, who else is going to stand up? You know, I’m sometimes brave to the point of total stupidity. I’m genuinely very, very thoughtful now. I’m not going to stop but my modus operandi may have to change.”

It is thought the suspect was on his own but Mr Farage said that he had been warned about a “Left-wing mob” in Barnsley.

He said it was too early to tell whether the incident would affect others in his party on the campaign trail. But he said it was worrying after people had “written off what happened in Clacton last week as being a one-off”.

He said: “The whole point of democracy is we can have very, very vigorous disagreements, but there has to be a line as to what’s acceptable.

“I’m not scared off, I’m going to continue but of course I’m worried about it. That was bloody cement that bloke chucked and stones were chucked at the bus.

“It’s very difficult to talk to people who don’t want to listen. Very few of them, by the way, came from Barnsley, mostly from Surrey and Cheshire with names like Jocasta and Sebastian.

“That’s the problem. I worry that we’re producing people in university who don’t know what critical thinking is. They just believe in one particular set of views and anyone that disagrees is evil. Honestly I would have been completely happy if they sent a representative to debate with me in public in the square. I’d have loved to have done it but they weren’t in the mood to listen.”

Asked if he believed shutting down his campaign was effectively cancel culture, he said: “Yes, I really do. It is an attempt to stop me campaigning in a general election. I won’t have it. I’ll find different ways of doing it.”

Posting the video of the incident on X Mr Farage, who is standing as an MP in Clacton, wrote: “My huge thanks to South Yorkshire Police today.

“I will not be bullied or cowed by a violent Left-wing mob who hate our country.”

Speaking later on Tuesday in Barnsley, he said: “Had I got off that bus I’d probably be in a hospital. Thank God for the local police. I was on an open-top double-decker and I was going to get off and walk through the main square in Barnsley.

“The police did tip us off very early that would not be a very good idea.”

Asked if people who throw things at politicians should go to jail, he said: “Yes, absolutely.”

South Yorkshire Police confirmed that a 28-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of public order offences.

Second time Farage targeted

It is the second time Mr Farage has been targeted while campaigning for the general election. Last week he was hit by a milkshake.

Victoria Thomas Bowen, 25, was charged with assault by beating and criminal damage when a milkshake was thrown over Mr Farage as he left the Moon and Starfish Wetherspoon pub in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex last week on Tuesday June 4.

Mr Farage was seen with the yellow drink splattered across his dark blue suit as he boarded his campaign bus.

During a campaign walkabout in Newcastle in 2019 he had a £5.25 Five Guys banana and salted caramel milkshake thrown at him.

It is not known if Mr Farage has requested extra security from the Home Office. However, should he ask for assistance, the department can provide private security to candidates in some circumstances.

The Government has provided an additional £31 million to strengthen protective security measures to elected representatives and candidates, alongside the new defending democracy policing protocol.