Brexit lobbyist Farage wants to help Trump bring peace to Middle East
‘I’m quite good at negotiating,’ the former UKIP leader says in interview in which he speaks of his plans to remain active on world stage
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Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage has said he would like to help Donald Trump bring peace to the Middle East, telling the Telegraph “I’m quite good at negotiating” in a new interview.
“We have to have a coherent approach to [Islamic State] and everything else,” he said. “I’m not suggesting that I can do everything but I do think that I’m quite good at negotiating, I’m quite good at bringing people together.”
Farage, whose UK Independence Party played a central role in the British vote to leave the European Union, has since resigned from the party leadership. Twenty-five years in politics “is not a bad run, ruining your family life and virtually bankrupting yourself,” he said. “I am having a great time. I am not having to deal with low-grade people every day.”
While he has tired of party politics, Farage said he wanted to remain an influential voice. Ideally as a British government appointee, though he acknowledged that Prime Minister Theresa May was unlikely to give him a job. He also admitted that as a UK national an official government position in a Trump administration was unrealistic.
“I do feel that as a commentator I have something to give. Maybe through writing and commentating I can continue to influence public opinion,” he told the paper.
Trump said last month he would “love” to clinch a deal to end the intractable conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. “I would love to be the one who made peace with Israel and the Palestinians, that would be such a great achievement,” Trump said in a meeting with staffers from The New York Times. “Because nobody’s been able to do it,” he said.
Trump added that though “really great people” have told him it is “impossible” to make peace between Israel and the Palestinians, “I disagree, I think you can make peace. I think people are tired now of being shot, killed. At some point, when do they come? I think we can do that. I have reason to believe I can do that.”
A New York Times reporter tweeted that Trump also suggested that his son-in-law Jared Kushner could help broker the deal. Asked whether Kushner “can be part” of the peacemaking effort, Trump said: “Well, I think he’d be very good at it. I mean he knows it so well. He knows the region, knows the people, knows the players.”
In his interview Friday, Farage said that having spent a good chunk of his career “trying to knock things down,” he now had an interest in building. Besides his Mideast aspirations, he spoke of the need for a strong trade partnership with the US, as well as a redefining of NATO.
“There has been no substantial thought about what NATO is for since the Berlin Wall came down. Trump is right about members not paying their way,” he said.
Trump, who has shown a great liking for Farage, recently made headlines by suggesting that May should make him ambassador to the United States.
In late November he tweeted that “many people” would like to see Farage head Britain’s US mission, adding: “He would do a great job!”
Many people would like to see @Nigel_Farage represent Great Britain as their Ambassador to the United States. He would do a great job!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 22, 2016
Trump’s tweet received a cool response in official circles. A spokesman for May said there is “no vacancy” at the British Embassy in Washington and praised the work of the incumbent ambassador, Kim Darroch.
May had earlier rejected the notion that Farage would serve in an unofficial role as liaison to Trump.
The negative response prompted an angry reaction from Farage in a column posted on the Breitbart website.
“At every stage I am greeted by negative comments coming out of Downing Street,” he wrote. “The dislike of me, UKIP and the referendum result is more important to them than what could be good for our country.”
He said he has known several key members of Trump’s team for years and is in a good position to help cement relations between Britain and the United States.
“The world has changed and its time that Downing Street did too,” Farage said. He also said he was “flattered” by Trump’s proposal that he serve as ambassador.
The role of ambassador to the United States is widely regarded as a vital position in the British diplomatic corps that also carries a certain amount of prestige and social clout.
Farage’s cozy public relationship with Trump developed during the presidential campaign, when he briefly appeared with the Republican nominee, and he was the first foreign politician to meet with the president-elect after the election. The two were photographed smiling broadly outside a golden elevator at the Trump Tower.
AP contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.