On the day of the king's speech, MPs process through to the House of Lords to listen to it. Leaders of all parties, including smaller ones, lead the procession, but on this occasion Farage didn’t seem to get into place in time. So he was stuck behind a load of MPs also trying to join the procession.
I was on a flight of stairs and he demanded to get past. I told him to wait his turn like everyone else and he clearly didn’t like that, so he grabbed me by the arm and I ended up shoved to one side so he could push through.
My colleague thought I was going to fall down the stairs, so he grabbed Farage and had a word with him about his behaviour. I reported it to the parliamentary authorities and they asked him to apologise in writing. That never happened – of course – and I chose not to say anything about it publicly.
So, yes, there was an altercation. Was it caused by "aggressive" Lib Dem MPs, as a Reform UK source later claimed? Hardly.
And she goes on to offer some penetrating observations on what the affair, and in particular on the way he dredged it up as an excuse, tells us about Farage and his approach to parliamentary politics:
I think it's a perfect reflection of the type of politics that typifies Reform UK. The politics of grievance, the repetitive mantra that the "establishment are out to get us", but, more importantly, the disdain for parliament and its traditions.
For a man who claims he wants to become prime minister, Farage's aversion to spending time in parliament means that he will go into the next election with very little knowledge about how the place works, how to leverage its power and what lies behind its traditions.
He has spoken less in parliament than any other comparable party leader and voted about half as much as the average MP. He is a stranger in the place he aims to command.
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