Politics

Voaden says she was the MP in Farage altercation row

Eleanor WhitcombePublished 11m ago2 min readBased on 3 sources
Voaden says she was the MP in Farage altercation row
Photo by Laurie Noble / CC BY 3.0

Liberal Democrat MP Caroline Voaden has identified herself as the MP Nigel Farage was referring to when he described a "physical altercation" with another MP in the House of Commons. The Commons is the elected chamber of the UK Parliament at Westminster. Voaden, who represents South Devon, said she was left "shocked and bloody angry" by the confrontation.

Farage said he had been involved in the altercation at the State Opening of Parliament in May. The State Opening is the formal ceremony that begins a new parliamentary session. He gave the account while explaining why he had not attended Wednesday's Budget, and The Independent reported that he admitted skipping the Budget to avoid an altercation.

The Liberal Democrats said Farage "attempted to shove" Voaden. Their deputy leader, Daisy Cooper, said her understanding was that Farage physically shoved a female Liberal Democrat MP out of the way, and that a male Liberal Democrat MP then challenged him. Cooper said she did not see the incident herself. Another Liberal Democrat MP, Monica Harding, said in comments reported by the Daily Telegraph that Farage had "shoved a female MP out of the way, sending her flying".

Voaden said Farage had been ordered to apologise to her after she complained to Commons authorities. Her party colleague Max Wilkinson said the incident took place before the footage of the two MPs leaving the chamber together.

That footage, reported by the Telegraph, shows Farage and Voaden leaving the chamber at the State Opening with no visible evidence of a major altercation.

A Reform source accused the Liberal Democrats of "lying" about the alleged shove. A Reform insider said the Lib Dems had claimed Farage shoved Voaden and left her shaken, and said the video disproves that claim.

A House of Commons spokesperson said Farage's prayer card did not "display a valid date stamp" and was removed in line with usual chamber protocol. BBC News has reported the Commons statement and the competing accounts of the incident.

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