OXON HILL, Md. — Nigel Farage, leader of the successful British movement to leave the European Union, rejected the perception that his populist positions were based on racism or Islamaphobia.
“We’re not against anybody based on religion or ethnicity. We’re not against anybody,” Farage said during a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference. “But we’re for ourselves, we’re for our country, we’re for our communities.”
Farage’s “Brexit” advocacy, which yielded a referendum vote this summer in favor of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU, has fueled charges of discrimination from opponents of the move who said Brexit supporters raised the specter of dangerous immigration levels to scare people into supporting the idea. The Brexit debate and result have drawn many parallels to the populist movement that propelled President Trump into the White House last year.
“We’re for making our people safe and with less risk from global terror. That is what we’re for,” Farage said Friday during his well-received CPAC speech. “And we are winning!”
Farage, an outspoken Trump supporter, empathized with the conservative crowd by arguing he has faced similar treatment for his views at the hands of his political opposition.
“If you’ve endured abuse, if you’ve been called deplorable — you’ve only had a few months of being abused. I’ve had 20 years of it,” he said.
“But you know what, none of it mattered. I always believed that we should govern our own country,” Farage added. “I always believed that we should be free to reach out and make our own deals with our real friends in the world. And it’s funny, our real friends in the world speak English, have common law and stand by us in times of crisis.”
Farage likened the Brexit victory to Trump’s election win while celebrating the reaction of Trump’s least favorite news outlet.
“Great though the night of June 23rd was, great thought the night of November the 8th was, my favorite part of 2016 wasn’t so much the victories,” Farage said. “My favorite part of that evening of the 8th was watching the faces of the CNN presenters.”
