Nigel Farage has milkshake thrown over him after election campaign launch in Clacton

Published

5 months ago

June 4, 2024

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Nigel Farage has had a milkshake thrown over him after launching his election campaign in Essex.

The new leader of Reform UK was leaving the Wetherspoons Moon and Starfish pub in Clacton-on-Sea, where he is standing to be an MP, when a young woman in a grey hooded jumper threw a drink in his face before throwing the cup at him then walking off.

It appeared to be a McDonald’s milkshake.

He was seen wincing as the liquid hit his face, then wiping it away as he was ushered out of the way by his team.

Essex Police said they had arrested a 25-year-old woman from Clacton after responding to a report of a drink being thrown at a man in Marine Parade East at around 2.10pm.

As officers were arresting the woman, a second person, a man, was arrested on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker.

“Both individuals remain in custody for questioning,” a police spokesman said.

Nearly two hours after the incident, Mr Farage appeared in front of the Reform UK bus with a McDonald’s banana milkshake and said: “My milkshake brings all the people to the rally.”

Just a few hours before the milkshake was thrown at him, Mr Farage had launched his election campaign surrounded by hundreds of supporters after announcing he would be standing as a Reform UK candidate on Monday.

Last week, he said he had ruled out standing as an MP. He has unsuccessfully attempted to become an MP seven times previously.

Mr Farage told supporters at his launch that the Conservatives had breached the British people’s trust, claiming they had “opened up the borders to mass immigration like we’ve never seen before”.

He told them that meant “they are finished, they are done” and argued he should be in Westminster to push for change from a Labour government.

A new YouGov poll for Sky News has Labour winning the election with 42.9% of the vote, while Reform is set to take 10.1% – an increase of 8.1% on 2019.

Richard Tice, who Mr Farage took over from as leader of Reform on Monday, stood up for his successor.

“The juvenile moron who threw a drink over Nigel has just gained us hundreds of thousands more votes,” he wrote on social media.

“We will not be bullied or threatened off the campaign trail.”

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Giles Watling, the Conservative candidate in Clacton, said he was sorry his rival had a drink thrown at him.

“We may disagree, but every candidate has the right to campaign without fear of violence or intimidation!” he added.

Former Conservative minister and lawyer Robert Jenrick said it was “clearly a criminal offence” and said there “can be no place for this kind of behaviour towards any candidate from any political party on the campaign trail”.

Yvette Cooper, Labour’s shadow home secretary, said it was a “disgraceful assault” on Mr Farage.

She added: “Completely unacceptable and wrong. No one should face intimidation or assault in an election campaign. Thank you to the police for responding.”

Mr Farage is no stranger to being pelted with food or drink, and it is not even the first time he has had a milkshake thrown at him.

In May 2019, Paul Crowther, from Newcastle, doused the then-Brexit Party leader with a £5.25 banana and salted caramel milkshake from burger chain Five Guys during a Newcastle city centre walkabout ahead of the European elections.

He was arrested at the scene and pleaded guilty to common assault and criminal damage, and was ordered to pay Mr Farage £350 in compensation to have his suit cleaned after the “politically motivated attack”.

In 2014, Mr Farage, then leader of UKIP, had an egg thrown at him by a protester during a campaign visit to Nottingham.

The other candidates vying to become MP for Clacton are:

Jovan Owusu-Nepaul, Labour;
Giles Watling, Conservatives;
Natasha Osben, Greens;
Matthew Bensilum, Lib Dems.

Politics

NHS league tables and cancelled pay rises for managers among government health reforms

Published

4 hours ago

November 13, 2024

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NHS league tables and cancelled pay rises for managers among government health reforms

NHS league tables revealing failing NHS trusts and cancelled pay rises or dismissal for managers who don’t turn things around are to form part of the government’s plans to improve the health service.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting is confirming new measures he hopes will boost failing hospital trusts and encourage successful ones.

The changes form part of the Labour government’s strategy to reduce waiting lists “from 18 months to 18 weeks”.

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Health and the state of the NHS were consistently among the most important issues for voters at this year’s general election – with Labour blaming the Conservatives for “breaking” it.

As health is a devolved area, any reforms proposed in Westminster would only apply to England.

Chief among Mr Streeting’s proposals is a “league table” for NHS trusts.

An announcement from the Department for Health and Social Care said: “NHS England will carry out a no-holds-barred sweeping review of NHS performance across the entire country, with providers to be placed into a league table.

“This will be made public and regularly updated to ensure leaders, policy-makers and patients know which improvements need to be prioritised.”

It also promises to replace “persistently failing managers” – with “turn around teams” being sent in to improve trusts running sizeable deficits or offering poor service to patients.

The government says “senior managers” who fail to make progress will not be eligible for pay rises.

There will be “financial implications” for more senior figures such as chief executives if their trust does not improve.

On the flip-side, those trusts that are deemed to be “high-performing” will get “greater freedom over funding and flexibility”.

Senior leaders at these trusts will also be “rewarded”.

The government says the current system is not incentivising trusts to run a budget surplus, as they cannot benefit from it.

Mr Streeting said: “The budget showed this government prioritises the NHS, providing the investment needed to rebuild the health service.

“Today we are announcing the reforms to make sure every penny of extra investment is well spent and cuts waiting times for patients.

“There’ll be no more turning a blind eye to failure. We will drive the health service to improve, so patients get more out of it for what taxpayers put in.

“Our health service must attract top talent, be far more transparent to the public who pay for it, and run as efficiently as global businesses.

“With the combination of investment and reform, we will turn the NHS around and cut waiting times from 18 months to 18 weeks.”

Concerns from health representatives

Amanda Pritchard, the chief executive of NHS England, said: “While NHS leaders welcome accountability, it is critical that responsibility comes with the necessary support and development.

“The extensive package of reforms, developed together with government, will empower all leaders working in the NHS and it will give them the tools they need to provide the best possible services for our patients.”

Further plans on how monitoring will be published by the start of the next financial year in April 2025, the government said.

Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation – a body that represents all NHS trusts – said healthcare leaders welcome the “government’s ambition”.

However, he said he was concerned league tables and reducing pay may “strip out” the nuance of what’s going on.

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Mr Taylor said: “NHS staff are doing their very best for patients under very challenging circumstances and we do not want them feeling like they are being named and shamed.

“League tables in themselves do not lead to improvement, trusts struggling with consistent performance issues – some of which reflect contextual issues such as underlying population heath and staff shortages – need to be identified and supported in order to recover.”