A video has been released showing how quickly Farage fans and undecided voters can change their minds when they are shown the Brexit Party leader’s past statements.
In a vox pop, anti-far right campaigners Hope Not Hate approached people on the street in Barnsley and watched their views change, from either positive or noncommittal, as they learned of Farage’s stances on Thatcherite reforms and his wishes for the NHS.
The video has been viewed more than 8,000 times and is being rapidly shared.
“I like Nigel Farage,” says one person, initially. “He’s a cartoon character,” said another, followed quickly by a woman saying: “He’s all right.”
But soon the video cuts to the people being shown early footage of Farage talking about Margaret Thatcher’s brutal economic reforms.
“I was excited by much of what Mrs Thatcher was trying to do during the 1980s,” said a very young Farage in one clip.
The woman who initially said Farage is “all right” reads out a quote from him: “‘I supported Margaret Thatcher’s reforms of the economy. It was painful for some but it had to happen’.
“Nigel Farage says that?” asks the woman, clearly unimpressed. “I wasn’t excited. She were horrible. She were wrong.”
The two men who earlier felt had various degrees of positive towards Farage were then shown his now-notorious speech to supporters in 2012 about the NHS, in which he said the country needs to move to an insurance-based system.
“Basically attacking the NHS there, isn’t it?” said one.
“I like Nigel Farage but I prefer our health system,” said another commentator.
Another woman simply made a swatting gesture after telling Hope Not Hate about how much she needed the NHS.
None among the admittedly small sample of people featured by the campaigning organisation left the situation a fan of the Brexit Party leader.
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