Nigel Farage sends warning to Theresa May at anti-immigration rally in Germany
UK Prime Minister Theresa May risks not lasting till Christmas if she fails to “stamp her authority” over her very own party, the former head of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) has said.
Speaking at an Alternative for Germany (AFD) campaign event at the Spandau Citadel, in the west of the German capital, Nigel Farage said the Prime Minister must rapidly reassert her authority over the Conservatives and Brexit negotiations.
“If she doesn’t do those two things – doesn’t get some sense of order back into her own party and direction back into where the negotiations are going then I think the whispering campaign will go from something that is being done in private to being done in public and she might not last till Christmas,” he said, Reuters reports.
Saying that because ministers have been contradicting themselves on Brexit on a weekly basis, he added: “She has to stamp her authority on the party and do so pretty damn quickly.”
Farage attended the AfD's event to talk about “developments in the European Union, Brexit, direct democracy,” as well as “how to make the impossible possible,” according to event host and AfD MEP Beatrix von Storch.
Von Storch, who is the granddaughter of Hitler’s finance minister, is a leading member of the anti-immigration party running in the upcoming federal election on September 24.
The MEP has previously received widespread criticism over her calls on border guards to use firearms to turn back immigrants, including women and children, attempting to reach Germany from war-torn countries.
She backtracked on her comments, saying the use of firearms is not permitted on children. She added, however, that “women are a different matter.”
Writing in a Facebook post, the German MEP also called Farage her “most appreciated colleague” after she joined his Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy group in the European Parliament after being expelled in April of last year from the European Conservatives and Reformists Group.
She added that the Brexiteer had been so fascinated by the party’s campaign that he accepted the invitation to attend the rally “without hesitation.”
Protesters were planning to organize a rally in opposition to Farage’s speech, but no event of the kind had been registered as of Thursday.
While the majority of AFD supporters welcomed the news of Farage’s attendance, calling him a “straight-down-the-line” and “fiery” speaker,” others expressed concern the event might have an undesired outcome.
“Mr Farage was also the guy who bowed out after the referendum and left others to go through with Brexit,” said one user.
“I will definitely vote for the AfD, because it’s the only alternative to our ‘government.’
“But is Nigel Farage really that helpful for our campaign given that the coverage is already so negative?”
