Labour MP Seb Dance called it a “screw it moment”.
A Labour MP demonstrated his frustration with Nigel Farage's rhetoric at the European Parliament in the most unusual way. On Wednesday, Labour representative for London Seb Dance held up a sign reading "He's lying to you" as the former UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader spoke at the Parliament.
Dance was asked to stop by a clerk but not before his action was caught on camera. UKIP MEP Bill Etheridge filed a complaint against Dance, calling his behaviour “pathetic and cowardly”. On his part, Dance told The Guardian, “Whatever the president and parliament decides, I am happy to accept the consequences.”
Watch:
Explaining his move, Dance said: "The really frustrating thing about the European parliament is that we cannot intervene and he (Farage) was going to get three minutes of uninterrupted speaking time. I just felt enough is enough. I have got to do something pretty crude and unnuanced to point out something I think is happening."
Dance said that he was tired of "nationalist and populist messages being paraded around as if they were the solution to people’s problems".
Farage is an anti-immigration campaigner who led the UKIP through the Brexit vote in June 2016. Batting for Trump, Farage said, "Trump is motivated by protecting the United States of America from Islamic terrorism whereas what has happened in this room and in governments around Europe is that you have welcomed these people into your own homes.”
The UKIP MP sees the US President as an anti-establishment ally and visited him soon after the November 8 vote in the US and has often spoken out in his favour.
Both Trump and Farage have suggested that the latter should be employed as a go-between or ambassador between the new US administration and the British government. "Many people would like to see Nigel Farage represent Great Britain as their Ambassador to the United States. He would do a great job," Trump had tweeted in November.
It caused great consternation in Downing Street, which was forced to comment on how Farage had no role to play in UK diplomacy with the US.
With inputs from Reuters.
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