Nigel
Farage: After Brexit and Trump, Europe could be next
UKIP
leader hails Donald Trump’s victory as a ‘win double.’
By TOM
MCTAGUE 11/9/16, 12:44 PM CET
LONDON — Nigel
Farage on Wednesday hailed Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S.
presidential election as a 2016 “win double” following the U.K.’s
vote for Brexit — and warned that Europe was next.
The interim UKIP
leader, who campaigned with the president-elect, said the outcome of
the U.S. vote had exposed widespread anger with ruling elites.
“We’ve seen
Brexit,” Farage said. “We’ve now seen this and don’t be
surprised to see this political revolution elsewhere — perhaps in
Europe next year.” He added: “There is a general feeling that
big, fundamental change and genuine democratic accountability is
needed.”
Farage, who plans to
fly to the U.S. as soon as possible to celebrate Trump’s victory,
played down talk of a job with the Republican president-elect, after
joking that he could be U.S. ambassador to the EU. But Farage said he
was now the best-placed U.K. politician to influence the Trump
administration.
“I did say, I
thought he had every chance of winning this, despite what the polls
said because I don’t think they get it right any more. Sure enough,
it came true,” said the UKIP leader, who was visiting Barcelona to
give a speech.
Trump’s win
highlights “that a ruling elite have become ever closer together,
have become ever more enmeshed with big business and big banks and
increasingly no longer represent the people of their countries,”
Farage said.
British influence in
Washington could potentially grow, said Farage, though Trump’s
skepticism about NATO might be problematic.
“[Trump] thinks we
should be front of the queue [for a trade deal] — that’s good.
He’s pro-British, which compared to Obama is really quite
something,” Farage said. “On NATO, yes, he has reservations, he
thinks a lot of countries are simply not pulling their weight, that
America is doing too much of the heavy lifting.”
“He wants to have
a debate about the role of NATO and on both of those things we are
absolutely crucial allies,” the UKIP leader said. “We have a
very, very important role to play when it comes to the whole NATO
argument.”
Farage played down
suggestions that he could be called upon by the U.K. government as a
link into team Trump.
Asked if he was
expecting a call from the British government, he said: “You’d
have thought so, wouldn’t you, but it’s extremely unlikely —
they are very snobby.” The government would “rather make a mess
of it than talk to me,” he said.
Authors:
Tom McTague
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