Show of strength by Reform’s MPs at PMQ turns into a cameo appearance | John Crace

2026-03-25 - 17:20

A well-timed jibe by the prime minister at Nigel Farage’s side-hustle seemed to provoke the party leader into staging a mass walkout Much of good comedy lies in the timing. We were about halfway through Wednesday’s prime minister’s questions and Keir Starmer was answering an obviously planted question from a Labour backbencher on the government’s plans to ban political donations from overseas donors and via cryptocurrency. Having done the serious bit, Starmer couldn’t resist the opportunity to sign off with a pop at a man whose party survives on overseas donors and crypto. “There is only one party leader who has shown he will say anything, no matter how divisive, if he is paid to do so.” Without missing a beat, the speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, announced the next questioner. “Nigel Farage”. The Reform leader didn’t seem to find this quite as funny as most other MPs. Nige is becoming more and more thin-skinned these days. Maybe it’s that his party’s lead in the polls has narrowed substantially since the beginning of the war. Maybe it’s that he doesn’t like having policies examined too closely. Maybe he’s pissed off that his income stream from Cameo has temporarily dried up. Or maybe it’s just that he’s actually quite unpleasant. Nige stood up to ask his question on Smashing the Gangs. One that Starmer more or less ignored. So having pointed out that Reform had voted against every measure the government had put in place, Keir went on a bit of a rant about Reform having supported the war and the party’s failures in local government. A reminder that the local elections are only six weeks away. Continue reading...