UK
Woman, 25, charged with assault after milkshake thrown at Nigel Farage
A woman has been charged with assault by beating and criminal damage after a milkshake was thrown at Nigel Farage.
Victoria Thomas Bowen, 25, will appear at Colchester Magistrates’ Court on 2 July following the incident at a campaign event in Clacton, Essex on Tuesday.
A 44-year-old man who was arrested on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker has been released and will face no further action.
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Clacton is where the Reform UK leader is vying to be an MP after announcing his return to frontline politics this week.
Mr Farage was doused in what appeared to be a McDonald’s banana milkshake as he left a Wetherspoons Moon and Starfish pub in the area at around 2pm.
He was seen with the yellow drink splattered across his dark blue suit as he boarded his campaign bus.
The veteran Eurosceptic initially laughed off the incident, saying “my milkshake brings all the people to the rally”.
He later said that it was “quite frightening” but that was the risk that came with his “old-style street campaigning”.
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.
Nigel Farage after he was doused in milkshake during a campaign walkabout in Newcastle in 2019 Pic: PA
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 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”.
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“Milkshaking” – the act of dousing public figures in milkshake – was officially recognised by Collins Dictionary the same year.
In 2014, Mr Farage, then leader of UKIP, had an egg thrown at him by a protester during a campaign visit to Nottingham.
The latest incident came just hours after he launched his election campaign surrounded by hundreds of supporters.
Polling day on 4 July will be the eighth time he has tried to be an MP, having never previously succeeded.