Nigel Farage said he stayed away from the House of Commons during the Budget because he feared becoming involved in another physical altercation.
The Reform UK leader said he had chosen to avoid both the Chancellor’s statement and Prime Minister’s Questions after claiming his prayer card had been removed from the chamber earlier in the day.
Prayer cards are used by MPs to reserve their seats in the Commons. Mr Farage said the incident made him believe a confrontation could follow, following an earlier physical altercation with an unnamed MP during the State Opening of Parliament in May.
Speaking at a press conference in Westminster after Chancellor John Healey’s statement, Mr Farage said: “At the State Opening of Parliament, I didn’t want to but I got involved in a physical altercation with an MP in the chamber.
“I didn’t make a fuss about it, I didn’t complain. But I could see, given that my prayer card had been removed, I was heading towards another physical altercation.”
Mr Farage said he had instead watched the Budget from Reform UK’s offices with a team of economists, allowing him to examine it “line by line”.
“And just sometimes it’s better to avoid conflict – that’s one reason,” he said. “The second reason is, actually, I sat going through the Budget with our team of economists in the office so I actually had the time to go through it line by line.”
He also said he had planned to attend PMQs, which took place before the Budget, but decided against it because he could see the potential for further conflict.
“I was going to go to PMQs but I could see potential conflict and being a very quiet, shy, modest kind of person, I decided to give it a wide berth,” Mr Farage said.
