Reform at Prime Minister’s Questions 26th November 2025. Russian bribes & racist language
Prime Minister’s Questions is invariably about politics as theatre. Of course there is an element of theatre to politics and some are better actors than others. When it comes to PMQs the theatrical element rises to the level of a Christmas Pantomime.
Unusually on 26th November there was a slightly more serious edge with a number of points about Reform in relation to the recent jail sentence for its former Welsh leader Nathan Gill and about the language Farage is alleged to have used when at Dulwich College in the 1970s.
Its not clear whether Farage was in the Chamber or off at one of his PFLs (Proper F*cking Lunches)
Theatre this remains but it provides a context for the media to investigate further and extract actual answers from Farage. How many will be bothered to do it?
Q10. Is the Prime Minister aware that, because of the decision by Reform’s Durham county council to scrap support introduced by Labour in 2013, a typical working family in Stanley will be £170 worse off? How would the Prime Minister contrast the values of this Labour Government with a Reform party dividing our country and hitting working people in their pockets? (906581)
The more we see of Reform, the more we see their true colours—in this case, making people £170 worse off. We see their true colours also in relation to the hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage). His explanation in recent days, in relation to the stories about what he may have said in the past, is unconvincing to say the least. He says he never engaged with racism “with intent”. What does that mean? I have no doubt that, if a young Jewish student was hissed at to mimic the sound of a gas chamber, they would find it upsetting. He may want to forget that; they will not. He clearly remembers some of what happened. He should seek those people out, and go and apologise to them.
We want to grow the economy, not tax the economy.
Let me take the Prime Minister on to another issue. I hope everyone in the House shares my alarm that a former leader of a political party in Wales has been found guilty of betraying our country, and has now been sentenced to over 10 years in prison for his treachery. The Prime Minister said that Reform should hold an independent investigation and he is right, but we both know that that is not going to happen. Given that Reform will not do so, he must. Will he now launch a national investigation into Russian infiltration into our politics?
The right hon. Gentleman is right to highlight this very serious case: a long sentence for pro-Russian bribery in the Reform party—at the highest level. You would think a leader of a political party would want to get to the bottom of that and ask the question, “How on earth did that happen in the Reform party, and what other links are there between Reform and Russia?” But no, the leader of Reform does not want to do it. We know he does not want to know the answer to the question, because Reform is riddled with pro-Putin propaganda.
Q15. From a previous answer the Prime Minister gave, we can conclude only that he has faith in the hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage) to police his own party on Russian interference, but the leader of Reform has already said that that is beyond his capabilities. Why, then, is the Prime Minister so unwilling to take responsibility and launch a full investigation into foreign interference in our democracies? (906586)
We do need to bear down on foreign interference in our democracy, but the responsibility for investigating what happened within Reform lies with the leader of the Reform party. The hon. Member for Clacton usually has plenty to say, but now he is totally silent on one of the most important issues. He needs to speak up and answer those questions.
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