Rosa Prince, Columnist

Nigel Farage Has a Serious Problem With His Good Friend

January 26, 2026 at 5:00 AM UTC

Updated on

January 26, 2026 at 11:05 AM UTC

Rosa Prince is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering UK politics and policy. She was formerly an editor and writer at Politico and the Daily Telegraph, and is the author of "Comrade Corbyn" and "Theresa May: The Enigmatic Prime Minister."

Besties.
Photographer: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP

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Donald Trump made so many appalling remarks during his 48 hours in Europe last week that it seems strange to single out only two. But for those wanting to know whether fellow right-wing populist Nigel Farage and his Reform UK Party can emulate the US president’s electoral success, a couple of those rants bear closer examination.

The first was Trump’s false claim to Fox News that non-US NATO troops in Afghanistan “stayed a little back, a little off the frontlines” — a shameful slur on the more than 1,100 men and women, including 457 British nationals, who lost their lives when the US summoned its allies to join the fight against the Taliban after 9/11.