On the BBC’s Question Time programme on March 6, Green Party leader Adrian Ramsay said to Reform UK’s Richard Tice: “It must be uncomfortable for you… to hear your leader saying that Putin is the person he most admires in politics”.
His comments happened at around 10 minutes and 50 seconds into the recording.
Evaluation
Mr Ramsay was referring to Nigel Farage, who in the past said that Russian president Vladimir Putin was the world leader he admired the most. However, these comments were made more than a decade ago.
The facts
In late March 2014, GQ Magazine published parts of an interview with Mr Farage, who was then the leader of Ukip.
In response to a question about the current world leader he admires the most, Mr Farage said: “As an operator, but not as a human being, I would say Putin.
“The way he played the whole Syria thing. Brilliant. Not that I approve of him politically. How many journalists in jail now?”
Mr Farage has spoken about Mr Putin on many occasions since 2014. He has several times been asked about his 2014 comments. The PA news agency has not found any occasion where Mr Farage has disowned the 2014 comments, instead he has sought to put them in context and claimed his comments have been misquoted.
For instance, a few days after the comments appeared, Mr Farage said: “They’re going to have a go at me over Putin because I’ve been wildly misquoted over that.”
“I was asked a couple of months ago which world leader did I admire and I said Vladimir Putin as an operator, particularly the way he managed to stop the West getting militarily involved in Syria, but I don’t like him, I wouldn’t want to live there and I don’t like him as a human being. But I’m sure there will be a ding-dong over that.”
In a BBC appearance in the run-up to last year’s election, Mr Farage said: “Hang on a second, I said I disliked him as a person, but admired him as a political operator, because he’s managed to take control of running Russia.”
Links
BBC Question Time – 06/03/2025
The Guardian – Nigel Farage: I admire Vladimir Putin (archived)
Farage: I’ve been wildly misquoted on Putin
The Panorama Interviews with Nick Robinson: Nigel Farage