Actor Steve Coogan has pulled no punches in his no-holds-barred assessment of what Reform UK and its leader, Nigel Farage, represent in today’s political landscape.The 60-year-old, who’ll soon return to the big screen in football drama Saipan, is no stranger to voicing his disdain for Mr Farage and co, but his latest take is arguably one of his most damning yet. Speaking in a new interview, Mr Coogan revealed he was concerned with world leaders who felt they could “do whatever the f*** they like”.Inevitably, he also referenced the US President, Donald Trump, admitting he was “troubled” by what he’d seen unfolding on the global front in the past few weeks.
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“I’m very troubled by the notion of what is acceptable behaviour in terms of conflict, by both what’s been happening in Gaza and these military attacks by the US on the boats and killing defenceless people and somehow trying to reframe that,” Mr Coogan told Big Issue.”So I am worried about the erosion of human rights and viewing the idea of human rights as some sort of impediment and how Reform are anti-human rights because they think it’s some red tape bureaucracy.”Mr Coogan’s reservations about Reform UK will come as no surprise to fans familiar with the actor’s political leanings.In fact, his latest outburst comes just six months after he unleashed an unfavourable rant against Sir Keir Starmer and the Labour Party for giving “racist clown” Mr Farage a boost in the polls.”The success of Reform, I lay squarely at the feet of the neoliberal consensus, which has let down working people for the last 40 years, and they’re fed up,” he began in an interview with the Guardian back in July.”It doesn’t matter who they vote for, nothing changes for them. Keir Starmer and the Labour government have leant into supporting a broken system.”Their modus operandi is to mitigate the worst excesses of a broken system, and all that is is managed decline. What they’re doing is putting Band-Aids on the gash in the side of the Titanic.”We have a Labour government, and it’s no different from a Conservative government in neglecting ordinary people,” he added. LATEST DEVELOPMENTSDeborah Meaden admits ‘I was tunnel-visioned’ over cancel culture denial as BBC star makes U-turnCat Deeley ex Patrick Kielty in ‘Anglophobia’ row as Northern Irish TV host accused of ‘anti-English’ remarksPiers Morgan hospitalised after ‘tripping on step’ as broadcaster details painful surgery ordealDelving into why this has paved the way for a surge in Reform UK popularity, Mr Coogan went on: “I think Labour governs for people inside the M25 – that’s who they’re preoccupied with, and gesture politics.”Every decision that comes from central government these days to me looks political and strategic and has nothing to do with sincerity or any kind of firmly held ideological belief.”They’ll pave the way for the only alternative, which is a racist clown. Reform couldn’t organise a p**s up in a brewery, but if there’s no alternative, you understand why working people will make that choice,” he said.Mr Coogan’s remarks come after a relatively busy week for Mr Farage and Reform UK after former Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick decided to defect from the Conservative Party. The defection sent shockwaves through Westminster, especially considering it was Tory leader Kemi Badenoch who broke the news by sensationally sacking Mr Jenrick.Mr Jenrick joins around 20 other former Conservative MPs to have jumped ship in recent months, but Mr Farage has insisted Reform UK is not merely a home for failed Tories.Mr Farage has insisted that his party will not accept any more defectors after the local elections, which are scheduled to be held on May 7.Writing in the Telegraph, the GB News presenter said: “Any Conservative MP who still clings to the hope that their party can recover and waits until May 8 to try to leave the sinking ship does not understand how rapidly things are changing out in the country. “Trying to use Reform as a lifeboat to save their own political skins will not wash. We have no interest in rescuing political failures.”He said any defectors would have to benefit the party and “truly believe in Reform’s fundamental values of family, community and country”.
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