Nigel Farage talks Brexit, peace deals and why Trump would have stopped invasion on return to Dudley
Nigel Farage described allegations that Russia interfered in Brexit as "cobblers" and said the invasion of Ukraine would not have happened if Donald Trump was still President.
The former UKIP and Brexit Party leader was at Dudley Ex Servicemen's Club for his GB News show Farage at Large on Tuesday where he said he was far from pro-Russian despite predicting a war would happen due to the West "poking the Russian bear".
Speaking to the Express & Star, the commodities trader turned politician hit out at claims of any interference in the 2016 referendum and said the Chinese president could be the man to broker peace in Ukraine in the absence of US leadership.
He said: "There are no questions about Russian interference. That is cobblers. It's absolute cobblers, there was no Russian interference of any kind at all. We have had accusation after accusation levelled, High Court cases, libel cases on this, and there's not a shred of evidence to back any of that up. That was the conspiracy theory put out by the European Union-ists.
"As far as my position is concerned, look: I said in 2014 in the European Parliament, after the Ukrainian revolution, we are poking the Russian bear with a stick with an endless westwards expansion of NATO and the EU. And I said this 'will cause a war'. That didn't make me pro-Putin, far from it.
"I predicted a war would come because we'd given him a cause, we'd given him a reason, to get the Russians on board with him."
Sitting inside the Dudley club ahead of his show, Mr Farage said there was a "peace deal" to be done with Ukraine effectively becoming a neutral "buffer state" between Russia and NATO but criticised US President Joe Biden for a lack of leadership.
"I think forget Crimea – it's done, it's over, there's no going back on that," Mr Farage said. "I think in terms of the two Eastern provinces (Donetsk and Luhansk), the Russian-speaking Eastern provinces, the compromise has to be that on the principal of national self-determination they are allowed to have a referendum – internationally conducted – to decide their future.
"If they decide their future is with Russia then so-be it. Ironically, if Ukraine lost those provinces it would be a more united country. And the return, the quid pro quo from Putin is (that Ukraine) renounce NATO, we accept the Eastern provinces must decide their own future without undue interference and the cost of that, for Putin, is an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal. That is the peace deal – I think it's feasible, I think it's workable, the problem is: who's the broker?
"It should be the American president (Joe Biden). But he's in a bunker in Delaware and rarely comes out – the free world doesn't have a leader. So, oddly, and I almost can't believe I'm saying this, but actually the only person who can really solve this now is the Chinese president who is in an amazing position of power. Because the tougher the sanctions are on Putin, the more he has to turn to China.
"Plus he needs their clearing systems, VISA and MasterCard have stopped operations in Russia. So actually the Chinese president potentially – if he wants to – could be the white knight here who comes in and brokers the deal. Whether he will, whether he won't, I don't know, but I do think a peace deal is possible."
The former UKIP leader said Russia's invasion wouldn't have happened if Donald Trump was still president, adding: "Trump made it clear to the Russians, if they invaded Ukraine he'd rearrange the architecture of Moscow – and do you know what? They believed him and I believe him, but there you are. Peace comes through strength, not through weakness."
Mr Farage expressed his love for Dudley on his return to the town, having previously visited on his Brexit battle bus during the 2016 referendum and then again in 2019 during a Brexit Party rally.
"Dudley is one of the examples of where the earthquake in British politics happened, it's true," he said. "We started winning seats on Dudley Council, we get 10,000 votes in the 2015 election, more of those come from Labour than come from Tory – a lot more of those come from Labour than Tory.
"And that helped push us to get this referendum which the establishment didn't want, but in the end couldn't stop, and then in the end we come back to Dudley as the Brexit Party in 2019. We get more votes than Labour, Lib Dem and Conservative added together. Which kind of, basically, opens the door for one Boris Johnson and the constituency going Conservative and the council going Conservative. So it's really interesting.
"It's one of these old Labour towns that Brexit has completely transformed and, for now, given to the Conservative Party. It's fascinating and there's probably about 10 of these around the country, this is an absolutely cast-iron example of how the Labour Party lost touch with its traditional roots on really big issues."
All four of the MPs covering the Dudley borough are now Conservative after Dudley North was won by Marco Longhi in 2019 when Ian Austin quit the Labour Party and did not stand in the general election.
Mr Farage leader said people in the Black Country had been pro-Brexit due to them having a "strong sense of community" and "patriotic pride" in the country, which Labour had lost by being too "metropolitan" and London-focused over the years.
