NEW YORK: Former US President Donald Trump congratulated Nigel Farage on his win in the UK general elections but ignored the new Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose party ended the Conservative Party’s 14-year rule.
Farage’s Reform UK party secured the third highest number of votes but only obtained five seats out of the 650-member House of Commons, while Keir Starmer’s Labour party achieved a landslide victory to make it to office.
“Congratulations to Nigel Farage on his Parliament seat amid Reform UK election success. Nigel is a true patriot!” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
Farage, a longstanding ally of Trump and known as “Mr. Brexit,” won his seat, but his anti-immigration Reform UK party failed to make a significant impact in terms of seats despite securing the third largest vote share.
Farage, who has previously been touted by Trump as a potential UK ambassador to Washington, has vowed to fill what he sees as a significant gap on the British center-right, aiming to challenge the now-main opposition Conservative party.
The victory marks a divergence from recent rightward shifts seen in Britain’s closest allies, such as the rise of the far-right National Rally in France and Trump’s potential return to US politics.
Farage’s success is expected to bolster his ambitions to influence British politics and potentially lead a “takeover” of the Conservative party, particularly as millions of voters appear to have shifted their support to Reform UK, dealing a blow to the Tories in one of their worst electoral performances.
An initial exit poll caused a stir by predicting Reform would secure 13 seats, far exceeding earlier campaign forecasts.
The Labour Party secured a landslide victory with 412 seats, while Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives Party won just 121 in the 650-member House of Commons.
