00:00Race in Lincolnshire, Durham, Lincolnshire, Lancashire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire,
00:06some of the councils you've won. Is it beyond what you thought you could do today?
00:11Way beyond. I knew we'd do well today. I mean, I've seen the party grow.
00:15I've seen the calibre of people improve. We've professionalised the way we operate.
00:19Everything from our literature to data gathering.
00:22But frankly, what we're achieving in terms of council seat numbers,
00:24what has happened here in County Durham, beyond my wildest dreams.
00:28Just goes to show people are ready for real change.
00:31It's interesting as well, when you look at the national equivalent vote,
00:34so how at the end of the day, when all the votes are counted,
00:38how you might go in terms of vote share,
00:41it could be that reform become the biggest party in terms of these elections,
00:45in terms of vote share. What do you make of that?
00:50I think people just look at Westminster and look at failure.
00:54You know, the Conservatives swept on a massive wave,
00:56including seats up here in the so-called Red Wall that they've won.
00:59A wave of optimism.
01:01They broke virtually every major promise they made to the British people.
01:04Labour won on, frankly, an anti-Tory vote.
01:07The Prime Minister promised change.
01:09Well, no-one's seeing positive change economically or socially.
01:13And people are actually getting poorer,
01:15despite the claims of the government.
01:16So people want something different.
01:18Back in Westminster, when you were saying,
01:20I will be the next Prime Minister.
01:21A lot of people thought that was ludicrous.
01:24You were being audacious and it wasn't believable.
01:27What do you say to them now?
01:29They're not laughing now, are they?
01:31They see, this is reform quake.
01:33That's what's going on across the country today.
01:36These are the most astonishing set of local election results
01:39in the history of our country.
01:40You're building a coalition here.
01:42You're taking votes from Labour
01:44in some of those Red Wall seats that Boris Johnson did well in.
01:48And you're also, obviously,
01:50hitting the Conservatives really hard.
01:54But to maintain that,
01:56do you need to change the style in which you lead?
01:59And what I mean by that is you're a divisive politician.
02:02Well, good. Good.
02:04But to keep a coalition together,
02:06do you have to change anything up?
02:08I'm sorry, I'm not Mr Bland.
02:10You know, I am who I am.
02:12Take me or leave me.
02:13I'm a straight speaker.
02:15I say what I believe.
02:16And if you like it, that's fantastic.
02:18And if you don't, I don't care.
02:20In a fast-past-the-closed system, though,
02:22people tend to win on centre ground
02:24because they've got to build a massive coalition of voters.
02:26We are.
02:27Yeah, but just up there,
02:28you were talking about people don't work from home,
02:30you don't like diversity on the councils.
02:32A lot of people won't like that.
02:34What you're missing is that is the centre ground
02:38of public opinion.
02:39There's a silent majority that believes
02:41in the things that we believe in.
02:44Westminster, and dare I say it, much of the media,
02:46is out of touch with where this country is moving.
02:49And I think that's what today's election results prove.
02:51Nobody in Westminster listens from this in the short term.
02:55But I tell you what, this is happening.
02:57It's not a one-off.
02:58It's real.
02:58So, sort of divisive politics or...
03:02Are you going to carry on doing that?
03:05Do you know, you know, I'm a bit older than you.
03:07I know, you're not all that much.
03:09Michael Thurt versus Margaret Thatcher in the 83 election,
03:13you could say, was divisive politics.
03:15They both had completely different world views.
03:18And there wasn't much love lost between one and the other.
03:22But provided it's civil, provided it's within reasonable rules,
03:25I think politics is about having a choice of different visions
03:29that some love and some hate.
03:31One other question.
03:32I noticed on stage there, you said that the councils that reform run
03:35are now no longer going to allow the government
03:39to house illegal migrants,
03:41migrants coming over on boats claiming asylum.
03:44You're not going to allow them to be housed in your local...
03:47I said we'd fight them.
03:49Yeah, can you just explain that?
03:51Because that was a new piece of information to you.
03:52Yeah, so basically central government
03:54scatters young males
03:57who cross the English Channel around the country
03:59and most come pro-rata to the north-east and the north-west
04:03and they're imposed upon councils
04:05and councils kind of, in theory, have to accept them.
04:09They're going to find a much more robust response here.
04:11Can you stop it, though?
04:13We give it a go.
04:14You're going to give it a go.
04:15And final question.
04:17What's your message to Keir Starmer?
04:21The message to Keir Starmer, sarcastically,
04:22is please keep doing what you're doing.
04:24And the message to Keir Starmer is,
04:27well, frankly, the Conservative Party's finished today.
04:29It's gone.
04:30It's dying in the shires.
04:31It has no future.
04:32It stands for nothing.
04:33It serves no purpose.
04:34Any chance of doing a deal with them to unite the right?
04:38I don't want to do a deal with them.
04:39We're going to win the next election on our own.
04:41OK, Nigel Frage, thank you very much.
04:43Excellent.
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