Nigel Farage has demanded an apology from Fiona Bruce for interrupting him with “incorrect facts” on BBC Question Time on Thursday evening.
The former UKIP leader and honorary Reform UK president was speaking about the decline in productivity in the NHS when the BBC presenter challenged him over his figures on expenditure as a proportion of GDP.
He told the audience that NHS spending now accounted for more than 10 per cent of the “national cake” compared to just seven per cent no more than six or seven years ago.
Ms Bruce interrupted to say: “Actually, it’s about 18 per cent. It’s about 18 per cent of total Government spending.”
Mr Farage maintained it was about 10 per cent to 11 per cent but “we won’t argue about it”.
In a tweet after the programme, Mr Farage said: “I hope @bbcquestiontime and Fiona Bruce apologise for interrupting me with incorrect facts tonight. The ONS says NHS expenditure represented 11.3% of GDP in 2022, not 18% as Fiona said.”
It was not the only sparring to take place between the pair, with Ms Bruce challenging Mr Farage over why he was the Reform politician “fronting” the party’s campaign when he was “not actually standing for election”.
Mr Farage shot back: “Don’t ask me…you invited me on [to the programme]. I don’t know why I am here,” to laughter from the audience.
Ms Bruce then said: “We actually asked for Lee Anderson [who defected to Reform from the Tories] but he wasn’t able to come on.”
Fiona Bruce sticking it to toad of toad hall Nigel Farage in a very subtle manner, but funny
‘We actually wanted Lee Anderson to come on but he said no’ 🤣🤣🤣
Reject man Farage #bbcqt pic.twitter.com/7CCj230ZRd
— kerry ✊💙Save Our NHS (@hewitson10) May 30, 2024
Snap election scuppered Farage’s candidacy plans
Ms Bruce, presenter of Question Time since 2019, has clashed with politicians before, including David TC Davies, the rapping Welsh Secretary, for a personal attack he made on a Labour MP and Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader in Westminster, for “interrupting everybody”.
It was Mr Farage’s first appearance on Question Time for five years. He had earlier joined Richard Tice, the Reform UK leader, to launch the party’s new migrant tax plan, which would force employers to pay a 45 per cent higher National Insurance rate on foreign workers than on domestic staff.
On Tuesday, Mr Farage gave a press conference in which he set out Reform’s plans for tackling illegal migration, including a proposal to pick up asylum seekers from dinghies and take them back to France.
The Thursday launch of the migrant tax was at one point considered to be Mr Farage’s opportunity to kickstart his efforts to become a Reform MP.
Party sources disclosed that the venue, Glaziers Hall at London Bridge, had previously been booked to allow Mr Farage to declare his candidacy in the general election.
But Rishi Sunak’s decision to call a snap summer election scuppered those plans.
With just six weeks to an election, Reform sources said there was not sufficient time for Mr Farage to prepare a fully-researched campaign and promote Reform’s cause nationally, so the idea was ditched.
Three seats had been identified for Mr Farage’s candidacy, but sources refused to disclose exactly which ones.
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