{"id":512296,"date":"2026-04-04T09:38:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T09:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/512296\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T09:38:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T09:38:07","slug":"nigel-farage-and-derek-chisora","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/512296\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigel Farage and Derek Chisora"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Chisora has publicly defended Reform and Farage against allegations of racism, saying: \u201cI don\u2019t call it racism, I call it politics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For Farage, does having a prominent black British athlete by his side change the way he approaches the immigration debate? \u201cPeople are surprised by the friendship but there is a prejudice out there,\u201d Farage says. \u201cThey say Nigel doesn\u2019t like black people but it is not the case and there is a natural prejudice against me. Derek is an example of what immigration should be, a clear example of that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Farage recalls one of his strongest memories with Chisora: a party in Parliament Square on the night Britain <a class=\"ck-custom-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/politics\/0\/leave-or-remain-eu-referendum-results-and-live-maps\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">left the European Union<\/a>. \u201cIt was January 31, 2020, and we\u2019d organised a party for 100,000 people in Parliament Square and everyone was cheering, singing and celebrating. Big Ben bonged, we had just left the EU and there was Derek Chisora in a Union Jack suit doing star jumps on the stage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chisora: \u2018We would win World Cup if I was sports minister\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Whether you agree with their politics or their personas, there is an undeniable honesty to their bond. Farage appeals to the disenfranchised voter, while Chisora is a favourite of blood-hungry fight fans.<\/p>\n<p>As they share a laugh outside York Hall, Farage jokes about appointing Chisora to his frontbench team. \u201cHorses for courses,\u201d he chirps. Chisora roars with laughter, a man at peace with his impending retirement.<\/p>\n<p>It is a weird relationship, it is volatile, but it is quintessentially British. In boxing, the most unlikely friendships are often the most authentic. There is a genuine rapport and mutual respect between the politician and the fighter.<\/p>\n<p>One ponders whether there will be a place in Reform for Chisora when he hangs up the gloves. Farage says: \u201cDerek could have a role with us as a campaigner, absolutely, when his career is over&#8230; and in mentoring. He\u2019s a fantastic bloke for us and a national treasure and an adored person going into his last fight and he is going to be seriously missed by the fans.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chisora has publicly defended Reform and Farage against allegations of racism, saying: \u201cI don\u2019t call it racism, I&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512297,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2560,21827,59,633,70,217,101,5438,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-512296","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-derek-chisora","10":"tag-gb","11":"tag-nigel-farage","12":"tag-reform-uk","13":"tag-sport","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-standard","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512296","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=512296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}