Christopher Hope
Guest Reporter
Nigel Farage has blamed "the Establishment" for not allowing him to take a public facing-role with other party leaders at the National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph today.
Farage, as leader of Reform UK, was forced to watch proceedings from a balcony on Whitehall along with Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer and some representatives from Quebec in Canada.
Farage said that Reform UK was told that it could not lay a wreath as the party only has five MPs in the House of Commons, below the threshold of six MPs needed to qualify for wreath laying.
However, Farage pointed out that Gavin Robinson, deputy leader of the DUP, laid a wreath.
The DUP has five MPs in Westminster, exactly the same number as Reform UK.
Farage told GB News that "the Establishment" had blocked him from laying a wreath and said that after the next election when the party hopes to win more seats it will be a different story.
He added: "I personally am not complaining but other people are."
A Government source told GB News that the DUP laid a wreath on behalf of the Democratic Unionist Party following an addendum to the 1984 protocol.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
This is to ensure that all four constituent parts of the UK are represented at the service of Remembrance.
This 1984 protocol stipulates that only the leaders at Westminster of parties which had won - and taken up - six or more seats at the preceding General Election should lay Wreaths.
Separately, the SNP and Plaid Cymru have an agreement that they lay a joint wreath, with the SNP laying their wreath on behalf of both parties this year.
The addendum to the 1984 protocol is as follows: "To ensure all four constituent parts of the UK can always be represented, the party with the most sitting MPs from each of the devolved nations should be given the opportunity to lay a wreath (including if that party has fewer than six seats)."
The change has been agreed by the Speaker, The Prime Minister's Office, the Northern Ireland Office, the Chief Whip and the Royal Household.
Plaid Cymru and SNP have their own agreement, set up in 2001, that they lay a joint wreath, with each taking turns in alternate years to be the wreath-layer.
The other party is then invited to view the ceremony with other guests from the FCDO building on their non wreath laying year.
The SNP's Westminster leader Stephen Flynn sparked outrage during his appearance alongside other political leaders at the Cenotaph after refusing to sing God Save the King.
Flynn also appeared alongside Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, Leader of the Opposition Kemi Badenoch and Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey.
Standing close to the Cenotaph were an unprecedented eight former Prime Ministers: Sir John Major, Sir Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Lord Cameron, Baroness May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.
Farage, who is a known history buff, also paid a heartfelt tribute to World War One hero Private Herbert Columbine ahead of Remembrance Sunday.
Speaking to GB News earlier this month, the Reform UK leader said: “He volunteered for World War One. He was defending a position against the great German advance, ‘Kaiser Bill’s Offensive’ as we called it, in March 1918, and this was after Russia had been knocked out of the war.
“Two million troops came to the Western Front, and, frankly, nearly beat us at the war. Columbine's position was, as with some others, to hold the Germans off as long as they possibly could to allow the rest of the army to retreat.
“And so Columbine was put in a horrendous position, really. Anyway, they were being attacked on all sides, surrounded by goodness knows what.
"And Columbine famously says to the rest of the machine gun crew, ‘off you go, lads, I can handle this’ and stays on his own firing.
“In the end, the Germans become so frustrated with him that they actually use an airplane to take him out. They bomb him from the air and that kills him, that takes him out, and he gets the posthumous Victoria Cross. So it's a pretty epic story.”
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Farage, as leader of Reform UK, was forced to watch proceedings from a balcony on Whitehall along with Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer and some representatives from Quebec in Canada.
Farage said that Reform UK was told that it could not lay a wreath as the party only has five MPs in the House of Commons, below the threshold of six MPs needed to qualify for wreath laying.
However, Farage pointed out that Gavin Robinson, deputy leader of the DUP, laid a wreath.
The DUP has five MPs in Westminster, exactly the same number as Reform UK.
Farage told GB News that "the Establishment" had blocked him from laying a wreath and said that after the next election when the party hopes to win more seats it will be a different story.
He added: "I personally am not complaining but other people are."
A Government source told GB News that the DUP laid a wreath on behalf of the Democratic Unionist Party following an addendum to the 1984 protocol.
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This is to ensure that all four constituent parts of the UK are represented at the service of Remembrance.
This 1984 protocol stipulates that only the leaders at Westminster of parties which had won - and taken up - six or more seats at the preceding General Election should lay Wreaths.
Separately, the SNP and Plaid Cymru have an agreement that they lay a joint wreath, with the SNP laying their wreath on behalf of both parties this year.
The addendum to the 1984 protocol is as follows: "To ensure all four constituent parts of the UK can always be represented, the party with the most sitting MPs from each of the devolved nations should be given the opportunity to lay a wreath (including if that party has fewer than six seats)."
The change has been agreed by the Speaker, The Prime Minister's Office, the Northern Ireland Office, the Chief Whip and the Royal Household.
Plaid Cymru and SNP have their own agreement, set up in 2001, that they lay a joint wreath, with each taking turns in alternate years to be the wreath-layer.
The other party is then invited to view the ceremony with other guests from the FCDO building on their non wreath laying year.
The SNP's Westminster leader Stephen Flynn sparked outrage during his appearance alongside other political leaders at the Cenotaph after refusing to sing God Save the King.
Flynn also appeared alongside Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, Leader of the Opposition Kemi Badenoch and Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey.
Standing close to the Cenotaph were an unprecedented eight former Prime Ministers: Sir John Major, Sir Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Lord Cameron, Baroness May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.
Farage, who is a known history buff, also paid a heartfelt tribute to World War One hero Private Herbert Columbine ahead of Remembrance Sunday.
Speaking to GB News earlier this month, the Reform UK leader said: “He volunteered for World War One. He was defending a position against the great German advance, ‘Kaiser Bill’s Offensive’ as we called it, in March 1918, and this was after Russia had been knocked out of the war.
“Two million troops came to the Western Front, and, frankly, nearly beat us at the war. Columbine's position was, as with some others, to hold the Germans off as long as they possibly could to allow the rest of the army to retreat.
“And so Columbine was put in a horrendous position, really. Anyway, they were being attacked on all sides, surrounded by goodness knows what.
"And Columbine famously says to the rest of the machine gun crew, ‘off you go, lads, I can handle this’ and stays on his own firing.
“In the end, the Germans become so frustrated with him that they actually use an airplane to take him out. They bomb him from the air and that kills him, that takes him out, and he gets the posthumous Victoria Cross. So it's a pretty epic story.”
Find Out More...