Farage seals the break with Putin: 'Moscow is threat number one'

Russia is the rediscovered enemy of the United Kingdom, even for Nigel Farage. Accused in the past of pro-Putin sympathies — complete, a few years ago, with an appearance on the TV screens of RT, the Kremlin's international all-news megaphone — the leader of Britain's Trumpian anti-immigration right now appears determined to realign himself with the London establishment on the iron fist against Moscow: amid alarms over "hybrid warfare" and increasingly insistent drums of actual war. A 'turnaround' in fact already underway for some time, in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But now confirmed by what some media outlets close to him — such as the right-wing broadcaster GB News — present as a sort of symbolic half-revolution: the appointment announced in recent days of Angus MacIntyre, a former military man with a hawkish reputation and a veteran of the late 'cold war' years, as defense chief within Reform UK. The party of which Farage is founder and patron saint. On the margins of the appointment, the former Brexit tribune glossed over the expressions of sympathy he had reserved for Vladimir Putin in other political seasons, and branded today's Russia as "the greatest immediate threat to the security" of the British state. "In my 40 years of service in His Majesty's Armed Forces — MacIntyre then echoed him with a martial air — I held various commands; now I am proud to have been tasked with preparing the first national security report on behalf of Reform: the threats to our country are real and I will have no hesitation in denouncing and countering them." On Farage, political rivals — first and foremost the Labourites who support Andy Burnham's government — continue to weigh "the past ambiguities" in relations with Moscow. And affairs like that of Nathan Gill, former Reform leader in Wales, recently sentenced to ten and a half years in prison on charges of having, in his day, peddled "Russian propaganda" while a member of the European Parliament. To these criticisms, Donald Trump's British friend — after losing his lead in the polls in recent months, clawed back by Labour on the wave of the leadership change from the unpopular Keir Starmer to Burnham — responds by throwing back at the "old parties" that it was they who were negligent, over long years in power, in the face of the "threats" attributed not only to the Russians but also "to Iran, China or Islamic extremists." "Unlike Andy Burnham — in Nigel Farage's words — we are aware of all these dangers and we will protect our borders while ensuring our armed forces have the necessary resources." Naturally, provided he wins the next general election and enters government. A prospect far from guaranteed in the face of the rebound in the polls of both Labour and the traditional Tory right of a reinvigorated Kemi Badenoch. Meanwhile, for Reform UK there remains the shadow of scandals — fueled today by new revelations and embarrassing suspicions from the progressive Guardian — over the opaque 'private' million-pound donations from certain crypto barons to Nigel and associates. With the axe of an administrative inquiry that the independent watchdog on parliamentary conduct standards at Westminster is moving to conclude by way of potential sanctions capable of calling into question even Farage's parliamentary seat. Reproduction reserved © Copyright ANSA