Hecklers disrupt Nigel Farage event after UK election

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LONDON (Reuters) – A succession of hecklers disrupted a speech by Nigel Farage after his populist Reform UK Party won seats in Britain’s parliamentary election in what was a chaotic start to his life as a Westminster lawmaker.

Farage, one of the country’s most recognisable and divisive politicians, drew support away from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party, which crashed to its worst ever electoral defeat.

Elected to the coastal constituency of Clacton in his eighth attempt to win a UK parliamentary seat, at least six hecklers disrupted him during an event in London, calling him a fraud and saying he should tackle racism in his party.

In the run-up to the election Reform were at the centre of a racism row, when one of its supporters was recorded saying a racial slur about Sunak. Farage has said he wants nothing to do with racists.

“Well, at least they’re showing their anger in public,” Farage said after his event was interrupted several times. “The political establishment are in fear in private as to what happened last night with those results in the elections.”

Reform won 4 seats with 648 results of 650 parliamentary constituencies counted, despite securing 14% of the vote. Keir Starmer’s Labour Party won a thumping majority with 412 seats.

Farage said Britain needed a new electoral system that would produce a more proportional result.

“It’s very much my view, that our outdated first-past-the-post electoral system is not fit for purpose,” Farage said.