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Former popstar Holly Valance says kids call Nigel Farage 'uncle Nige' as she reveals £100k Reform UK donation
20 September 2024, 16:43
Former popstar Holly Valance has told LBC that her children call Reform UK leader Nigel Farage “uncle Nige”.
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While attending Reform’s party conference in Birmingham, the Australian actress also revealed she has donated about £100,000 to the Clacton MP's party.
It was reported in June that she contributed to Reform raising £1.5 million within days of Farage being announced as party leader ahead of the 2024 general election.
Despite winning just 1% of the parliamentary seats, Reform attracted 14% of the votes with roughly 4 million members of the electorate backing the party.
Talking at the conference, Valance also fueled speculation over whether she would run for parliament for Reform at the next general election after she was tipped to stand against Tory Party chairman Richard Holden in Basildon & Billericay this time around.
She told GB News: “If at some point over the next five years, that becomes more realistic then I'd revisit that. But right now I'm just supporting from the sidelines.
"It's something that I think is an incredibly serious, important job. It was not right for me at the time.
"It would be better to represent perhaps my area, where I know how the community lives, where the crime is, where the things are that aren't working for our community.”
Valance, 40, known for her role as Felicity “Flick” Scully, has previously expressed her support for the Conservatives but changed allegiance to Reform this year and reportedly held a fundraiser for Farage earlier this month.
She has praised Liz Truss, backed Jacob-Rees Mogg for prime minister and has more recently become the UK poster girl for Donald Trump's bid to retake the White House.
The actress hosted an exclusive fundraiser in London in June for the former president, where ticket prices started at $10,000 (£7,800) and dinner cost $50,000
Ahead of the fundraising event near the Chelsea embankment, Farage said: "It's a Holly party. You can guarantee it’s going to be enormous fun."
Valance, who now lives in the UK with her billionaire property developer and Tory Party donor husband Nick Candy, told GB News earlier this year that "everyone starts as a lefty", but "wakes up... then realise what crap ideas they all are”.
Farage came in for criticism ahead of the party conference amid a row which erupted on Thursday over his decision to not hold any in-person constituency surgeries.
Farage told LBC on Friday that for “security reasons” he will be doing all meetings over Zoom and not holding any in-person surgeries in Clacton-on-Sea.
He confirmed to Nick Ferrari he is not doing in-person constituency surgeries in Clacton-on-Sea because he’s been advised by the Speaker's Office not to for security reasons.
Farage told Ferrari that he was not prepared to allow “the public to flow through the door with their knives in their pockets.”
But the Speaker's Office and Parliament's security team dismissed his claims, saying they have no recollection of telling Mr Farage that he should not hold in-person surgeries in his constituency.
Sources said neither would have advised any MP not to hold a surgery because this would interfere with their democratic duties, but would instead be offered security advice on how measures could be taken to ensure their safety.
There is no record of such advice ever having been given to Farage, it is understood, in contrast to his claim earlier on Thursday that he had been told by the Speaker's Office not to hold physical surgeries.
However, the Clacton MP has doubled down on his claims, with his spokesperson telling LBC: “Nigel has been advised against holding in person surgeries by the Parliamentary Security Department and the Home Office until physical measures have been put in place that ensure the safety of him, his staff and the general public”.
