Nigel Farage claims he skipped Healey's Budget to avoid 'another physical altercation' following his clash with an MP in May
Nigel Farage posted on X about HMRC's power to seize money from bank accounts, as he defended staying away from the Budget chamber — claiming a taken prayer card signalled he was heading for another physical altercation.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage told a Westminster press conference that he kept away from the Budget chamber after his prayer card was taken from his seat — a sign, he said, that he was on course for another altercation like the one that flared during the State Opening of Parliament in May. Six or more of his fellow Reform MPs were in the Commons while Chancellor John Healey delivered his statement, among them deputy leader Richard Tice. Farage — who quipped that he is a "very quiet, shy, modest kind of person" — said he spent the time going through the Budget line by line with party economists in his offices.
Tory MP Alicia Kearns called the prayer-card explanation "total bull", pointing out that Reform MPs could simply have given Farage a seat.
Robert Jenrick blamed "bolshy Lib Dem MPs" for the May confrontation, while Lib Dem MP Tom Gordon accused Farage of "grievance politics".
Farage has declined to identify the MP involved in the May clash, and Reform has similarly stayed silent on the matter.
