'The fish rots from the head down': Reform UK leader Nigel Farage calls Britain 'appallingly led' in new year's swipe
31 December 2024, 15:51 | Updated: 6 January 2025, 08:51
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has used his new year's message to tell the nation it has been "appallingly led" for several decades in a chipper new year's message.
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In a video recorded at Blenheim Palace, the Clacton MP frankly told the nation that "the fish rots from the head down".
Taking veiled swipes at both Starmer and Badenoch during the address, adding: "We've been appallingly led in this country now for several decades."
Reflecting on a nation in "societal decline", the leader claimed children are being taught that "people like Winston Churchill - born in this place - are bad eople".
The Reform UK leader, in his New Year message, claimed his party had the power to turn "this country around by 180 degrees".
'We have been appallingly led for two decades' says Nigel Farage in New Year message
"We're in societal decline, we're in economic decline, most people are getting poorer with every year that passes, we're losing any sense of national identity," he said.
"And we're actually teaching kids at school that people like Winston Churchill - born in this palace - are bad people and that our country's history is something to be ashamed of," he added.
Mr Farage said Reform's campaigning will include calls for "proper border controls" and to reduce the cost of living heading into 2025.
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He said: "I promise you that the net-zero plans put in place at the time of Theresa May, now being pursued by (Energy Secretary) Ed Miliband in the most extraordinary way, will do nothing more than put up everybody's bills and close down British manufacturing industry."
Farage added that "tens of thousands of people" have joined Reform over Christmas, saying: "There's a buzz, there's an energy, there's an optimism."
It comes as Sir Keir Starmer is set to deliver his own new year's message direct from Downing Street.
The address comes days before the school VAT comes into effect, with Downing Street insisting it will deliver more funds for state schools to “drive up standards” for the majority who cannot afford surging fees.
