Nigel Farage gives feeble excuse for dropping out of BBC interview last minute

Nigel Farage’s absence from BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg has raised eyebrows ahead of key local elections.

In a statement to Metro, a Reform spokesperson said: ‘Nigel Farage is campaigning in Clacton this weekend instead.’

During her panel this morning, featuring representatives from all major parties except Reform, she said Farage ‘changed his mind’.

‘Nigel Farage – who, as we told you last week, was fixed to be here – but his team told us he changed his mind, the presenter said.

The panel, which aired just four days before local elections across England, and devolved elections in Wales and Scotland.

Labour transport secretary Heidi Alexander, Green leader Zack Polanski and Tory leader Kemi Badenoch all sat with Kuenssberg.

Polanski discouraged people from using the phrase ‘globalise the intifada’ but added he is ‘not interested’ in policing language.

The comments come after the Prime Minister said protesters have a responsibility to call out chants of the phrase at Gaza marches.

The leader of the Green Party told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: ‘It’s not a phrase I would use personally, and that’s because I think if there are other phrases you can use or other ways to do things, then why not just do them?

‘I want people to be more effective, so I wouldn’t encourage people to use it because actually I think you can make your point a lot more effectively and not get into this conversation about language.’

Polanki stressed that ‘words matter’, but added: ‘Tens of thousands of Palestinians who have been murdered, the people in Lebanon who have been killed, these people matter too, and I think if people want to protest, that it’s important we defend their right to protest.

‘Yes, I do discourage, to give you a more direct answer, the use of the phrase, but I’m not interested in trying to police people’s language.’

Intifada is an Arabic word for a rebellion or uprising. The second intifada was a major uprising by Palestinians against Israel and its occupation in 2000.

The violence is estimated to have resulted in the deaths of around 3,000 Palestinians and 1,000 Israelis, as well as 64 foreign nationals.

The political leader apologised after sharing a social media post criticising police officers who apprehended the Golders Green suspect just days ago.

Polanski shared a social media post accusing the officers of heavy-handedness as they pinned terror suspect Essa Suleiman to the ground.

Two Jewish people had been stabbed in an unprovoked attack in the north London suburb, with officers fearing the suspect also had a bomb.

Polanski shared a post on X which claimed the two policemen were ‘violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head’.

Both Met Commissioner Mark Rowley and Prime Minister Keir Starmer have condemned Mr Polanski’s criticism, saying it ‘undermined’ the heroism of the officers

The Green Party leader said on Friday: ‘Everyone in leadership has a responsibility for lowering the temperature at a time of such tension, and I apologise for sharing a tweet in haste. 

‘Police responses to emergency situations such as these do need later reflection in the right forums, but I accept that social media is not the appropriate channel for doing so.

‘I have invited Mark Rowley to meet with me to discuss the police response and the wider issues raised in his letter.’

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