The new diplomacy of Nigel Farage

Nigel Farage is not generally seen as one of nature’s diplomats. Yet the Reform leader is proving to be a formidable force in the international arena. This is most obvious in matters of transatlantic interest, with Donald Trump’s return offering Farage the chance to try and derail Labour’s Chagos Islands deal. But last week showed a different side to the Clacton MP on a sensitive overseas matter.

On Tuesday, Farage met with Mandy Damari, the mother of the last remaining British captive in Gaza. Her 28-year-old daughter Emily was kidnapped on October 7 last year and has now been a hostage for 430 days. The pair were hosted in one of the Commons committee rooms, with Farage subsequently a video of support calling on David Lammy to do more for her. Variations of that message have now been viewed more than 750,000 times across different social media platforms.

Damari met with a succession of senior politicians, including Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch and Lammy, but insisted after meeting the Foreign Secretary ‘I came for solutions, not sympathy’.