The Reform UK leader is increasingly distancing himself from the U.S. president as cost-of-living pressures hit Britons.
LONDON — Nigel Farage blamed Donald Trump’s midterms catastrophe on broken anti-foreign intervention promises Thursday, branding his decision to launch a war with Iran as “bizarre.”
The U.S. president’s right-wing ally in Britain echoed other high-profile conservative figures in lamenting the price-spiking conflict and warned against a fresh campaign of attacks in the Middle East.
Farage has long considered Trump a personal friend, but has come under pressure to distance himself from the U.S. president, who is deeply unpopular in the U.K.
The Reform leader has been more critical against a backdrop of global economic woes triggered by the war waged against Tehran by America and Israel.
Farage, leader of the insurgent right-wing Reform UK party, told reporters after a defense speech in London that he wouldn’t have supported a drawn-out conflict with Iran. He said it was “bizarre” that Trump, of all people, took such action, considering he took power on a pledge to avoid endless foreign wars.
Asked about the biggest lesson he took from the midterms carnage for the Republicans, Farage said: “Keep your promises.”
He praised Trump’s “very good” track record of staying faithful to the electorate during his first term, but said, “He broke a promise — that was no more foreign wars.”
“We’re eight months in, and the resultant rise in gas and diesel prices, more than anything else, is what did them in,” Farage said.
He later told broadcasters that he worries the U.S. president will “continue aggressively attacking Iran” now that he has lost Congress.
Farage was initially supportive after Trump launched strikes in February. He urged the U.K. government to “back the Americans in this vital fight against Iran!”
But within two weeks he changed his tune. He subsequently urged ministers not to “get involved directly in another foreign war.”
Senior figures in Reform UK have been trying to distance themselves from Trump in the wake of MAGA’s midterm drubbing at the hands of the Democrats.
One high-ranking adviser, granted anonymity to discuss transatlantic relations, said the party would continue building “good relations” with senior Republicans like JD Vance and Marco Rubio.
“Reform already has good relations with multiple Republicans, and that process will continue,” they added.
Others argued for greater network building with right-wing movements in Europe.
“I’ve never been a huge fan of Mr. Trump,” said one official. “He does speak for a particular slice of American society, but in practical terms what happens on the continent is somewhat more important,” the official added, pointing to the rise of right-wing parties in France, Italy and Spain.
“Given we have a PM that is committed on salami slicing us back into the EU,” they added. “Personally, I think that’s more important than America.”