Is Nigel Farage The Poorest Man In Politics? UKIP Leader Claims ‘I Don’t Know Anyone In Politics As Poor As We Are’
Despite previously boasting that his EU salary and expenses were worth £250,000 a year, Nigel Farage now claims that he and his wife are poor.
Talking in Channel 4 Program Gogglebox, Farage whines “I don’t think I know anybody in politics as poor as we are.”
The UKIP leader, who employs his wife, Kirsten on a salary over £30,000 per year, was previously fined £250 by the Electoral Commission for claiming £15,500 a year from the EU to pay for his rent free constituency office.
While guzzling alcohol with his co-stars, Dom and Steph Parker, Mr. Farage insisted, “We don’t drive flash cars, we don’t have expensive holidays, we haven’t done for ten years.”
But Farage’s claims of poverty are likely to ruffle a few feathers, considering his current salary of £79,000, office allowances of £42,600 a year, and his wife’s salary mean the couple are raking in a considerable sum of cash. Mr. Farage also gets subsistence of £250 a day every time he attends the European Parliament, and earns tens of thousands more from media appearances.
Add to this the rather comfortable existence afforded by an annual £60,000 a year chauffeur allowance to ferry him to and from his £540,000 home in Kent, and the impending backlash against Nigel Farage is rather predictable.
How rich is Nigel Farage, who says he’s the “poorest man in politics”? From @Shrutitripathi6 http://t.co/meu5xhZzR8 http://t.co/hkq6Y9ojyk
— Sophie Hobson (@sophiehobson) December 4, 2014
The documentary, due to air on Channel 4, is a “rip-roaring alcohol-fuelled watch,” according to the channel’s chief creative officer, Jay Hunt.
Indeed, Farage’s embarrassment is furthered when he is forced to borrow a pair of trousers from his host after stumbling and smashing a glass of champagne. During the booze fueled evening, Mr. Farage is filmed downing several pints of beer in a local pub before consuming half a dozen glasses of wine and champagne, antics which have already drawn criticism from veteran Guardian columnist, Polly Toynbee.
“It should be stopped; it’s an absolute outrage,” says Toynbee.
“It plays straight into his image as the man with the glass of beer, a nice bloke. It’s unacceptable. He doesn’t get questioned about his policies.”
Although Toynbee is a constant critic of Farage, his appearance on the show, along with his insensitive remarks about poverty, may jeopardize his cherished tag as a ‘man of the people.’
Despite Nigel Farage enjoying increasing popularity with the British public in recent times, he had his doubts about doing the show.
“Was I taking a risk going in there? Yes, I was… Politics today is so thoroughly over-scripted,” he says. “All the rough edges and all the risk is knocked off, and that is why it has become desperately dull. I thought they were genuine and… people who like me will like it.”
