LONDON — Nigel Farage just made Britain’s new government an offer it’s bound to refuse.
The right-wing Brexiteer said he would help the country’s center-left Labour administration deal with Donald Trump if the Republican returns to the White House next January.
“I repeat the point that if this government needs any help with relationships with Trump 47, I will do all that I can,” he told an event held by the Spectator magazine Thursday evening.
Farage, who heads up the populist Reform UK party, is a close British ally of the former president and has frequently campaigned alongside him.
The first British politician to meet Trump after his election win in 2016, Farage has also interviewed him on his GB News show and was sent a fawning birthday message by the ex-Oval Office occupant when he turned 60.
The Reform UK leader — who was elected to parliament for the first time this year — ruled himself out of succeeding Karen Pierce as the next British ambassador in Washington, an unlikely outcome given the deep political differences between his party and Labour.
“Clearly I’ve decided to get back into elected politics, so I’m off the table,” he said.
Farage has previously talked up his chances of landing the top diplomatic job, saying he would “of course” answer the call-up if it came.
Speaking to the Spectator, Farage was extremely dismissive of two potential contenders for the ambassador gig — Labour’s former Foreign Secretary David Miliband and ex-Business Secretary Peter Mandelson. “If it was the choice of the two, I’d choose Mandelson, but frankly I’d choose neither,” he declared.
While Farage’s offer seems far-fetched, Labour may need all the help it can get talking to Trump should he triumph in the coming weeks. The party is currently embroiled in a Transatlantic spat with the Republican candidate’s team, who have attacked help from Labour staffers for his Democratic rival Kamala Harris.
