TV presenter brands Nigel Farage 'xenophobic Alan Partridge'

Jemma Forte (right) takes down Nigel Farage as Ann Widdecombe (left) defends him - Credit: Channel 5

A television presenter has said she would “rather boil my head in a vat of oil” than support Nigel Farage’s new anti-lockdown party.

In a powerful takedown of Ann Widdecombe’s support for the new organisation, Jemma Forte told Jeremy Vine on 5: “Because what it’s doing is really exploiting something that has caused pain and misery on so many people, which is Covid, and which is the subsequent lockdowns.

“It’s so divisive, as ever, from Nigel Farage. People who support lockdowns aren’t enjoying it… they maybe understand it has to happen. It’s about the NHS being understaffed, it’s kind of it in a nutshell, because of ten years of Tory cuts.”

She continued “But that’s Nigel Farage all over, Brexit’s happening, what’s the next bandwagon I can pin myself on to. He’s an attention-seeking dangerous populist. He’s the xenophobic version of Alan Partridge.

“He spent the first lockdown on the beaches scouring the horizon for refugees, it’s revolting. He compared BLM to the Taliban, which is why so many young people at various radio stations said he cannot have a voice on LBC. He took the subscriptions from Brexit Party members and he’ll be financing himself as he goes along.

“He’s Del Boy but gone wrong.”

In response to Forte, the former Brexit Party MEP dismissed the claims, saying that “there is a world of difference between exploiting the situation and giving a voice to people who already feel very strongly about something.”