Winston Churchill’s great nephew backs Reform UK

Sir Winston Churchill’s great nephew has backed Reform UK.

Speaking at Royal Ascot on Thursday, the Duke of Marlborough hailed Nigel Farage and said he “could end up in the same league” as Britain’s wartime prime minister.

The Duke, who is also known as Jamie Blandford or Jamie Churchill, attended the horse racing festival with a turquoise Reform rosette on the inside of his morning coat.

“I’m voting for Reform UK because I won’t vote for Keir Starmer, for obvious reasons, and there’s no point voting for the Tories because they aren’t going to be back for 10 or 15 years, if ever,” he said.

“Nigel Farage is doing the best job any man can do for his country and he is the only person who can stop this country being dragged into another war.”

The Duke, a friend of Mr Farage, is the great-nephew of Sir Winston and a great-great nephew of the wartime PM’s father, Lord Randolph Churchill, a 19th century Tory chancellor.

He added: “Mr Farage is an extraordinary public speaker. He doesn’t need notes or an autocue. There is no other politician who comes close.

“I believe, if he is given a chance to serve his country, he could end up in the same league as Randolph and Winston.”

Friends say the Duke has also shown his support for the party on his private social media accounts, telling his circle that a vote for the Conservatives is a vote for Labour.

The Duke’s home is Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, which is one of Britain’s most spectacular stately homes and also the birthplace of Sir Winston.

He inherited the 187-room pile, which is the only non-royal and non-episcopal country house to be called a palace, and its 25,000-acre estate in 2014 upon his father’s death.

In 1994, the 11th Duke had won a court battle ensuring the now-Duke, from whom he was then estranged, would never win control of the family seat.

But father and son later reconciled and the Duke was a major beneficiary of his will.

However, his legal control of the Blenheim estate is significantly limited because he is not a trustee of the Blenheim Palace Heritage Foundation, which operates the world heritage site.

The Duke’s first marriage, to Rebecca Few-Brown, ended in divorce in 1998. The couple’s son George, the current Marquess of Blandford, is the heir apparent to the Dukedom.

He married his second wife, Edla Griffiths, in 2002, with whom he had two children. The couple were reported to have separated in May.