Brussels police move to shut down Farage at NatCon

Happy NatCon day, one and all. Yes, it’s that time of year again, when some of Europe’s most vocal right-wing exponents get together in a room for the annual National Conservatism conference. Last year’s shindig was in Westminster and spawned numerous headlines about Miriam Cates and Lee Anderson. This time though it’s being held in Brussels: home of well-paid Eurocrats and overzealous officials. Where better to make a stand for conservatism?

Among those flying the flag for Britain is keynote speaker Suella Braverman and longtime MEP Nigel Farage. But the former Ukip leader encountered some difficulty this morning after arriving on stage at the Claridge venue in the Belgian capital. For the Brussels police then turned up to try to shut NatCon down, with organisers claiming they had been given just fifteen minutes to stop the conference on the grounds of potential ‘public disorder.’

The Claridge was already the conference’s third venue, after its first space – Concert Noble – turned them away under pressure from the Socialist Mayor of Brussels Philippe Close.