UK right-winger Farage doused with drink at election campaign launch

LONDON: Nigel Farage, new leader of Britain’s right-wing Reform Party and thorn in the side of the governing Conservatives, was doused with a soft drink on Tuesday during his first full day of campaigning for a seat in parliament in the July 4 election.

On Monday, Farage produced the biggest shock of the campaign so far by announcing he would head Reform and run in the election, a major blow to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose Conservative Party trails Labour badly in surveys.

Farage is best known for having helped lead a successful campaign in 2016 for Britain to leave the European Union, and his popularity has put pressure on a succession of Conservative prime ministers to take tougher positions on immigration.

Shortly after launching his campaign for election in the seat of Clacton-on-Sea, southeast England, Farage was approached by a woman who threw a large cup of soft drink over him as he left a pub, footage posted on social media showed.