{"id":438580,"date":"2026-02-21T21:34:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T21:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/438580\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T21:34:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T21:34:07","slug":"does-nigel-farage-have-a-problem-with-women-nigel-farage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/438580\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Nigel Farage have a problem with women? | Nigel Farage"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Nigel Farage told a journalist this week she should \u201cwrite some silly story<\/a> \u2026 and we won\u2019t bother to read it\u201d, it provoked an instant \u2013 and divided \u2013 reaction. For some it was a \u201cmasterclass\u201d in dealing with mainstream media, but for others it was \u201crude, dismissive, misogynistic, arrogant\u201d.<\/p>\n

Behind the scenes, Farage\u2019s treatment of the Financial Times\u2019s Anna Gross \u2013 which was met with mirth and applause among Reform diehards in the room \u2013 provoked disquiet and anger among lobby journalists across the political spectrum.<\/p>\n

As the Reform UK leader was leaving the event, a Guardian political reporter suggested he had been rude<\/a> and had upset the journalist. \u201cGood,\u201d Farage responded.<\/p>\n

It is not the first time Farage has been accused of patronising a female journalist. When the former BBC Radio 4 Today presenter Mishal Husain asked him about the potential consequences of shooting down Russian planes last October, Farage responded: \u201cListen love, you\u2019re trying ever so hard.\u201d<\/a> A month later he accused the Telegraph\u2019s Camilla Tominey<\/a> of playing a \u201csilly little game\u201d when she asked who his chancellor would be.<\/p>\n

Amid a busy news cycle, his most recent condescension could have been easily forgotten. But in a week where Farage hired a hardline anti-abortion theologian as his head of policy and promised to repeal the Equality Act<\/a> on his party\u2019s first day in government, it has sparked the question: does Reform UK, and its leader in particular, have a women problem?<\/p>\n

Jane Martinson, the former chair of Women<\/a> in Journalism, said the run-ins with female journalists were a clear example of Donald Trump\u2019s influence.<\/p>\n

\u201cNigel Farage is really offering a sort of Trump-lite for the British people, patronising a respected journalist and newspaper because he disagrees with its scrutiny,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is all about ignoring the public\u2019s right to know and trying to control your own message by turning on the messenger, especially if they\u2019re just \u2018silly\u2019 women.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reproductive rights and equality campaigners reacted in horror after Farage hired James Orr<\/a>, a rightwing theologian who opposes abortion even in cases of rape, incest or serious risk to health, to replace Zia Yusuf as his head of policy. The Cambridge University professor, who heads the Centre for a Better Britain thinktank, is an influential figure in Trump\u2019s administration and is admired by the vice-president, JD Vance, who once described him as his \u201cBritish sherpa\u201d.<\/p>\n

Kerry Abel, the chair of Abortion Rights, said it was \u201can alarming moment for Britain\u201d and accused Farage of \u201cborrowing tactics from America\u2019s culture wars\u201d, especially in relation to anti-abortion ideology.<\/p>\n

The hire came a little over a week after Matt Goodwin, Reform UK\u2019s candidate in the Gorton and Denton byelection, was accused of wanting a \u201cHandmaid\u2019s Tale future\u201d<\/a> after unearthed YouTube footage revealed he had called for \u201cyoung girls and women\u201d to be given a \u201cbiological reality\u201d check.<\/p>\n

For Heejung Chung, the director of the King\u2019s Global Institute for Women\u2019s Leadership<\/a>, Farage\u2019s rhetoric around \u2013 and treatment of \u2013 women is part of a worrying trend that delegitimises discussion of gender inequality and women\u2019s rights in a way that was \u201cunthinkable\u201d even five years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like a consistent and deliberate tactic,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s that he\u2019s an old-fashioned guy with questionable views, he wants to distract people into thinking their problems are because of women, or equality and diversity policies, or immigrants. Like Trump in America, it shifts the discourse, and that is very dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are signs that Labour, and others on the left, are willing to meet Farage on this battlefield. On Thursday, Keir Starmer said plans to repeal the Equality Act, which gives women extra protection in the workplace, were \u201cshocking\u201d and unBritish<\/a>, arguing that Reform wanted to send women back to the \u201cold days\u201d.<\/p>\n

Stella Creasy, the Labour MP for Walthamstow, described the attack on the 2010 legislation as \u201ccalculating, playbook, rage-bait politics\u201d and bad economic policy. \u201cThe Equality Act gives the labour market more talent, which is good for productivity and good for growth,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat this is about is saying: \u2018Here\u2019s somebody to blame for why the world isn\u2019t fair.\u2019 It is not saying: \u2018How do we fix it?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul Nowak, the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, called for a united front against the \u201cnasty thread of misogyny\u201d running through Reform UK<\/a>. Farage was also a political risk, he said, noting that \u201cReform have already got a problem with women voters\u201d.<\/p>\n

While it is true that Reform voters have skewed heavily male, there has been a shift. In the last election, 61% of voters who voted Reform UK were men, but on voting intention in 2026 that figure had dropped to 55%, according to polling from More In Common.<\/p>\n

Luke Tryl, More in Common\u2019s executive director, said there was a \u201cReform seesaw\u201d among women who expressed support for the party, with those in focus groups voicing concerns about the risk of backing Farage, while also showing interest in the radical change they thought his party could bring.<\/p>\n

Farage should be wary of comparisons to the US president, with polling showing that 25% of women considered Farage\u2019s support for Trump as the top reason not to vote Reform, compared with 21% of men.<\/p>\n

Farage may also want to consider how he treats journalists at future press conferences. \u201cRudeness is a sort of thing that people do notice,\u201d Tryl said. \u201cIt\u2019s a sort of thing which, if it becomes a pattern, could go down badly. If you think about that seesaw, it\u2019s all weighing down the side which says \u2018this is too much of a risk\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked for comment, a Reform UK spokesperson said: \u201cNigel Farage treats all journalists equally. Scrutiny is a two-way street.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Nigel Farage told a journalist this week she should \u201cwrite some silly story \u2026 and we won\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438581,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-438580","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438580\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}