Farage’s £10k petrostate perk
Money trumps morality once again...
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Nigel Farage spent December at the Formula 1 in Abu Dhabi.
Not in the cheap seats, and certainly not on his own dime.
According to his latest register of interests, as I reported for DeSmog earlier today, the Reform UK leader accepted more than £10,000 worth of flights, accommodation and hospitality from the Abu Dhabi government to attend the Grand Prix – including a front-row paddock pass valued at £4,500.
The bill was picked up by the regime that governs the capital of the United Arab Emirates: an oil-rich autocracy with no elections, no political parties, and a long record of jailing critics.
Farage’s filing states that he also attended “meetings” during the trip, though it offers no further detail on who they were with or what was discussed.
It is, at the very least, a striking arrangement for a man who has previously mocked Keir Starmer for accepting gifts from donors. Yet Farage’s conscience was apparently unperturbed about receiving perks from a petrostate.
Indeed, roughly 30% of the UAE’s GDP comes directly from oil and gas. Reform, meanwhile, campaigns to dramatically expand fossil fuel production in the UK, scrap our clean energy policies, and dismantle climate targets. Farage himself has dismissed climate science as “absolutely nuts”.
As I wrote earlier this week – and as this new petrostate patronage demonstrates – Farage is a foot soldier in Donald Trump’s fossil fuel imperialism.
Although the Reform leader harps on about “taking back control” of our democracy, his cosy relationship with the UAE makes a mockery of his belief in individual rights and freedoms.
Critics of the UAE’s autocratic monarchy are frequently imprisoned. Migrant workers face widespread abuses, including wage theft and passport confiscation. The penal code allows LGBT rights campaigners to be arrested.
Yet none of this appears to have deterred the Reform leader from accepting a luxury weekend in the sun at the behest of Abu Dhabi’s rulers. Once again, Farage has shown that he’s governed by money, not morality.
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I’m guessing his Clacton electorate, freezing on the east coast, are oblivious to this or even fine with it?! 🤷🏻♂️
The insane thing about this, for me; is that the sheeple that follow and will follow him are this side of the pond's MAGA bubbas who are only capable of hearing one thing "white English good, brown people bad" and fail to comprehend that they will be the ones that suffer the most should the Faragists take power (private health insurance compulsory, benefit slashing etc, etc).